Put wrong manual trans fluid in now what?

[goodoleboy]

Hi, im a newbie here but been reading for a while now.
My problem is that i put GL-5 manual gear fluid in my nissan frontier manual trans. The correct fluid nisan recommneds is only GL-4 which is redline synthtic mt-90 i have already oredered and recived.

Questions

(A)How do i get all the fluid out of the transmission besides pulling the drain plug?

(b)Will mixing of the remainder of the fluid after it has been drained cause problems with the GL-4 fluid or the transmission

(c)Did i cause any damage?

It has been in there for about a month but only put 500 miles on it since the change

 

[TooSlick]

If the fluid you used is GL-5 and MT-1 rated, it will probably be just fine. I've used GL-4/GL-5/MT-1 rated, synthetic gear lubes in transmission/transaxle applications for over twenty years and had zero problems with them....

Most manual transmissions can use either GL-4 or GL-5 fluids, but only REQUIRE the lower additive levels of GL-4, since the gear tooth contact loads are fairly low.

Tooslick
Dixie Synthetics

 

[Spector]

Unlike automatics where a drain and fill only gets about 50% of the fluid on a manual the gear oil drain and fill should get almost all of the 0ld gear oil out.

 

[Bror Jace]

'boy, which GL5 was it? Can you cite brand and weight?

The older (cheaper?) GL5's used a lot of sulfur-based anti-wear adds which would initially attack the metal surfaces before protecting them and this attack was a bit too much for light duty applications.

Newer, quality gear oils are much less corrosive.

As Spector said, if you decide to change it (probably the safe/smart thing to do) a simple drain is all that'll be required.

You can do a search on "Nissan" in this subsection to find out what the popular GL4 choices here are.

--- Bror Jace

 

[DEWFPO]

I use a hand vacuum pump/tank (like a Suck-Up or MityVac) to vacuum out all/most of the manual transmission fluid in my truck. It works like a charm. Make sure the fluid hot, it comes out a lot easier.

DEWFPO

 

[MolaKule]

Goodoleboy,

Warm the unit up, drive into the garage, and Just yank the plug and replace the fluid with the Redline MT90.

My Nissan Frontier has a drain and fill plug for everything. Love it!

 

[sprintman]

When I changed from OEM dino to Redline i just drained the diff, add 75W90, ran it around for a week and drained and refilled again. Qty so small it was worth doing IMO.

 

[Robbie Alexander]

Run it or dump it youre choice. No, you don't need to WORRY....
If you have a problem Shifting, then change it.

 

[bulabula]

I used to have a '91 Nissan pick up with 5 speed. At about 20k, during a visit to a "quick oil change place" I was was talked into a transmission oil change too. (I was active duty Navy then and didn't have a good place to change it out myself and thought it was a good idea).

Anyways, they didn't have the appropriate GL-4 oil, but did have lots of GL-5. The guy convinced me that since the GL-5 was rated better than the GL-4 it would be ok. I didn't know the difference back then and bought off on his idea.

Fast forward a year or so, talking to a Mobil 1 chemist I learned there was a difference and that I should dump that stuff ASAP due to possible synchro problems. I did. Now fast forward another 6 months just south of the DC Beltway at 80 mph where my transmission locked up and turned my truck into a bucking bronco thru 3 lanes of traffic.

The forensic investigation afterward said that the synchro's were severly eroded and one disintegrated into chunks that locked the transmission up.

I can't say for sure that the GL-5 caused the failure 100%, but do feel that it had a considerable part in it. The quick oil change Chain disavowed any responsibility.

If it was me, I'd change it. BTW, afterwards I did use M1 GL4 with great success.

 

[widman]

GL-4 tipically has the same additive package as a GL-5, but at a 50% level. So even if a little stays after the change, maybe you will end up with 60%.... no big deal. On the other side, I've seen a lots of Nissan manual transmissions last forever on GL-5. I sold a Nissan 4x4 with 450,000 miles on it and GL-5 for at least the last 300,000, changed every 30,000. But there are different transmissions and those with flater synchronizers have less tolerance of EP additives.