Swepco trans fluid vote: Did it make a difference in your 915

aigel · aigel's Garage

George

qcwang · 11:14 PM

Yes noticeable, but not earth shattering. 1st to 2nd about the same, but 3rd through 5th is noticably smoother, but engine needs to be fully warmed up before it is really appreciated. Overall improvement was still worth the $38.

However, the $26.50 for the shifter bushing replacement I did about 2 months before I changed to Swepco 201(ball cup, shift rod, and coupler bushings) was a better value to improve shifting.

Quincy

HarryD · 05-27-2004, 11:39 PM

See my earlier post here:
915 Transmission Shifting Improvements

I'm sold.

IROC · IROC's Garage

Made no difference in mine. Back before the internet was such a great place for sharing info, I put Mobil1 synthetic in my 915 thinking it was probably the best thing to do. After hearing everyone talk about this magical "Swepco" I drained my Mobil1 and added Swepco. There was no noticeable difference.

Mike

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

Big difference! When I changer the fluid for the first time, the old fluid looked like chocolate milk, thin and foamy. The old fluid was obviously "past it's prime" and the Swepco 201 was a noticeable improvement. I changed the fluid again about 6 weeks later to try and flush all traces of the old gunk out of there. Car shifts much better now, less noise and vibrations through the gearshift too!

Speed Buggy · Speed Buggy's Garage

Can't tell. Did all the bushings at the same time. All together they made a huge difference. I am going to change out the fluid again after only one month as I found a tooth the first time. Not many miles since then, but maybe enough to see if there is more pieces.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Hmmmmm. Interesting....

We need some Scientific data here....

Craig 930 RS · 05-28-2004, 05:20 AM

Made a difference, but only when warmed up.

Craig
@RS

chuckr · 05-28-2004, 05:27 AM

I have used both the 201 and 212 in my 83SC. I liked the 201 better.
I think that milage has something to do with how well the Swepco effects shifting. My SC had about 200,000 miles when I put the 201 in.
I also replaced the bushings at the same time as well as a Factory short shift kit.

fireant911 · 05-28-2004, 05:36 AM

Changing the fluid to Swepco was the first project I performed after purchasing the car - this board, of course, is where I first heard of the product. I noticed a considerable difference within the first mile I had driven. I was able to shift into first gear while 'slow rolling', gently, and with no grinding.

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by azasadny
Big difference! When I changer the fluid for the first time, the old fluid looked like chocolate milk, thin and foamy.

So, in reality, you could have put in Pep Boys house brand $1.99/gallon fluid and noticed the same difference.

I've not seem much of a difference between clean Valvoline fluid and Swepco.

maresdesign · maresdesign's Garage

Made a slight difference. Maybe only in my head....

yelcab1 · 05-28-2004, 07:45 AM

made no difference in my 915.

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

Thom,

Good point, but I really wanted to use a gearbox lubricant that was recommended by others with Porsches... All I was is "seat of the pants" experience and I am glad I used the Swepco... just my .02 worth...

eurocarrera · 05-28-2004, 08:07 AM

Steve Wong and I tended to agree that a basic Dino oil with a small additive worked the best for us. Please see:

915 miracle juice

HarryD · 05-28-2004, 10:08 AM

For me, I made my changes incrementally and Swepco did help but he other changes were more dramatic. I will also state that the 2-3 year old fluid (Kendal) I removed did not look excessively dirty or have an unusual odor.

vash · vash's Garage

my car shifts like butter, and i did use swepco, but i cannot tell if it improved anything or not. i changed the tranny fluid before i got the car running. it is sweet now tho.

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

I tried M1 in the trns for a short period of time. In normal use you will likely not notice any difference. But if you every try to shift even a little bit quickly you will not like what you hear.

Stick w/ the tried products. I am sure that there are other equally good fluids for the trans. out there. The local shop swears by CENPECO?

Schrup · Schrup's Garage

I noticed a small improvement after a couple hundred miles. Since I bought two bottles, I will probable use it till I need a rebuild. But after that I will use whatever my mechanic recommends, which isn't Swepco. He says it's too slippery.

Porschekid962 · Porschekid962's Garage

I have never tried Swepco but I can sing the praises of MOTUL!!! When I changed my oil I decided to change the trans fluid and the brake fluid as well. The oil stayed dino but I opted for MOTUL gear 300 in the tranny and the MOTUL break fluid as well. First the breaks, the motul has a higher boiling point than the ATE super blue racing fluid and I have noticed much less fade and the pedal staying strong. The tranny fluid is amazing. Going from 1st to 2nd with the 915 is noticeably smoother and not only when warmed up. The shifting has become much nicer and it feels like it wants to cooperate better when banging out double clutch downshifts. I also drained a tiny amount of fluid out after a month to see what kind of wear was going on and I was pleasantly suprised to find only a minute amount of metal on the magnet cap.

For all you running synthetic out there the motul oil is awesome for that application as well, you go through a bit more than if you were to use mobil but the engine runs cooler and feels stronger because of it.