Put simply, the "lifetime" spec refers to the length of the warranty.

Now is a good time to do your diff, transfer case, and transmission (plus filter) fluids.

Your vehicle will thank you for doing regular fluid changes.

This has been covered ad nauseam on the forum; do a search if you want more info. Or reference the Porsche Cayenne service intervals.

 

thanks Pry, I totally agree that it should be done, my question however (although not clear) is what are other people’s experience at the dealer? Volkswagen Australia state it’s included in the $790 cost however the dealer says it’s an error

 

Seems that wherever you are the dealers don't know sh@t from shinola. I had mine in for a fob reprogram and they said "oh you need a trans service". I said it's lifetime according to VW but they insisted and quoted me USD250 which is not much more than id pay for the fluid. Booked an appt, took their loaner then an hour later they called to say they can't do it. I said there's a jug of VW TC fluid in the car so how about swapping that for my inconvenience. Of course they said no.

 

Diffs and Transfer case fluids change is really easy to do by yourself.
My advice is to put in transfer case the VW OEM oil because of specific additives for the chain and torsen diff in this box...

For the diffs (assuming no limited slip diff) it is less sensible, you can put VW OEM oil or better. In my Touareg, at 60000 km, I've put 75W140 axle oil from Castrol, Long life version. Then I've changed the oil at 150000 km, it was crystal clear (gold shining) withj no particle inside like brand new. My mechanic could not believe this oil had 90000 km of service (and 4 years old) . When I saw the old oil, I was even disapointed to have ordered this service !!!

If you have limited slip differential in the rear (not my case) , put limited slip oil of course.

 

Everyone should just be sure to use OEM VW fluid for the transfer case. It has been mentioned a few times where using anything other will create a binding when turning at slow speeds. Not sure why this happens but I can confirm that swapping out to OEM VW fluids gets rid of the binding feel.

 

What's weird is that they want to "Renew" 5 out of 7 things on that check list. How do they renew them instead of replacing them (which should be done)?

 

I use as "i understand it" based on the following as VW are somewhat secretive as to the supplier and specification of the transfer case oil under their part number in order to maximise their ability to charge rip off prices

1. In the Porsche Cayenne world the Shell TF- 0870 is widely quoted as the OEM oil supplier. The TF-0870 number appears to have been first used by Shell and now other suppliers quote the same number.
2. The transfer case is the same on the Porsche and Touareg where the torsen centre diff transfer case is used.
3. Multiple suppliers of transfer case oil for the Touareg quote the Shell TF-0870 specification equivalent oils from people like Ravenol and Febi

Now you cant believe all you read on the internet but there are a limited number of OEM oil manufactures and a limited number of transfer case oils out there

Part of the confusion comes from the fact that there are multiple types of transfer cases each with their own oil requirements and much of the BS written comes from people not understanding the differences
i.e
A straight bevel gear transfer case combined with a Haldex rear diff e.g. Golf R32
An open centre diff transfer case with mechanical lock up e.g. most early 4WD in the 80's and 90's and before
An electronic progressive lock up diff tranfer case using wet clutches e.g 7L Touareg 4X motion
A torsen diff transfer case e.g. 7P Touareg 4 Motion

My comments only apply to the Torsen diff style transfer case in the Touareg 7P

 

You can certainly go through the machinations to rationize buying Shell fluid or to deduce an equivalent oil..or..you can pay the $35 once every X years as I did and invest your energy elsewhere. Each to his own.

 

I just hate buying an unidentifiable fluid from a car manufacturer who did not make it in the first place at an inflated price. So yes each to their own

 

I cant disagree with you on that.

 

I remember Mance did a bunch of testing on power steering fluids a number of years back, shortly after VW changed the spec.

His VOA tests showed that the new formulation has significantly less zinc, a critical component to reduce wear. The old formula was getting harder to find, so he branched out to find the aftermarket PSF that had as good or better specs. The verdict? RedLine. The bonus? It's cheap, and readily available almost anywhere.

Just because it doesn't have a VW/Audi logo on it doesn't mean it's not as good, or better, than the OEM spec fluids.

 

Yes thats part of the poblem in that the actual oil specification is not stated by VAG for their cars just a part number on a bottle of oil. You need to carefully research the equivalent and understand what differences may exist which is not always esy to do. What Redline oil did you use that caused the prblem.

 

I used Redline MT-90. This is the RedLine recommended oil for the Audi 012 transmission, which is the same basic transmission the Boxster uses, but apparently the Boxster has some special Porsche modifications to make it more of a hi-performance transmission. I also talked to a Redline engineer, and he said it would be suitable as well, but he would actually recommend the 75W90NS instead, although either should work. The Porsche forum people went nuts, and said I was crazy not using the factory oil from the dealer, which like VW, does not state the actual specs. Turns out the forum people were right, since the shifting is noticeably impaired from the factory oil. I am going to switch back soon, but haven't done so yet. Maybe the 75W90NS would have been okay, but I am not going to risk it again, changing the fluid on that transmission is difficult.

I initially assumed it would work because the popular Boxster repair manual "101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster" said any 75w90 gear oil would be fine, but it turns out that this popular book had wrong information.

On my Touareg I just used OEM fluids for everything, because I didn't want the headache of possibly getting it wrong. Lots of people on forums will claim X is compatible or meets the specs, but they usually have no real evidence, and different people have conflicting claims and recommendations. Using something else is fine if you can really be 100% sure it meets the specs, and that the manufacturer will stand by it if anything goes wrong.

 

As I understand it the boxster diff is a hypoid gear set which requires a GL5 oil. However most GL 5 oils dont work well with synchros due to their friction characteristics as they are designed to stop wear in the siding gear teeth of the hypoid diff gears and thus typically dont produce enough friction for the synchros.

Redline MT 90 is a GL 4 oil and should not be used for hypoid gear sets. Maybe the Redline 75W90NS would worked. This is one of the few cases I would stick with the OEM oil as few transmissions have a Hypoid gear set combined with a manual gear box, most use non hypoid diff gears as most are in transverse engine installations

 

Anyone tried Liqui Moly Dual Clutch Gear Oil 8100 in their transfer case? LM websites lists it as recommended product for vehicles with VW G 052 536 specification, which is T2 spec. Note: I did use OEM, but just wondering in case OEM will not be available when I'm due for the next fluid change.
Cheers!