5spd Cold Tranny Fluid = Grind?

[RON]

i too have been having issues with a tough shifting 5 spd., especially down shifting into 1st is almost impossible. 2nd to 3rd when running hard is tough too, tends to grind if I dont hit it perfect. Any verdict on what is the best fluid? I'm thinking 1 quart of synchromesh, then fill with Redline MT-90. Whadda ya think, should I just stick with all Redline? Is the synchromesh too thin? GL-4 or GL-5?

I just put MT 90 in my SC 5 speed. A qt of synchro mixed in with around 3 qts MT90 would be fine. I live in So Cal, so REAL COLD weather isn't a problem and I went with 100% MT 90 (Synchro is lower viscosity). MT 90 is GL4 and has the EXACT viscosity range that Toyota requires (75/90) .Synchro is NOT RATED on GL system, but is equivalent of straight 30WT oil. Our cars are rated for "either GL4 or 5" (that's what my 1997 Camry manual says for 6Cyl 5Speed.."either GL 4 or 5"). BTW, GL 5 has been an *issue* on some cars not rated for GL-5 due to corrosion of BRASS synchros in many gear boxes.

[Slut]

its not THATTTT cold here buddy lol... got a little chilly but nothin under 40 yet.. im only a town away but yea I got mt90 in it... runs like a beaut.. only gear i grind is 5th and thats if im powershiftin really fast... plus thats after 120 but yea ive always loved redline.. i got it in my nissan too with 1 quart of there cherry syrup.. heavyweight oil... You should come check out the solara.. I just slapped the supercharger back on another block

[Slut]

i too have been having issues with a tough shifting 5 spd., especially down shifting into 1st is almost impossible. 2nd to 3rd when running hard is tough too, tends to grind if I dont hit it perfect. Any verdict on what is the best fluid? I'm thinking 1 quart of synchromesh, then fill with Redline MT-90. Whadda ya think, should I just stick with all Redline? Is the synchromesh too thin? GL-4 or GL-5?

I just put MT 90 in my SC 5 speed. A qt of synchro mixed in with around 3 qts MT90 would be fine. I live in So Cal, so REAL COLD weather isn't a problem and I went with 100% MT 90 (Synchro is lower viscosity). MT 90 is GL4 and has the EXACT viscosity range that Toyota requires (75/90) .Synchro is NOT RATED on GL system, but is equivalent of straight 30WT oil. Our cars are rated for "either GL4 or 5" (that's what my 1997 Camry manual says for 6Cyl 5Speed.."either GL 4 or 5"). BTW, GL 5 has been an *issue* on some cars not rated for GL-5 due to corrosion of BRASS synchros in many gear boxes.

and what he said is very correct. I cant use mobil1 75w90 in my nissan tranny because its not GL5 only GL4... I know the 5 is a modified newer, but it will eat up the brass like stated on some trannys so becareful.

[hskrsolara]

alright, looks like I will be driving 1.5 hours to the closest Redline dealer tomorrow and going with 3 qt. MT-90 and 1 qt Synchromesh. Should I buy a gallon of MT-90 and just leave the synchromesh out? Everyone speaks so highly of the synchromesh, I just don't want to use something too light in there.

[RON]

alright, looks like I will be driving 1.5 hours to the closest Redline dealer tomorrow and going with 3 qt. MT-90 and 1 qt Synchromesh. Should I buy a gallon of MT-90 and just leave the synchromesh out? Everyone speaks so highly of the synchromesh, I just don't want to use something too light in there.

I just put in 4 Qts of MT-90 yesterday and I can already tell the difference.
Very smooth engagement now. I don't see a problem with 1Qt Synchro, but our cars call for 75/90 and the synchro will *dilute* that a bit. I would try 100% MT-90 and if you still feel it's notchy, then drain 1 qt and add a qt of Synchro at that time.

[RON]

Just some fodd for thought:

http://www.freshalloy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119311

I just put synchromesh in my 91 fastback after having good results with it in my past Hondas/Acuras. To be honest, the shifting didn't seem all that different but the biggest noticeable change was the noise. Because synchromesh is so thin, you can actually HEAR your transmission when you're driving.

Now I don't know if having too thin of a transmission fluid is a good thing or bad thing for Nissans but aftering asking about synchromesh in other 240 forums, I decided to play it safe and use a 75w90 oil as recommended in the owners manual. I ordered some bottles of Redline MT90 after hearing some good reviews about it.

-----------------------------------------------------

All I know is that after using Syncomesh I started to get the death whine from my tranny. I'm back to MT-90 now but it's too late.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well in the same tranny I ran MT-90 for a year (with drift events) with excellent performance and no noise. Then decided to switch to Syncromesh when it was time change the fluid out, then after 1 drift event with a 16 hour round trip to get there, I started to hear the whine on the way back. So immediately I changed back to MT-90 and now after almost another year of numerous drift events and thousands of miles it's still whining along.

Now I'm curious if the viscosity was what did it. Since all the positive reviews I have read were for only Hondas that run water like tranny fluid
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I replaced my tranny fluid with the syncromesh about 5 months ago. After a couple hard runs, it started to whine. I still have it in there and its whinning really loud now. There is a big difference in sound when I push in the clutch at idle and then let it back out. I can actually hear the tranny stop spinning. I dont think I'd recommend this stuff. Its way to waterlike. I'm going put in some redline MT-90

[Gibson99]

after reading that, and his mention of hondas... well yeah, hondas recommend 10w30 for their tranny fluid. some older toyotas (my 88 for example) specify ATF Dexron III for a MANUAL gearbox. not sure why, but if that's what they designed it for, then that's what i'll use. then again, gears were grinding pretty bad on that old 88 i had, so i filled it with gear oil and though it made it a little stiffer getting into each gear, it almost completely stopped the grinding i had on the 1-2 shift. it would only grind when i slammed it into 2nd.

i had forgotten that syncromesh is thinner than gear oil, which is probably why we didn't fill it with 100% sm.

[Midias]

after reading that, and his mention of hondas... well yeah, hondas recommend 10w30 for their tranny fluid. some older toyotas (my 88 for example) specify ATF Dexron III for a MANUAL gearbox. not sure why, but if that's what they designed it for, then that's what i'll use. then again, gears were grinding pretty bad on that old 88 i had, so i filled it with gear oil and though it made it a little stiffer getting into each gear, it almost completely stopped the grinding i had on the 1-2 shift. it would only grind when i slammed it into 2nd.

i had forgotten that syncromesh is thinner than gear oil, which is probably why we didn't fill it with 100% sm.

Honda recommends Honda MTF.

[hskrsolara]

yikes, glad i bought 4 quarts of MT-90. guess I'll stick with that and wait on the synchromesh.

[Midias]

Odd you have the problem I run Mobil 1 75w90 and have no grind original clutch and 173k miles.

[RON]

yikes, glad i bought 4 quarts of MT-90. guess I'll stick with that and wait on the synchromesh.

If you want you can mix in 1 Qt of Redline MTL (with the MT-90) which is a grade thinner. People have done this mix. Here is link to MTL specs:

http://www.redlineoil.com/content/files/tech/47.pdf