Recommendation for 5 or 6 speed: YES! *NM*

The 98 low mileage is now 13 years old and want to change out the transmission fluid. Question what is the better fluid to use. I understand that it needs GL-4 (correct?) and I have read that Mobil 1 Synthetic is GL-5 rated and cannot be used? So for a summer driver what brand would you recommend? Swepco or Redline were mentioned. Appreciate your input

Swepco 201 and the tranny now has over 204K miles with 38K of those being track miles.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

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Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

what weight do you use? Looks like there a few available

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

I switched to Redline at 75k miles and noticed an immediate decrease in shifting quality. I changed back to Porsche stock fluid and the problem was resolved. No problems since (now at 150k miles).

Which Redline were you using? Their website calls for 75W90 NS GL-5 Gear Oil in 1998 5 speed... I am asking because my tranny is drained and I need to buy fluid for it. I was thinking about using this redline product.

[www.redlineoil.com]

I looked at what was recommended. Then I called and spoke to one of their techs to find out why they recommended it and make sure there was no question about which product was best.

The RedLine product may be slightly cheaper than the Porsche but it is still definitely not worth it. It was significantly worse than stock. I wouldn't put it in if it was free.

THANKS- Looks like I am doing the Swepco 201 as Pedro suggested

Basically with Porsche tranny oil I have always had a notchy 1st to 2nd shift- especially when really beating on the car (20 + Autocross and upwards of 12-15 track days a year) and get it good and hot... I changed to Mobil1 several years ago and much better shifting when real hot- no noticable difference at normal operating conditions or cold. I am completely moving away from Mobil1, mostly just to much "bad Press" lately about their products. Nothing specific but...

I change my tranny fluid begining of each race season- in my opionion cheap insurance for the way the car gets driven. I agree if I was just driving normal all the time would use Porsche fill. I know several folk that track the cars a lot have gone to 80W140 and find shifting when hot even better.

I am going to use the SWEPCO as Pedro does -after all I only have 164K mies on mine.

in my Turbo. I don't have a current transmission approved oils list for my Boxster, though.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

The shifter could need to be adjusted (adjustments are under the center console).
The shift linkage at the transmission could need grease.
The shift linkage at the transmission could have play.

... a bad Front Engine Mount can cause notchy shifting because the cables bind or are misaligned.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Motor mount looks good- it is fairly new Pedros Enthusists afterall...

I've adjusted the shifter linkage, made sure all is smooth and everything is seated properly. The notchy 2nd gear shifting I have experienced is releated to hard driving which results in elevated temps. I have not noticed this with any other gears, just 2nd. When I got away from the Porsche Tranny fluid it was noticably better...and like I said, because how hard I drive this car I change the fluid yearly.. It seems to help.

I will report back to compare Porsche oil vs Mobil1 Vs Swepco

I agree- BUT it did get a lot better with Mobil1 since I switched about 40K miles ago... Been like this since I got the car with 30K miles on it & I now have 163K miles so I figure it's not catastrophic

... because we've seen better results with Swepco 201.
The transmissions use the same type of sealed bearings as the Intermediate Shaft uses.
The Porsche transmission oil seems to dissolve the "lifetime" bearing grease very soon.
We have found substantial bearing grease deposited at the bottom of the transmission in as little as 15,000 miles with the Porsche oil.
With Swepco 201 we've found very little grease deposited at the bottom of the tranny with 75,000 miles!
YMMV.
Happy Porsche-ing,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Quote
Pedro (Weston, FL)
... because we've seen better results with Swepco 201.
The transmissions use the same type of sealed bearings as the Intermediate Shaft uses.
The Porsche transmission oil seems to dissolve the "lifetime" bearing grease very soon.
We have found substantial bearing grease deposited at the bottom of the transmission in as little as 15,000 miles with the Porsche oil.
With Swepco 201 we've found very little grease deposited at the bottom of the tranny with 75,000 miles!
YMMV.
Happy Porsche-ing,
Pedro

grease in the tranny bearing and yet some indpendent oil retailer happens to have an oil that doesn't do this?

Can't buy it.

I believe I saw pics of at least one tranny that someone claimed the blob of material at the bottom of the transmission housing was the grease. I've seen this before though in transmissions/gear housings that do not have any sealed greased bearings in them. The stuff isn't grease. If the grease were dissovlved from the bearings it wouldn't reform or regroup or gather together in a blob in the transmission. It would remain dissovlved in the transmission oil.

Porsche cautions against using another brand/type of transmission fluid do the extended change interval. (100K miles IIRC.) Porsche also cautions against mixing transmissions fluids . It does not caution against doing this with engine oil though it does advise the same oil be using in topping up an engine low on oil, but any approved oil is ok to use. Nor does Porsch require any 'flush' when changing from one approved engine oil to another.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I assume the swepco only went in at some change interval.
Or have you rebuilt enough trannies to have a real sample of filled new with swepco?

Grant

most of the "bad press" (and i've been a little bit part of it!) is criticism of their 0w40 oil. Much of that issue is simply that its a 0w40. Its very hard to make a good 0 and 40 weight oil in one, so you either get shear down with use; marginal 40 weight performance, or both. Heck, read the HTHS specs - it passes ACEA A3 only when squinting. But there's a reason for this.

M1, as the OEM supplier to porsche for motor oil, also has to cowtow to Porsche's desire to optimize for CAFE - meaning they err on the side of light-ish oil. And for normal road work, its fine!

I dont think this means their 80w90 or 75w90 gear oil is suspect.

That said, for the roughly 1 change i'll do per 10 years, i'll spring for the factory stuff. I think its Mobil anyway :-)

Grant

If you're purely street driving, I would recommend Porsche oil.

If you're doing track driving, I went with the Redline cocktail 7 years ago and have been very happy with it. It doesn't work great when the weather is below about 50 degrees (at least when you first start and until the transmission gets warm), but if you are going all out at the track, the shifts are like butter. The car is not undriveable in cold weather, you just have to take a little longer to change gears.