FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi looking for how much oil in a grey motor and 3 speed man box, the book I have says 3 quarts for the motor which converts to 2.8 litres is this right ?
Thanks Gordon

Best to just fill the engine using the level on the dipper.

Filling the Gearbox:
When filling the gearbox make sure the drain bolt has been fitted and tightened down. Remove the large filler bolt in the nearside of the gearbox and place a tin under the hole. Pour in oil using an external funnel and a length of hose until the oil begins to run back out the filler hole and into the tin. When the oil stops draining out, install the filler plug and tighten it down. On FX - EK the filler plug is on the offside of the gearbox between the clutch throwout lever and the gear selector levers.

I think you need imperial pints. I used a calculator. Seems more right in the table cos most car engines have 4 to 5 litres from 70's onwards with a filter being 1 pint in my book. So add if it has filter. But modern filters may be a bit bigger. I'll double check on other pint calculators

(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/27/310bcf992549549539fd6bf9b5a4bfc5.jpg)

Your figure seems a bit low. Look at table above. So I looked in my book The book says 1 - 2/3 of a pint for engine. So I need to put 1.66 in the calculator which is below. The gearbox from my manual comes out just under 1 litre once put through the number cruncher.

(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/27/20e5b44d5a06ef71ce1dc46da7a190e1.jpg)

Yeah double checked with quarts for you, imperial checks out same so must be right. 4 litres with filter then fine tune with dipper, 3.4l without. (http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/27/3a29d1eac372680b96420bbc478edc1d.jpg)

All sorted thanks Deano I was using UK quarts to covert to litres not US
Gordon

I think it must be the other way around. I'm fairly youngish and wanted to learn more about old measurements and apparently although it's confusing cos we think of gm America when thinking about holdens, I'm pretty sure it's the old UK system that has the bigger pint, something to do with being a commonwealth country. Just to confuse s#@t out of us lol.

Yeah just had another look wrong way around, when I went to supercheap auto to get oil, the engine oil was no problem but the gearbox oil ? the boy working there looked it up on his computer and said the gearbox users the same oil as the engine is this right ?
Gordon

I think you will find that the gear oil is a different viscosity to the engine oil!! And by the way I found a gearbox cover plate if you still need it.
Jim

I've found that if you use a normal gearbox oil in a grey box it can cause difficult shifting. Typically an oil much closer in viscosity to engine oil gave better results. The strange thing was that it was inconsistent across different gearboxes.
Harv, if you're reading, Did you find any issues like this in your gearbox analysis?

Ken

The workshop and owners manuals indicate that the grey motor crashie should run S.A.E 90 straight-run mineral gear oil (943mL, plus 170mL into the rear compartment during rebuild). The various oil companies recommend Shell Spirax S2A80W90, Caltex Torque Fluid 454, Valvoline Premium Mono 50, Castrol Edge Sport 25W-50 or Castrol Edge 25W-50, or BP Hypogear 80W90.

Interesting that the Castrol boys recommend an engine oil… perhaps in error. However, when you look at a typical engine oil, it is not too far different from the gear oils recommended. For example, comparing Shell’s HX3 20W50 engine oil to the Spirax variant above shows only
a) a 1% difference in density
b) only 7% difference in viscocity at 40ºC (ie the oils will bevave very similarly when the vehicle is cold/lightly loaded)
c) 20% difference in viscosity at 100ºC (the gear all is thicker than engine oil). Note though that both oils are 90% thinner than when they were at 40ºC… this 20% is really little difference.

My guess is that engine oil will do in a pinch, and will behave similarly. Different gearboxes with differences in wear, thrust and adjustment probably make for different behaviour.

Cheers,
Harv

Hi,
I use Penrite T90 Transoil in all my grey gearboxes.

http://www.penriteoil.com.au/products.php?id_categ=14&id_subcateg=70&id_products=81 ($2)

It is a single grade SAE90 grade oil that is the closest I have found to match the original Holden specs.
You may have to order this product in at Bursons or similar suppliers as it is rarely stocked.

Cheers,
Trevor_B

Thanks all for your replies, ill go have a look in Bursons up the road from me Trevor B
Thanks again Gordon