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

Hahaha!

 

Then again, if a vehicles needs a power steering flush (shit gets dark and goofy after 100k) we do have some killer stuff from BG. Gonna be doing Puddle Jumper here in a few weeks.

 

It's good preventive maintenance.

 

Awesome write up and research OP

Thank you

A MUST READ

 

Dealer quoted: $887 for 30 K service. Private mechanic: $1,091. Who would you use?

Both include changing (4) fluids, oil change, tire rotation, air and cabin filters, fuel injection "cleaner " and a couple of other minor things.

BTW - when I told the private guy that "I'm going to hold off for now", he started hemming and hawing and asking how much Toyota charges and saying "we don't overcharge, but we will match Toyota. Yeah-right.......

 

When I did mine in 2018, it was less than $250 in fluids and gaskets. Just giving you a baseline.

 

Going on 9500 miles and it’s pretty dark.
Manual transmission fluid. Also noticeable small amount of glitter in the oil.

 

Small amount is normal.

Also the first change being super dark is normal, as long as it's not sludgy, thick, viscous etc

 

What fluid did you change it to?

 

Yeah I was expecting some metal just like the engine oil the first time. Glad to get all the old stuff out. I bet the shifts will be much better. Haven’t taken it out yet hehe

 

MT-90 since it seems more liked than AMSoil. I topped off with AMSoil around 4K miles because my transmission was low. Instantly quieted the transmission down. I noticed the two oils (stock from the factory and what I added) were actually separating when I had them in the drain container and was spilling it into my oil canister. AMSoil is more thick and more of a clear yellow color whereas the MT-90 I put i. is slightly red tinted and seemed a little thinner. API GL4 of course. I counted the hand pumps. 326 lol.

 

Yea I think I’m going to do mine “early” also. I’m creeping in on 5k miles … so probably before summer I’ll make the change to the MT-90. Was the mt 90 similar to the Toyota stuff ? The separating thing is no bueno … Toyota designed this trans with a fluid spec in mind. Don’t want to deviate too much

 

There's more room to play as far as oil weight goes with the manual (vs monkeying around with the auto)

MT-90 is liquid magic. Can't wait to hear y'all's results

 

It definitely seems better right away. Shifting into gears is silky smooth and I noticed less low speed noise.

 

Pretty good write up gathering everything I need to get this done in the coming weeks, so far I've got two trips to Utah and a lot of highway/gravel commuting in between at 76k mi with 30k mi whe the dealer did it last.

 

Swapped fluids out of the transmission and front & rear diffs this weekend for the first time. Was at 30,950 mi. I think the transmission fluid was kind of dark, but both the oil from diffs looked much lighter and clearer than I expected; kind of a dark-ish honey color.

I used Redline MT90 and I was not as blown away as I hoped after reading comments here. Does it take a few miles to 'break in' ?

 

It is pretty much immediate in my experience. Sorry to hear that.

 

Interesting

 

My guess is you're not blown away because at 30000 mi the stock fluids barely had time to get worn out at all. Lol

 

I noticed a big difference. Swapped at 7k and then again at about 50k. At 95k now and thinking a swap is in my future.