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

Found one like that now, I’m gonna keep her! She buys parts for the truck

 

I must be doing something wrong, my wife and I will be celebrating our 29th anniversary in a few months, first marriage for both of us. That said, we were 35 when we met and had both "played the field" for, well, a long time, so I guess we kind of already knew what we wanted.

 

That is great.

Mine doesn't partake in the mod fun, unfortunately.

 

I’m looking at ordering those Dimple drain plugs also, what factory drain plugs are already magnetic? I believe I read the trans is not?

 

You read incorrectly.

That being said, the factory magnets are abhorantly weak. So soon as they have even a little bit of grime on them, they're pretty much useless

 

Damn! This just popped up for me. Definitely thinking about doing those on my next oil change. 22 Sport MT with 8300.

 

Good time for the diffs and MT, IMHO.

 

FWIW, I did mine at about 35k miles and the rear diff fluid looked like new but the front was black with a bunch of sparkles in the fluid.

Used red line so I’m good for a while.

 

Mine dropped into a black pan, so it was hard to evaluate, but they both looked dark for such a short run. Getting close to doing them again.

 

Its been on my to do list for quite some time.

 

Has anyone noticed improved shifter feel with a non oem fluid ?

 

Ravenol

$29 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75W-90 semi synthetic has been an improvement for me. Motorcraft

$33 XTM5QS Ford Genuine Ford Fluid XT-M5-QS Full Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid - 1 Quart , black

XTM5QS also was but it was more expensive and I like the Ravenol better.

 

Black fluid on your first change isn't a problem, especially if the fluid isn't thick and doesn't smell burnt.

Now the sparkles..... Keep an eye on that. Normal wear, but ideally it never gets worse than a few sparkles.

 

At about 30K I swapped the factory fill for Motorcraft XT-M5-QS, it made a noticeable improvement in shifting smoothness. (Meets Toyota specs.)

https://www.motorcraft.com/us/en_us...ull-synthetic-manual-transmission-fluids.html

Rock Auto had the best price.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/motorcraft,XTM5QS,transmission+fluid,13630

I'm a pretty slow driver (and shifter too), frequently second especially would not quite grind but you could feel in the stick the syncromesh being not quite fast enough, the fluid change eliminated the problem on the first trip around the block.

Overall the transmission instantly felt smoother, slicker. I'm at 45K now and it shifts very nicely. Lots of fun to drive.

 

It is a pretty easy task, just a bit pricey for all that diff lube.

 

Absolutely. I switched to redline MT90 from OEM and the trans feels much smoother. I use to often hear synchro noise (possible grinding) when up/downshifting to 2nd gear. I’ve never again experienced this with MT90.

 

Oil changes are done, trans and tcase ended up not having magnetic plugs in them. Not too hard to swap out without loosing minimal fluid though. I will say it feels way better with the MT90 in the trans.

 

MT90 is magic

 

As someone who has owned 4 third gens (all TRD ORs). I've always flushed differentials at 20k. What I recently found interesting is when I flushed the rear diff on my '21 at 20k - that fluid was still in relatively good shape, still transparent, and missing the normal smell of wrecked gear oil. Sure there was a little metal on the drain bolt magnet but that is to be expected. My prior 3 third gens when flushed at 20k drained fluid that looked closer to used diesel oil. The '21 has not been used any less or more or in any different manner than the prior trucks. Just interesting to see such a substantial difference...

 

Was the fluid dark and runny or dark and thick?