Renault 'box, correct oil.
 

Hi all, after noticing some damp spots around the gearbox while fitting my coilovers I figured it's probably a good idea to at least check the level, if not dump the lot and replace it with fresh stuff, just wondering what I should be using, I gather it's meant to be 75w80 and I've found an elf one, tranself nfj, that says it's for the Renault J series, which is the Renault code name for the box in these cars I believe, but that oil isn't gl5, only gl4+, and from what I have read I need gl5 rated stuff, so I'm at a bit of a loss, anyone know what's what here?

Thanks in advance :)

I would change the oil completely, or as much as you can drain out. I changed the oil in my old p1 - Renault box at 150,000 and 300,000mls and was still good at 370,000mls. They are fussy as to the correct oil and I would get it from Volvo - comes in a 4lt can and costs about £40. At least you will know for sure the correct oil has been used.

The recommended change interval for phase 1 V40's is 100K miles, but it does not list a change interval for the phase 2 cars, so I presume you are just expected to wait until the box fails.

I would not take any chances and use either the real McCoy Volvo oil from Rufe (FRF Swansea Volvo phone dealer with C3 forum discount is cheaper than Skandix or most local stealerships), or Liqui Moly box oil. Make sure you get the right GL cat and just to confuse things LM make a GL 3 plus which is good for both 3 and 4 applications. Newer GL specs like GL 5 can cause a long term corrosion risk in older gearboxes that used some yellow metal shell bearings that had a type of alloy containing Copper (I think it's like Bronze).

All phase 1 cars should use 75w80, but there was a choice listed for phase 2 by LM of 75w80 or 75w90 and the latter is supposed to be better for hot towing or big booted drivers looking for a speeding ticket.

For some odd reason the web site oil guides list the capacity as over 3 liters when most boxes only seem to need 2 before they overflow from the fill point.
They also list the change interval as 105,000 km, which is about the same as the main cam belt service interval.

PS: I've just checked the LM web site oil adviser page and they only list 75w80 GL 3+ for all V40 models and have corrected the capacity to 2.2 liters. My box overflowed at exactly 2 liters.

The oil Volvo supply for the Renault box is a different part number to the oil for the Volvo boxes. I don't know what the difference is but it is different. The Renault box holds nearly four litres.

v40 gearbox model/oil help
 

hi guys, i have the same job but have no idea how to confirm which gearbox is in mine. I have the 2002 V40 1.8 B4184S2 but having spent a while scraping crud from various parts of the gearbox, i am still no closer to finding which model is fitted to my car - any suggestions welcome :)