ATF type for 960

tomatoes4all · Post by **tomatoes4all** » 03 Apr 2012, 03:27

Hi all,
It is time to do a drain/refill on the transmission of my 1992 960, it has been over 30k miles, and it has seen some long drives during some really hot days last summer here in Australia. Checked the price on 100% synthetic ATF, my heart sank!! Back to the real world: my owners manual calls for Dexron 2, which now is probably 3. Is this good enough? If only marginally so, should I shorten the drain intervals? Our local manufacturer Nulon makes some good stuff, 'though it is a bit pricey, certainly compared with the North American market.
Thanks for your input, Cheers, Erik.

Post by **precopster** » 03 Apr 2012, 04:04

Dexron III is now the specified fluid for your vehicle. Castrol make a good fluid which I've used in my 960 since gearbox replacement 2.5 years ago. It has towed a number of times including a weight of around 3000kgs a couple of times around town. If you do a lot of towing you can extend the oil's life by fitting a transmission cooler from B & M like I did. If I were to keep my car long term I would use Nulon's Full Synthetic product as it easily surpasses the required spec for this transmission. A good price for this would be around $63 for 4 litres which I got here in Moorabin.

30K is a good interval for mineral based oils. It really depends on how heavily laden your vehicle is (towing is one of these factors) and how often and whether this weight is carried around during hotter months.

tomatoes4all · Post by **tomatoes4all** » 03 Apr 2012, 23:45

Thank you for your response, Precopster.
As always, to the point and good advice from you.
I looked at the Nulon full synthetic too, but at $63 per 4 liters...Castrol is $34 per 4 liters, but lasts only half as long, so I guess it comes down to cashflow, doesn't it?
Cheers, Erik.