There are two available here as much as i know. BP SAE 90 GL5 and
Motul PA90 gl5.

 

The difference is, your differential is submerged in the gear oil, while in the motor, it's being pressurized through tiny lines. Other than robbing horsepower when cold, I don't see any drawbacks of running a thicker oil in the rear end. Once you reach operating temperature, it really shouldn't matter what the ambient temperature is (unless its wicked hot out).

 

Heat does nothing to LE 607, that stuff is great in that respect.

The problem with it cold, if its turns into a gel/solid goo it will take a long time to heat up and you'll be running almost bare metal until it does. The first rotation will squeeze it right out, and it could be too thick to lubricate the gears until it heats up.

This winter I'll probably remove the le607 for mobile 1. The year before last we had almost of solid of month a -20f at night and barely creeping up to 0. I just got my new gears, I'd rather not have them crap themselves already

(its not likely they would, but better safe then sorry)

 

[QUOTE=stealthx32,Aug 2 2006, 11:18 AM] The difference is, your differential is submerged in the gear oil, while in the motor, it's being pressurized through tiny lines.

 

xviper Posted on Aug 2 2006, 04:52 PM
Did someone hijack your password & computer and is acting like you while you are on a road trip?


Anyway.. I did put it (LE-607) in a freezer (overnight) and @ -22C it did flow.
Not fast but it did flow.
Much like the Honda Marine SAE 90 GL-5 oil.
When warm (+25C) it was easy to push through a 10mm tube into my diff.
The way I understand it the LE-607 is an oil without any (or very little) parrafine so that is why it flows that well @ low temps.
And their ALMASOL additive is clinging to metal so that would act like a dry lubricant at borderline lubrication situations.
As RoadRage stated : better then Moly without the drawbacks.

Unlike the engine oil Honda does not recommend any other then SAE 90 for the differential at colder outside temperatures.

At the end of the day (and at the end of this post) it is up to each and every one of you to decide for yourself what to use in your engine, diff, tranny, etc

 

Nope, it's all me. I just want to make sure that readers see all sides to the story. There's "flow" and then there's "flow". If it comes out of the bottle like molassus, I don't consider that to be adequate flow.

 

I think I do see both sides of the issue here. I've considered everything Xviper is concerned about with the thickness of LE607, but still continue to use it after 20k miles. In fact, I even know how thick it is. Blackstone Labs says normal SUS@210degF range for SAE 90 gear oil is 85-105. My two UOA's measured 89.4 and 93.4 respectively. Now, considering these parameters, LE607 falls on the thin to medium range on the thickness range for SAE 90 wt oils. So, even though I and everyone else thinks it's real thick, comparatively speaking, it is not. As was mentioned earlier, Road Range has not been able to find another SAE 90 GL5 with a lower pour point either.
Now the real question is, why is Honda sticking to its guns on using only SAE 90 hyploid type GL5 in the S2000 after almost eight years of production? At least that's what my MY04 owners manual says, and I haven't heard of any of newer MY's changing on this firm stance. Don't they have any of the same concerns we have about how thick SAE 90 is, especially at below freezing temps. Haven't they put a bottle in the freezer yet after 8 years? They must have done it with a bottle of engine oil, because they offered us an alternative 5W40 oil to use if extreme conditions warrant its use. Don't they know that after visiting or calling at least 10 Honda dealers, I can't find one that even knows that SAE 90 is what the owners manual calls for nor do they know where to get some? Do you think there is a communication problem at Honda, or do our owners manuals just have an uncorrected typo after all these years? It would be much easier on us if the Honda engineers (or whoever the manufacturer is) could reevaluate the differential lubrication requirement and recommend a much more available multi-vis GL 5, wouldn't it?
Now, believe it or not, I have another vehicle with the same dilemna. My 2000 Toyota Tundra pick-up calls for 75W90 GL5 only in the front diff and SAE 90 GL5 only in the rear diff. It says if temperatures drop below 0degF, 80W90 GL5 may be used in the rear diff. Now go ask a Toyota dealer for a quart of SAE 90 GL5...

So what do I really think? I think we're alone out here! No one else really cares about this stuff!

 

To the best of my knowledge, only Honda Canada has gotten off their duffs and actually addressed this issue of a specific diff fluid as seen in this scan of a letter that was sent to all Canadian dealers:

For you folks in the USA, you are alone in this. Honda USA has not given you any "official" statement on exactly what you can use. For a long time, left up to their own devices, your dealers would put in the wrong "in-house" fluid, making for some costly repairs bills. I trust they have since wised up.

 

Thanks Xviper. I'm familiar with this letter. Do you know if the ramifications of this letter were ever incorporated into any Canadian owners manuals or shop manuals? It falls in line with Toyota's recommendation for the rear diff oil in their trucks when operating below 0degF.

 

Resurrecting this old thread

So in short, is it completely OK to put Honda Marine SAE 90 GL5 in the differential?


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