Sweepco tranny fluid-question?

In a recent post about obtaining smoother shifting, a recommendation was to use Sweepco tranny fluid. What is this, and how does it help in shifting? Where is it sold?
thanks
Mike

It's Swepco, not Sweepco. Stands for Southwest Petroleum Co. The product was originally developed for--and is still intended for--use by heavy-duty trucks, not Porsches. But it has become the gearbox lube that lots of people particularly with 915 gearboxes (including me) swear by. You can get it from just about anybody who sells Porsche supplies, including, I'm sure, Pelican. Last gallon I bought cost about $53, and you'll need about three-quarters of a gallon to fill a 915 transmission.

STephan

Tom & Wayne have it right here...

Swepco 201 Transmission Fluid
SWP-201 $37.50
It’s a chemical so it has to come by “slow boat”....ground

I just spent a month with the High Performance V..... stuff. No comparison.
A wise man told me only to use Swepco. I used the "cheap" stuff during my seal work on my gearbox. Should have listened to my mentor.
I'm no engineer. It just works different and better.

Good Luck.......

Remember to open the FILL plug first. Hate to have the box drained and not be able to fill it.


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Cary Kutter
77 Euro Carrera w/3.2
74 914 2.0 ( base model )
PCA Region - Big Sky

Thanks for the reply on what Swepco is. Now Part II: How is it advantageous? Does it help in smoother shifting? Any disadvantages?

Mike

Mike,
With Swepco it is a consistancy thing.
The viscosity of the Swepco is just the right thickness to be very well suited to the 915 tranny and Swepco has a additive that alows the fluid to adhere to the gears better than regular tranny fluids. As far as I know there are no bad side effects to using Swepco.

As others have, I've got nothing but praise for Swepco. But that Sweepco?....it's bad stuff. Stay the hell away from it unless you want to ruin your box.

i recently changed my tranny fluid for the first time in my '73 911E. the PO had used swepco. i'm not sure how long it had been since the last fluid change.

although i purchased swepco, for a variety of reasons, i installed "regular" gear oil temporarily (off the shelf variety, i think it was valvoline), and planned to switch to swepco later.

my tranny is shifting just fine. now i'm wondering when i final change to the swepco, shifting will become even smoother, or whether the wonders of swepco over "stock" fluid are really just a myth?

is it also recomended for a 901 trans.?

Does anyone have any experience comparing Swepco with a synthetic gear oil for use in extremely cold weather?




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Bill Krause
'79 911SC Euro
MY PELICAN GALLERY

I have used SWEPCO in the past. Currently use TORCO fully synthetic, w/limited slip additive, GL6, 75-140. Shifting is smoother than with SWEPCO. Made the change because it was suggested by a tech bit in The Early 911S Registry's newsletter. To find the stuff? Do a google search, you'll find dealers/distributors close to you. Price? Around $10 per quart. My gearbox was recently rebuilt...if your gearbox is an oldie, don't know about switching to synthetic. edit: I did the switch to TORCO when my gearbox had about 30,000 miles on it...2nd synchro was getting soft, so did the rebuild after the change over of lube. Really don't think the change would hurt an old box...but don't know for sure.

[This message has been edited by pwd72s (edited 09-25-2001).]

The Swepco has made a big difference in my 915 tranny... Shifts much smoother now.

Highly recommended!

Does anyone have the webpage for Swepco? Need to see if it is compatible with my '66 VW tranny

Thanks,


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Adrian Pillow
1979 911 SC
1966 VW Microbus
PCA - Peachstate Region

Swepco, Swepco, I think I will buy some swepco stock, everyone seems so enthusiastic about.
I have a 915 and use synthetic.
It performs wonderfully. No, even better than that.
Yet,all this swepco talk is making me want to try it.
My opinion is that synthetic based fluids are superior to petroleum bases.

Input??

The truth is that a 915 will live a long and happy life as long as the clutch cable is kept properly adjusted and good quality, clean gear lube of the proper specs is kept in it. The factory didn't use SWEPCO, and thousands of 915s all over the world live long lives without it.

I've used all sorts of gear lube over the years in my 915s. To be honest, I've never noticed a difference between any of them (except for one).

The only one that I've used that I noticed a difference with was Redline synthetic. I didn't like it. It did seem to make the box noticeably harder to shift.

That being said, a lot of people that have a lot of experience with the 915, Bruce Anderson, etc. highly recommend SWEPCO. I remember him saying something about during his racing days, they used to have to rebuild the trans after every other race, but with SWEPCO they could go the whole season. Or something like that. Good enough for me, I guess. So I use it. But I notice no difference in shift quality with SWEPCO than I did with $3 Castrol gear oil.

It wasn't just a matter of having to rebuild the 935 transaxles after every race ... before Swepco, ring & pinion sets were ONLY LASTING ONE RACE! After switching to Swepco gear lube, the 935 ring & pinion sets lasted an ENTIRE SEASON OF RACING!!! That is some pretty serious wear reduction, in my opinion.

In my case, when I got my car in 1977, it had a 'graunchy' 1-2 shift, and being familiar with VW and Porsche transaxle oil change recommendations ... I started changing the gear oil every time I changed engine oil ... with Valvoline SAE 90 gear oil. After the second gear oil change, the graunchy 1-2 shift was gone ... never to reappear! About 6-7 years later, on Bruce Anderson's recomendation in the Garretson Enterprises newsletter, I switched to Swepco ... but not much change in shifting feel, because there wasn't a problem at that time. Swepco isn't a miracle cure for worn transaxles, but experts who work on transaxles say that gear oil contamination is a factor in wear and shifting quality issues on all Porsche-design synchromesh transaxles, and in that respect the Swepco is superior because it keeps particles in suspension in the oil rather than allowing them to be deposited on the critical synchronizer parts.

In my opinion, it is the wear reduction factor that is important in 915 transaxles, not the shifting quality issue. But, people who change from dirty gear oil to clean Swepco say it improves their shifting, and I am not about to disagree with that perception!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa
1992 Dodge Dakota 5.2 4X4 parts hauler

The reason that Swepco works better than synthetic in the 915, is the design of the syncros. The Porsche style syncros used thru 86 in the 915 are a multipiece(7 parts/syncro) design which NEED friction to work. When synthetic is used the required friction is reduced leading to relativly poor shifting(grunching)and higher effort. The G50's used since 87 have a much simpler Borg Warner designed sycro(think Ford Mustang) which does respond well to synthetic.

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Bill Verburg
My Home Page My Pelican Gallery page My Porsche Owners Gallery Page

Early_S_man; good answer

Any comments on Bill's post.re:need friction?

Yes, friction has been a requisite part of operation of the Porsche synchronizer operation since the mid-50s in 356 and 550 Spyder transaxles ... and I even questioned the usage of 75W-90 gear oil vs straight SAE 90 gear oil a few months back, because of the friction issue! I knew that both weights were listed in different pages of the '84-'87 spec book, but I wondered if it wasn't a typo by 'newhire' engineers at the factory doing 'break-in' documentation work ... that nobody ever caught! There are several obvious typos in the spec books done from '81 thru '87, and I just wondered about the gear oil issue and G50 vs 915 possible mixup! Bentley also has conflicting gear oil recommendations, and that is what caused me to acquire and look at the '84-'87 spec book in January.

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa
1992 Dodge Dakota 5.2 4X4 parts hauler

How about the 901 box (repeat of someone elses question above). I figure it is the same... and it can't hurt to try.

901 uses same syncros - all things mentioned for 915 also apply.

The impression I am getting is all I need to do is add swepco to my 915 and presto it is going to shift like a G50. Cool.
I say this because it is shifting very well with synthetic.
I have driven many of these cars so I have an idea of how these transmissions shift.
I would like some more feedback on this friction issue.