As truck makers and the industry face significant pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy, Shell has obtained official Allison TES-295 approval for a new transmission lube, Shell Spirax S6 ATF A295, which can improve fuel economy.


This is a synthetic extended-drain heavy-duty automatic transmission fluid.

"This is a very difficult specification to meet," notes Stede Granger, OEM technical services manager, on highway transmissions and axle. Tests measure ability to meet standards in areas such as viscosity coverage, shear stability, oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance, friction stability, etc. For example, he says, Allison doubled the length of a tough GM oxidation test for this spec. A copper-strip test that is normally run for three hours had to be run for 330 hours.

The new Spirax 295 product will allow for oil drain intervals up to 300,000 miles, compared to a more typical 25,000 miles with a mineral-based product, Granger says.

"We believe our product has superior friction stability over the competition," he says.

The lube was developed specifically to meet Allison's requirements for their highest specification tier, but it also can serve where applications require GM Dexron III type products, such as power steering and some hydraulic systems. It meets all specs based on Allison TES 389 and TES 295 such as Cat AT-1 synthetic ATF.