Shifting degrades quickly after fluid change.

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I have a Ford Ranger with the wonderful M5OD Mazda manual transmission.

I have tried many different brands and I have changed the fluid about every 10,000 miles for the first 50k since new. Fluid always comes out black as night. Now have 60k on the truck and its needs to be changed.

Shifting gets bad rather quickly. Looking for a suggestion that I haven't tried yet.

I've tried the following
Redline D4
Mobil 1 Atf
Specialty Formulations
Ford Fluid (factory fill, and whatever dealer uses for service)
 
I have the exact same truck with the same trans.
Amsoil MTF. (Thank you Pablo!) Best shifting that I have had to date. Shifts amazingly well.
 
Quote:


I have the exact same truck with the same trans.
Amsoil MTF. (Thank you Pablo!) Best shifting that I have had to date. Shifts amazingly well.




How long have you run that fluid?

Everything feels great at first, but that quickly goes away. Factory rec's 30k interval. I can't imagine doing that.
 
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Factory rec's 30k interval. I can't imagine doing that.



I went about 70K on the factory fill before I knew any better (thanks to this site).
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So far the trans is holding.

I've probably only got about 5K on MTL, but all is still well. There are a couple of very good UOAs (for different trans) in the UOA area.
Was the D4 one of the better fluids you tried? I've never run it before.
 
Give the Royalpurple Syncrowhatever a try.

Since you require ATF and seem to be roasting it quickly, I would step up to a ~30wt fluid.
Redline MTL, Amsoil MTF, Pennzoil Synchromesh, RL hightemp ATF, Amsoil ART or ATD, Honda MTF..... should keep you busy the next 80k or so miles.
 
For a trans out of warranty, I have often replaced the recommended ATF with a slightly heavier fluid such as Redline MTL or Amsoil MTF. I would probably stick with the ATF in a really cold climate, but the MTF and MTL will maintain better shift feel for a longer interval. Once these units get some miles on them, they can often benefit from the thicker fluids- quieter operation, etc.
 
Since its a synth, you probably won't notice the slightly thicker manual tranny fluids.

ATF is ~7.5cst
Synchromesh is ~9
MTL/MTF's typical fall in the ~9-11 range
90wts are ~15

A couple points either way usually isn't noticeable. But, jump up/down between ATF/90wt and you'll regret it.
 
Put the Royal Purple synchromesh in. First drive was short but I have 2 comments.

1. Shifting was very smooth. Interested to see how long it holds up

2. Truck felt slower, perhaps the added vis of this stuff over ATF is harder to turn. I'm going to track economy over the next few tanks to see if there is a change. I'm also going to run some Gtech runs to see if there is any change. I think there will be, it really feels different.
 
You're using RP Synchromax, not the Maxgear, right?
PS, if you're looking for Redline in the OC try Super Autobacs in Stanton. It's not the cheapest place but they stock it.
 
Not good!!! I drove it on the highway today. Significant decrease in passing power. Feels like I'm pulling my motorcycle trailer at highway speeds.

Haven't put enough miles on it to track fuel economy yet.
 
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