Jargon Buster: Translating You Gear Oil Bottle

Gear oil isn't necessarily something that the everyday motorist is in the know about and when you take a bottle of it off the shelf you are confronted with jargon which, unless you are up on the terms, will probably mean very little to you. So let's break it down term by term and make some sense of it all.

Gear Oil Type
One of the first things you should notice on a bottle of Granville Gear Oil is this piece of information explaining which type of gear train the oil is suitable for:

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What's the Difference Between Gear Oil And Transmission Fluid?

The most obvious answer to this question is that gear oil is generally intended for use in manual gear boxes and transmission fluid is for automatic transmissions. However, as is always the case with automotive lubricants, there are exceptions to this rule. In order to fully understand what the differences are between the fluids, we first have to take a look at the key differences between gearboxes and transmissions.

Both a gearbox and a transmission essentially do the same job in that they allow change of gears to control the speed, force and direction of travel, but they achieve this in different ways and so require different support fluids in order to operate properly.

Manual Gearbox

Manual gears operate based on a system of two shafts with gears which mesh together after user input via the clutch and the gear stick.  This means that the manual gearbox creates a lot of heat, a lot of force and a lot of friction as the two moving objects come together...

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How healthy is your transmission fluid?

Ask the average motorist and it’s likely they will know how and where to check their oil and coolant level but ask about transmission fluid and they might not be so savvy.

src: automobilespoint.com

It’s not always immediately obvious how to check the health of your transmission fluid and indeed in recent years manufacturers have made it increasingly difficult for the end user to interact with the transmission at all unless you have the correct tools to get at the undercarriage of the vehicle. Should this be the case then we highly recommend that you allow your professional mechanic to perform any maintenance checks on your transmission fluid as you could risk voiding your warranty. If, however, you have a vehicle equipped with a dipstick under the bonnet for checking the transmission fluid then here are some things to look out for which may signal it’s time to book in for a fluid change or top-up.

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