Is this worth it?

[AntwaanRandleEL]

Is it worth it to change the manual trans fluid? My car has about 94 K miles. I know its not neccessay, but I know it can't hurt. Are there like synthetic trans lubes? Any recommendations?

[Jthompson]

don't waste your time with synthetics, I have seen this come up time and time again.

You have 100k on the tranny now, what possible benifits do you expect from synthetics? another 400k?

put in the suggested atf fluid.

Read the owners manual about changing the fluid--but it should be ok.

[chuck88]

Defintely change the fluid. My trans used to be diffcult to shift when cold I changed the fluid and it is much smoother between gears cold or hot. 100K miles maybe you shopuld consider rear end fluid to. Just my 2 cents.

chuck 88GT

[crazypete]

I disagree with people that say the redline makes no difference. My old t5 had upwards of 130k in it and the synchros were so shot that you would have to pause for 1-2 seconds between each gear and double clutch and all that good stuff. I tried that jacobs oil stabalizer sh*t and it made the tranny 10 times worse.

Finally, before deciding to scrap the ole t5, I said lets try redline atf. WOW!!

WOW!!

(Well after flushing the jacobs out of the t5 twice with gear oil)

I can almost shift it perfectly every time. I get a little buzz going into 5th but otherwise, I can slam it from gear to gear, upshift, downshift, almost good as new. Do it. And, if your tranny is actually good to start, I can only imagine how well it will work then

[HotRoddin]

Originally posted by crazypete
redline atf.

Wait a minute, I'm lost here .... are you telling me you guys are putting Automatic Transmission Fluid in a manual transmission ?
If thats the case then the new manuals are sure different than the old ones ???? They use to use a 80 or 90 weight extreme pressure lube ... ATF is nowhere near that. Somebody please explain, i'm confused

[Maroon 5.0 LX]

Originally posted by HotRoddin
Wait a minute, I'm lost here .... are you telling me you guys are putting Automatic Transmission Fluid in a manual transmission ?
If thats the case then the new manuals are sure different than the old ones ???? They use to use a 80 or 90 weight extreme pressure lube ... ATF is nowhere near that. Somebody please explain, i'm confused

Almost all standard transmissions are now using ATF.

[HotRoddin]

Originally posted by Maroon 5.0 LX
Almost all standard transmissions are now using ATF.

I gotta start gettin out of the house more !!!! lol I haven't messed with a manual tranny in 15 years ... can you tell ? lol

[82 GT]

Originally posted by crazypete
I can almost shift it perfectly every time. I get a little buzz going into 5th but otherwise, I can slam it from gear to gear, upshift, downshift, almost good as new. Do it. And, if your tranny is actually good to start, I can only imagine how well it will work then

Are you trying to tell me that changing your tranny fluid with Redline ATF magically cured worn synchros?
If that's the case, then there would be no need ever for people to replace their worn out synchros.
I hate to be a skeptic here but I just don't see how that can be.

[crazypete]

Apparently, someone had used regular heavy gear oil in the tranny from it's smell and dark brown color. Smelled a bit burnt, too.

I thought it was a bit too good to be true, but hey, I'm not complaining. I also put in one of those manual clutch adjusters and turned it a few times to get a better clutch disengagement: that helped things a bit too (it was barely releasing: the plastic self adjuster piece of crap was smoothed off almost, you could feel the pedal jump as the teeth slid, I would have to lift up on the pedal every few traffic lights).

Mind you, I never actually opened up the t5 to look at the synchros so I'm talking out of my *** in a way, but why else would it be unshiftable?

Also.... voodoo magic, but when I put in the 3.73's, all of a sudden, it became much easier to shift. Maybe the transmittion is possessed. This was, by the way, a recovered ricer stang. The grey lower half that you see was canary yellow originally and all the vents and speaker grills and knobs were painted canary yellow too. I had to replace half the interior. Thank God it didnt have fart cans on the exhaust

[ChunkFunky]

I know you're talking about MANUAL trannys here.. but people will tell you, if you dont change your Automatic Tranny Fluid regularly then not to change it at all.. I dont know the technical stuff.. but I guess there's seals and crap that swell up over the years and the new fluid is so different then the old nasty fluid it can effect that stuff... I dunno if this is true.. or if it applies to mannuals... but just thought I'd bring it up...
-as

[82 GT]

Originally posted by crazypete

Mind you, I never actually opened up the t5 to look at the synchros so I'm talking out of my *** in a way, but why else would it be unshiftable?

Probably because of the worn plastic clutch quadrant. There are many reasons why trannys won't shift correctly.
In most cases, it's the 2nd gear synchro that go bad first. I don't think I've ever heard of all of them shot like that.
That's why I say it was probably the worn clutch adjuster.
REDLINE ATF might be good stuff but it's not magic in a bottle.

[HotRoddin]

Originally posted by crazypete
but why else would it be unshiftable?
it was barely releasing: the plastic self adjuster piece of crap was smoothed off almost,
you could feel the pedal jump as the teeth slid,

Ok i know they haven't changed manual transmissions THAT much !
Generally if your clutch isn't completely disengaging, it stands to reason the trans is gonna shift hard ?? No mystery there ?

[AntwaanRandleEL]

Well for those of you that say I should, I think I'm gonna change my trans fluid, can't hurt. Can anyone suggest a brand?

Ummm...it was mentioned above many times. Redline ATF. It's good stuff!