manual trans fluid change.

[L33TFooMaster]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
I never see Redline gear oil at my local chain stores. However, most of my local speed shops sell a complete line of Redline gear oil.

Do you have any local speed shops?


None that I know of. This town is dead to that kind of stuff.

 

[kballowe]

Silly me - I always thought that a good 75W-90 gear oil was the best thing for a transmission. Many many years ago I was changing the clutch on a Dodge van and discovered that the manual tranmission had some sort of ATF for factory fill. Hmmmm. What's up with that?

In recent history we had a shifter boot leak on an '01 Miata. During the replacement we used a popular synthetic 75W-90 gear oil. The "before" was a transmission that shifted butter-smooth. The "after" wasn't pleasant.

Roll along a couple months and it didn't get any better. Changed out the lube for a specified "manual transmission" lube and it's now smooth as silk (again).


Now, I looked at the add packs for various products and had made up my mind that a good synthetic 75W-90 gear lube would be the best. That manual transmission lube doesn't seem to have much in it.

Yeah, I was wrong.

 

[Ankhmaat]

All my cars are MT and although I had SynLube in by FIAT X1.9 since it was 600 miles and it was never chagned in 30 years, I have recently replaced the MT on FORD FOCUS PZEV at 70,000 miles, sicne the ar had forced MT ol change due to clutch failing at 36,000 miles, I did not do it sooner.

WOW, the shifting is so much better especially when COLD and I have also noticed that I get just bit better mileage, I never got 400 miles per tank (I alwys go to FUEL LIGHT ON and then FILL UP) now I just bought gas last few times at 402 to 425 miles, nothing else has been chagned on the car sicne the clutch job about 3 years ago, so I do not think is is just a coincidence, unless someone just changed the fuel in Burbank I go to the same Mobil station since the car was new when I am at home.

 

[Ankhmaat]

PS: The oil is SAE 70W-90 MT SynLube Lube-4-Life was about $92.00 I change it myself one I found the darin plug (not easy on FORD) teh dealer wanted $132 for Motorcraft special MT oil that does not even have any API or even SAE viscosity number on it and they sell it at the deaelr for $42.00 per bottle, so actaully SynLube is not that expensive, especially if you do not need to change for many years if ever.

 

[Whimsey]

Last time I checked the Ford "synthetic MTL" was around $20-$22 per quart, still expensive but not $42/quart. I used it and it shifted no better than the $9 RP Synchromesh I have in there now. Both provide the manual tranny the extra protection over the original factory spec'd ATF, as in the case of my 1996 Contour.

Whimsey

 

[GMZ]

Either MT90 or Amsoil GL4 75W-90 would be a big improvement in both protection and shift feel. Ive used the RP Max Gear and the GL5 didnt eat up my tranny. It was very very notchy when cold, but once it was warm, oh man it was like...well Ill just say it was really nice. Much smoother than the MT90 I had in there before. Car was a 350Z btw.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I tried RP Max Gear once and it was the worst one I`ve ever tried. It was notchy when cold and VERY notchy when hot. I figured that`s because it has fm`s for rear differential specs.

Best I`ve tried were Amsoil MTG,Redline MTL,and Nissan MTF. All are dedicated manual tranny fluids.

 

[bronx]

I recently changed the trans fluid in my 2008 Tacoma 5-speed with Redline MT-90. It shifts better and my MPG has increased slightly as well.

Also get some Redline D4 ATF for your power steering while your at it.

 

[Geonerd]

Originally Posted By: L33TFooMaster
Originally Posted By: artificialist
I never see Redline gear oil at my local chain stores. However, most of my local speed shops sell a complete line of Redline gear oil.

Do you have any local speed shops?


None that I know of. This town is dead to that kind of stuff.


Try http://www.redlineoil.com/dealers.aspx
Hopefully you can find someone reasonably close by.

 

[heathenbrewing]

Originally Posted By: L33TFooMaster
So my 2004 xB has roughly 87k miles on it. The owners manual calls for it to be replaced every 30k miles with GL4 75w90. On other forums I've been reading about other owners using Royal Purple or Redline.

The Redline oil others have been using is MT-90. I assume that MT means Manual Transmission and 90 is the weight (like 75w90).

I'm sure that it's never been done before and I'd like to do it with my next oil change. Any opinions on spending extra cash for RP or Redline?


I own an '06 xB and can attest to the fact that the MT90 is the way to go. I am also part of a Scion club and 9 times out of 10, Redline is what others are running. M1 has caused a number of problems in these trans such as slipping and hard shifts. I know 2 guys who dropped the M1 after less than amonth and switched to RL. MT90 is a GL4 and is the best choice in your ride.

World Wide Auto Parts carries it in stock, and was $10.99/qt when I purchased last year.

 

[happyguy007]

Hey dear forummer, I have tried it out the Redline MTL in my mitsubishi lancer. I found out the shifting quality is great while the engine is cold but the shifting is not as silky smooth as while the engine have reached operation temperature. Would this means that the MTL vicosity is too thin for my car?

Thanks for any comment.

 

[d00df00d]

Either MTL is too thin or it has the wrong mix of friction modifiers and such.

 

[L33TFooMaster]

Originally Posted By: heathenbrewing

I own an '06 xB and can attest to the fact that the MT90 is the way to go. I am also part of a Scion club and 9 times out of 10, Redline is what others are running. M1 has caused a number of problems in these trans such as slipping and hard shifts. I know 2 guys who dropped the M1 after less than amonth and switched to RL. MT90 is a GL4 and is the best choice in your ride.

World Wide Auto Parts carries it in stock, and was $10.99/qt when I purchased last year.


Hey Heathen! I remember you from other scion forums. I have an account on every scion forum I can think of (save clubxb) but I usually just lurk.



In the end, I found a local shop that carried MT-90 at $14/bottle. Not that bad when you consider shipping and such if I were to order it online. So I changed the oil today, and WOW! What a difference! The difference it felt right away. Shifting is butter, it takes less on the bottom end to pull out (I squealed the tires pulling out on the hill by my house by accident). Reverse is quieter as well. Also, my car had a little bit of backlash when letting off of the gas (car would stutter like "uh-uh-uh") before changing the oil in the tranny, that's completely gone.

All in all, it was totally worth my investment! I'm more than satisfied.

 

[Greggy_D]

Good for you. Enjoy the next 30k miles!