Hey guys. Just joined here after having a ton of trouble finding useful info on a different forum. Anyway, I picked up a 2000 Grand Vitara a few months ago (V6, AT, 4WD). It had one previous owner, an old man who babied it. It's my first 4WD vehicle and so far I'm loving it. These things are super underrated.

I'm wondering a few things about changing fluids though. I've always done my own work on my other cars, so I don't expect I'll have any trouble with this one. I changed the engine oil when I bought it (5w30 Mobil 1) and aside from the horrible, horrible location for the oil filter, it wasn't too bad.

Before I dive into the transmission, differential and transfer case fluids, I'm wondering what brands/weights are recommended. I know that's usually a touchy subject on forums but I'm having trouble finding info so far, and the manual I have only covers capacity, but not weight. Most of the info I'm finding online is for the wrong year/engine/gearbox. Figured it'd be easiest to just ask!

A little extra info: it has 95k on the clock and will be used for about 85% on-road use and 15% off-roading. Nothing too serious, really. I've always used full-synthetics in my other cars, but I drove them a hell of a lot harder. The GV is a daily driver that's going to see occasional light off-roading, but I'd like to keep it happy for as long as possible.

Anyway, thanks in advance for the info!

- Sonny

P.S. Here are a couple of photos I took the other morning after having new tires fitted: http://motorcars.tumblr.com/

Welcome! I'm going to move this post to the GV section for it's quite active and I think they could help you out in a jiffy.

Good luck, Eric

Sonny -

Welcome and congrats on the new car!

I've been running 75/90 synthetic in the rear diff and t-case in my Tracker.  I've used whatever brand I could get locally which generally was either Amsoil (my first choice), mobil 1, or Valvolene (sp?).  For the front diff I've just been using non synthetic 80/90 weight since my front diff probably only covers 100 miles between fluid changes since I have manual hubs.  I didn't see a point in putting the more expensive stuff in the front end.  I've got the 2.0L in mine and tried mobil 1 5/30 early on in the car's life for three oil changes.  It burned it off at such a high rate that I switched back to regular castrol 5/30 which fixed the problem.  Just something to look out for.

I've got a 5-speed so I can't comment on the automatic exactly; however, I've used synthetic Dexron III compatible fluids in another car's automatic and it did make a very slight improvements in shift quality.  I'm not sure it was worth the extra money, but if it makes you feel better to have synthetic then go for it in yours.

Frank

Sonny - like Frank I have the 2.0 with the 5 spd and can't comment on the automatic - however I'm running 75w90 Mobil1 synthetic GL5 in both front & rear diffs and the transmission & transfer case.

A couple of points to note - the GL5 is fine in the differentials, BUT, you'll find folks who say not to put in the tranny & t/case, where a GL4 is what is recommended - this relates to the sulphur additives used in some GL5 oils attacking the brass synchro rings.  I've had no problems doing it, and I've been doing it on both this and another Suzuki that I've had for many years.

I'm just giving you the details, and the reasons so you can make you own decision - I can't find a 75W90 GL4 synthetic here, so my choice was to use the Mobil1 GL5, and so far I don't regret it - on the other Suzuki (a Swift), it makes a major difference to how the tranny shifts, with the synthetic it's a really smooth, sweet, shift.

Last thing - on a 2000 GV you need to jack the front end up to get the correct amount of oil into the diff - the fill hole is too low, there is a TSB somewhere in here that documents it, but you need to get 1 litre of oil in there.