ZF 550 A Transmission Oil

ZF-Oil

I just ran into a customer who was asking this same question. I had run some oil samples for ZF transmissions using regular grade oil, needless to say, the PPM in the oil was about 3 times the specification from ZF. I would use a regular 30 Grade oil. Mercury High Performance Steering Fluid 0W-30 works good in most ZF Transmissions.

I have found that a NON detergent hydraulic oil such as any AW 32 is a superior transmission lubricant. I was told by transmission repair man back in 1975 to try it on an application that was needing major service every 2000 hrs! After switching to a non detergent oil the rebuild interval was extended to over 10,000 hrs. the agitation of the motor oil with detergents was allowing a foaming that was inhibiting the lubrication of the transmission.

Hello TK,

We are using a multi-grade oil in our transmission since April, a Volvo Penta S Drive Engine. It is working well so far. Yours might have much higher loads and temp. levels but the principles should be the same.

I believe the multigrade should be able to handle the changes in the temperature.

Regards,
Vivariva

Hi TK,

Most of the ZF's we work with on smaller CATs and Volvo D6, D9 and D12's run straight monograde SAE40 but we live in Northern Europe were the sea temp is a little lower than the Med or the Red Sea.

SAE30 will complement hotter climates a little but not make much of a difference in overall wear of parts. Stick with one but change it as often as the manual says.

I've mostly used straight 40 in boats in the Caribbean.

Hi,

That is correct, the same goes when using a mono grade engine oil, it is sometimes quite surprising how much the lube consumption can be reduced by changing from a 30 to a 40wt Oil - Monogrades are frowned upon by many new engine manufacturers today so please don't take this as read that all engines should be on straight 40

Since buying my boat of 6 yrs now it has used Mobil 1 Delvac 5-40w synthetic in the engines and trans (ZF350A). A while back I called ZF because I was reading the ZF manual and it mentioned use 40w. They indicated it was not a problem using multigrade oil in warmer climates such as Florida.