Gear box oil again

[VAN with a PLAN]

30 year old sheared oil or fresh oil and maybe if unlucky a weepy seal that isnt dear or difficult to replace.... I know which I would prefer..

I quite agree, plus I think we can all assume that 30 years is well past Volkswagens intended 'fill for life'! This is why I intend to change my gear oil soon. I simply wanted to raise the point that getting overzealous with gear oil changes is unnecessary and can raise issues that most of us DIY mechanics are unaware of.

I've only owned my van for 10 months or so, did 3K miles last year, on target for doing double that this year. I will probably change my gear oil every 5/6 years.

[Red Westie]

Hmmmm...Aidan (a well repected and expert G/Box reconditioner on this site) says 2-3 years or 20,000 miles.
I said 3-4 years 30,000 miles (ex VW technician, factory trained)
You say 5-6 years 30 - 36,000 miles (oil additive expert) based on your current mileage.

Somewhere in all of that is about right I'd say..lol

As we are all basically singing from the same hymn sheet our collective advice is.....to change the gear oil straight away if the history is unknown.
Then change it regularly based on the collective opinions above lol.

GL4 or GL4/GL5

Martin