Low tranny oil, how bad is it?
 

Well, I changed my oil yeaterday and decided that as long as the car was jacked up I might as well check the tranny oil. Turns out there was barely any in there. I have had the car for about four months now, but luckily I've only put maybe a couple hundred miles on it, if that, but I have no idea how long its been like that.

So how bad could it have harmed the tranny? It still seems to shift fine but I'm for sure going to fix this before the car is drivenagain.

Also, I have heard very good things about Red Line gear oil, where is a good place to buy it? And how much should I expect to pay for enough to fill up the tranny? Thanks.

-Darren

Personally, I would put in some regular tranny oil then drain it after about 2K miles then run the red line.

You should be able to find Red Line at any race or performance shop. but keep in mind you will spend about 50 or so bucks for a case. (That's how much it was when we had the race car a few years ago)

It is good stuff My Pop used to race desert Class 1600 race cars. One race he smacked bottom hard on a rock and cracked the tranny case open about 2 laps into a 6 lap race (roughly 60 miles in a 400 mile race) the race got finished out and when the tranny was opened it had no significant wear. Even the R&P wasin good condtion.

Get it at Jegs.com get the MTL. 7 dollars a bottle(quart) get 3 you need 2.6 quarts.

Hmm, my service manual says I need 2.1 quarts, mine's an S4 though, so that may be why its different.

What would be the advantage of running regualar tranny oil first?

Maybe you should look into why it had no tranny fluid before spendin the $$ on redline oil.

if you had it jacked up, then the car was sitting at an angle when you checked for fluid. so it would probably seem like there was almost nothing in there. try putting it up on a level lift, then checking the fluid again.

And do yourself a favor and get a bottle pump for the gear oil. I squeezed 2 quarts in there through a tube by hand once and it was not easy.

-Joe

The car was badly neglected before I bought it. The interior was faded, pain was scrtached, and the oil and fliter had not been changed in two years. I visually inspected the tranny and could not see any leaks.

And the angle could not have affected it too much, you could not feel the fluid at all. I'll try again this weekend with it level and see what I get, I should probably check the oil in the diff too.