3rd Gen Differential and Manual Transmission (6MT) Fluid Change

Yeah the front is a pain to deal with regardless. I'll pull the driver front wheel for access anyway so that should help.

The hose may stay on the ridge of the lube pump, but I'm guessing I would need to invert the bag (like an IV) and I'm not sure I have enough hands to pull that maneuver off. Worst case I can always cut off more of the tip to get the flex hose into actual oil.

OA

 

I'm also curious how the aftermarket fluid is doing. I did all 4 fluids at 30k, my diffs were pretty nasty but the MT oil and T-case oil looked great. Granted I didn't send any samples in. I almost bought the bag oil but the pump I bought worked well, despite not screwing onto the amsoil bottles.

 

Looking forward to this round of Blackstone results

 

I'm thinking about a gentle squeeze?

Yeah, the front is a PITA, but it is only a 1.6qt PITA! Hahaha!

I did that last after pumping the transmission and rear. It was a joy compared with the quantity of those and that little pump.

 

So I left work early today and did my diffs and transmission fluid work afternoon! That shitty pump made life hell as per usual BUT, I discovered the Amsoil severe gear bags have the exact same thread as the lube pump, which made the front diff actually pretty easy (unfortunately there wasn't enough room to angle the nozzle of the bag into the fill port for the front). Dumping the 4ish bags into the rear diff was so much easier than using a pump. For those using Amsoil, I highly recommend using the easy pack bags when possible.

Mod/Maintenance beer of choice today: Lagunitas Brown Shugga’

I've got 3 samples (front and rear diff and trans) to be mailed to Blackstone tomorrow. For shits and giggles, I'll post the sample containers and let y'all figure out which fluid came from which part (spoiler tag beneath the photos). Keep in mind the containers themselves are frosted so the fluid looks much darker than it did running into the drain pan. I put a bright LED flashlight behind each to get the color to show better. The dark area near the top of each container is where light didn't penetrate (i.e. if I move the light up or down behind the tube, the areas farther from light get darker).

OA

1:


2:


3:

Spoiler

1: Transmission - dark amber/syrup color in the pan
2: Rear diff - dark again, however, much less solids on the drain mag this time
3: Front diff - clearer than the "break-in" change; thin coating of solids drain mag

 

Front diff, rear diff, tranny?

 

This.
I see a hint of red on the counter in the middle pic...

 

Interesting guesses! I added a spoiler at the bottom of that post for the answer.

OA

 

Hahaha! That spoiler button is neato. We were close!

Thanks for the laugh.

 

Transmission, rear diff, transfer case.

 

You were close! No transfer case on this one.

OA

 

How's your transmission been treating you? shifting buttery smooth I hope. You have any little grinding accidents that you're expecting to see show up on the OA report.

 

Smooth for the most part but I’ve definitely had a few grinding incidents. The new ECU update from Toyota is already doing wonders for my clutch wear I’m sure.

That said, since the update I’ve had a few instances when I’ve “locked” out of first; it’s been so long since that’s happened that I didn’t notice and let the clutch out only halfway between N and 1. I wouldn’t expect it to show up on the report. I was kind of concerned with the color of the rear diff fluid again but we will see.

I also sprung for the TBN analysis this time - curious to know if after 20k the Severe Gear fluid has any life left to it.

OA

 

1st is triple syncro'ed, I believe. Sometimes it is rough to get them all to slide and align. The old trick was to quickly go to 2nd and then back to 1st. Our old saab was always difficult to get into 1st from a stop. Folks and I tried two different OEM fluids other than stock and ended up with Redline MTL. It still did it every once in a great while, but nothing like earlier. I'm not saying to switch to Redline, but sometimes it is just a characteristic of all those syncroes.

 

11/29/18 UPDATE - Front Diff fluid sample made it to Blackstone Labs and results are in.

Blackstone results are in! Kind of...

I USPS'd the kits to Blackstone since they pre-pay the postage. I used UPS last time since I typically don't trust USPS. I'm an idiot for not listening to my gut... the kits took a week and half to arrive at Blackstone Labs and USPS lost one of my samples. Thankfully it was the front diff (least concern based on a number of factors), and thankfully Blackstone only charges AFTER running tests. So the only thing I lost was a bit of time and mess collecting the sample; but still a frustrating issue.

On to the results! Some general comments for both oils is that they are much healthier in general after 20,000 miles than the stock situation after 10,000 miles. That's a huge deal to me considering they did twice as much work. I'm now totally comfortable putting 30,000 miles on my trans and diff fluid from here on out; and I will continue using Amsoil Severe Gear and Manual Trans respectively. Here's the abridged version for those on mobile who don't want to open the PDFs.

Transmission:

• 20k mile interval was no issue at all
• Metals lower across the board and within universal average limits
• No insolubles = minimal oxidation of the oil
• 30k interval for next go around!

Rear Diff:

• Wear rates are significantly better
• Somewhat acidic based on TAN
• Everything is at or below universal averages except Iron, Nickel, and Potassium
• 30k interval for next go around!

Front Diff:

• Significantly better than factory fill (and on a 10k mile longer interval)
• TAN is in proper range
• Across the board, all metals and fluid properties are within expected ranges
• 30k interval for next go around.

OA

 

Thanks!

 

Is the truck running the same

 

It appears that Redline has a new product that may also work for the transfer case. Redline MT-LV 70W75W GL-4. Which appears to have a low viscosity like LF, so it shouldn't rob any fuel economy like a 75W-90 gear oil. I have contacted Redline to see if this would work for our application, & I am still waiting to hear back.

In Canada Ravenol is unavailable on Amazon making it very difficult to get. So hopefully this is a suitable alternative.

https://www.redlineoil.com/mt-lv-70w75w

 

Here are some others that make the LF compatibility claim.
-Bravoil FMT-3 75w
-Morris Lubricant Lodexol MTFE 75w
-EXN-MTF 75w
-Royal Purple Synchromesh

 

I think you mean RP SynchroMax?

A