LUVTruck.com

I just moved out to Tucson! Dottie rode 4000 miles with the only problem being a blown headlight in Oklahoma! I am gonna change the oils and the guide says to use SAE 40 for the transmission. I don't know a whole lot about oil, I am used to seeing a 5W, 10W or 20W in front of the other number. Is this just straight up SAE 40 oil, or am I looking for something else. The temp range out here is about 30 to 115 degrees. Thanks! Also would I use the 10W-40 for the engine and 5W-30 for rear diff?

I would use 10-40 for the transmission as well as the engine. The rear diff however requires SAE 90.

thats what i used on the gemini/opel when i swaped out the motors (same as luv) for the guys that dont know

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My old but now gone Luv...

Yes, typically the thick 85 W90 or so (gear oil) would be used in the rear diff. and the manual trans. But LUVs require about a 40wt. motor oil. 10 w 40 is fine. DON'T LET THE AUTO PARTS STORE TELL YOU DIFFERENT!!!! The LUV trans. uses motor oil in the manual trans. It's much thinner than gear oil and a store clerk might think your nuts, but it what the book says.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

I run Rotella T 15W-40 here in warm California in the engine, and change it often, and it's great. It's a diesel truck oil, but that just means it still has all the zinc additives that motor oil used to have, and these engines were designed for. I went with non-detergent 30W in the trans, and 80W-90 gear oil in the rear diff.

and if its hard to fill (i hate filling from under the truck) take the shifter out and fill from the top , from inside the cab.... so much easer

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My old but now gone Luv...

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the advice! I went to autozone and they had the 10W-40 valvoline for $7.99 for a gallon! I got two, for the engine and the tranny. That is a great idea too ctmandu, I had used a honey bear squeeze bottle last time to top it off from underneath, pain in the you know what!

Hey Dottie, last time I had to fill a LUV tranny my son was about 6 yrs old. So I just used him!!!!
Probably why he is a Special Equipment Mechanic in the Air Force now. Oil in those veins!!!

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I've never been wrong! Once I thought I was, but I was mistaken.
Rick
Loranger, La
1980 Stepside LUV (Again)

that is great!

not any more.

as of last year, diesel oil was required to lower the zinc as well. also, remember that diesel oil has soot controlers in it and is designed for low rpm use.

use regular oil and add a ZDDP additive

A.j.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

Welcome to Tucson! Just had to throw that in!

Aha!! Well it's good we have some racer types around here that actually know what they are doing. I didn't know they took the zinc out of Rotella, you know some of the car magazines were recommending it for flat tappet cams on break in and to protect from the ubiquitous 350 Chevy cam lobe flattening. Maybe that's before they changed the formulation. But that's why I was running it in my K2500 that has a 350, and why I was running it in the LUV. Oh well.

I was able to still get non detergent 30wt at Napa, for brake in.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

I am curious about the transmission oil change and don't know much about these transmissions and how well motor oil protests them. Since the LUV manual suggests a transmission oil change interval of ~30k miles, would using a synthetic engine oil be better? How many people actually change their transmission oil every 30k miles? I have an '80 4x4 and don't want to replace the transmission any time soon.

I am not an advocate for synthetic oils. In a regular non-race engine, I don't see a benefit in using synthetic engine oil. The main problem in the engine is the accumulated carbon soot build up from piston ring blow-by that acts as an abrasive. Change the oil often enough to clean out the soot. Since the transmission doesn't accumulate soot, the transmission might benefit from the synthetic oil. There seems to be some knowledgable and experienced LUV owners here and I would like to know if you have any opinions about using synthetic engine oil in the transmission?

The magazines were correct in saying this, but the EPA was faster then anybody thought. I noticed something was changing in the oil when I suddenly started seeing lots of bubbles in the oil - which told me there was some cavitation in the pump. I also had begun to run into cam and lifter problems again. (big issue on Buicks) So I decided the best route was to just switch back to valvoline and a ZDDP additive... havent had any problems since.

A.j.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

So which additive do you run?

And my apologies to the OP if this is a

yes I do apologize for the i-jack

heres the stuff. best additive I have used yet.

heres a link to where I get it from.

http://www.kirbanperformance.com/product/445/ZDDPLUS+4-OUNCE+BOTTLE+%281%29+%237176.html

A.j.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

In reading about all this stuff again, I was at the Kragen and I found STP 4 Cylinder oil treatment, and I looked up the MSDS for it and it said it contains 1-5% ZDDP, 1-5% Petroleum distillates and 60-100% mineral oil. (By contrast, STP Oil treatment lists 'proprietary' zinc compounds and a lot more petroleum distillates). I wonder if 1-5% content of ZDDP is significant. My usual opinion is that many of the products on your local auto parts shelves are simply gimmicky and there to make money. Nothing wrong with that because people buy them. But I wonder if there's any worth in this stuff. If I get a chance I'll try and do a calculation to figure out what concentration of ZDDP would be in 5 qts oil given a 1-5% by weight concentration from the manufacturer. Being such an inexpensive product I can't imagine it having as much as ZDDP plus.

I have been running Pennzoil YB 5W-30 in both the engine and transmission of my 77 for the last 15 years. Both are doing fine. The engine starts much better in our cold weather here with it. I could see running something heavier in Arizona. Many of the newer manual transmission cars use ATF.

Yes, SAE 90 gear oil in the rear end.

OK, but only as long as no animals are hurt in the testing.
I'm laughing because you have all this knowledge and capability for this, and I'm the guy buying the crap off the shelf to see if it will "make my engine last forever".

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?