Manual transmission gear lube

this...

i did mine about 18K miles ago and noticed in the cold it was a little firmer until it warmed up. i take it easy until it warms up.

 

Another MT-90 acolyte here. But I have noticed that below about 25 degrees Fahrenheit it is notchy until the truck warms up.

 

I was looking for Redline when I did mine a few thousand miles ago. The internet said O'Reilly carried it but they didn't have any. I bought the Lucas full synthetic and it says on the label that it exceeds GL-4 and GL-5 specifications. My truck had fewer than 12,000 miles on it when I bought it from a local Toyota dealer so I can only assume the fluid in there was the stock Toyota stuff. I always thought it shifted a little notchy.
Since I couldn't readily find the Redline, I bought the Lucas and immediately noticed an improvement. My wife noticed it as well so I'm certain there's no placebo effect.
IF you can't find Redline, give the Lucas stuff a try. I've been very pleased with it. I may change it again next summer since it only takes (less than) two quarts and I think it was a little under $15 per quart.
Now, I can even pull it down into first gear when I'm rolling into my driveway and I couldn't do that before without that clunk, if I was going very fast.
I just used the Valvoline synthetic Wal-Mart flavor for my rear diff.
Change it soon!

 

When I first got my 2007, I just about sold the truck because of the transmission. Worst manual I had ever driven. Information about this lubrication issue was almost none existent, but clearly there was something going on with the synchros. I consulted my buddies still active in the racing world. Some of them had home brew oils to improve shifting, so I learned some things through that dialogue. I ended up setting up a trial of 6 or 8 lubes. The list included Mobile 1, Valvoline dino oil, Amsoil MT oil, Lucas, Toyota branded oil, Redline and a couple of others that I can't remember at the moment. The trial took a long time and cost a bunch of money, because I ran each oil for about 5,000 miles. Some less, some more. Some were better than others, but by far the best was Redline MT-90. Another Tacoma guy helped me with evaluating the use of Redline MTL in cold climates. It worked really well in his off road race truck at low temps. This is the reason I beat this drum so hard about Redline products. Toyota doesn't even know what to run in their own trucks. One reason I'm NOT a Toyota fan, even though I like my truck. The continued use of Redline has steadily improved the shifting, and I'm ready for my third fill now. There are problems with this transmission that are inherent and cannot be fixed, but to a large extent, the shift quality can be very good.

I don't even bother trying to find Redline locally. I order mine from JEGs. Their pricing is good, they have the stuff in stock, they package it well, and they ship FAST.

 

Well stated! I'm going to try Red line soon.

 

Ordered some Redline MT 90-GL-4,goes in next week.I'll let y'all know the results.

 

I had the new gear lube installed,Redline MT-90-GL-4. My mechanic did it for free,I bought the gear lube.It does feel better, but have not used the truck after it has sat in the cold for a prolonged period, I will know more when I go out today,12* in my garage this morning.

 

I run MT90 in my tranny and at anything below -15C or so everything is stiff - the clutch, shifter throw and the shift are pretty rough. I always let my truck warm up thoroughly when its really cold though.

 

I just ran the truck into town,and it is noticeably better. It seems to warm much easier.

 

It should continue to get better with time and the better fluid in there.

 

GL5 is fine. "expensive synthetic gear lube" is absolutely meaningless -- need to know the BRAND.

Regardless of the specifications of the oil, not all oil is the same or behaves the same way, especially in cold conditions.

For instance, I once tried out mobile 1 mt gear oil, it was a 75w90. HORRIBLE stuff. Very notchy shifting, sometimes grinding, useless in a Canadian winter. Dumped that crap out and replaced it with AMSOIL gear oil with the same spec. Buttery smooth, even in the middle of January.

 

Went with Redline 75/90Wt-GL-4, seems much better.

 

Yeah, I've heard good things about redline gear oil as well. But like I said (and you've found), there are some oils that, even within the proper spec, don't work well with these transmissions.

 

Ditto on the Redline, I've changed my trans & diff fluid every 30k and now with 150k it still shifts like it's brand new.

And a dumb-ass hack like me can do it, just need the right sized socket and pump contraption to refill. The correct redline fluids can be purchased online.

 

Not sure why one would but if you run a conventional oil be cautious of the GL-4/GL-5 mix that all parts houses carry of varying brands. If you turn the bottle over and read the label on the back they state GL-4 specification is for Hypoid Gears "aka your axles", and the GL-5 specification is for manual transmission.

Bye bye soft metal parts.

 

Does anybody know if Toyota puts GL-5 into manual transmissions? I have a 2012 with manual, recently got a clutch replaced, and I'm not sure if they put GL-4 or GL-5 in afterward. The manual says either, but I'd rather have GL-4 in the transmission.

 

I use MT90 and mine shifts hard when cold in the winter. Shifts fine once I'm a few miles down the road. Figure it's normal for this transmission.

 

What? Get him to put that in writing if you can as your brass parts may already be screwed if he really did that. How can you overfill this transmission? I guess you can but you'd have to do it on purpose. Start doing this type work yourself!

 

That is not OK for our MT. That is hypoid gear oil. It is not for brass synchros.

 

Same and same . . . trans can be a little stubborn when cold but gets going when up to temp.

Edit:. Also use MT90 every 50,000 miles, changed twice so far and coming up on another one soon.