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There are many factors that can affect the service lifetime of a lubricant. In automobiles, one lubricant that has been heavily tested in recent years for fuel efficiency improvement and durability is axle lubricant. While a substantial amount of testing has been performed toward developing new axle lubricants to aid original equipment manufacturers to reduce warranty costs, improve Corporate Average Fuel Economy, and provide extended drain intervals, not as much testing has been documented to show some of the effects that different operating conditions have on these lubricants. The scope of this work is to bring to light some of the different parameters that affect axle lubricant.

The introduction of the continuously variable transmission (CVT) by General Motors required the introduction of a test to evaluate fluid for the ECOTEC VTi transmission. With assistance from Van Doorne's Transmissie (VDT), the belt and sheave supplier for the transmission, a rig was constructed to test fluids in a transmission-like environment without the variability of in-vehicle testing. The test schedule includes testing for fluid friction coefficient, shear stability, and wear rating and is currently subject to further work aimed at confirming repeatability and discrimination. Once confirmed, the new procedure will become part of the DEX-CVT® specification for the new service fluids for the VT20/25E transmissions.