Don't wanna get hosed by a transmission shop

Happy holidays everyone. So I have a 2006 Tacoma 4x4 6 speed manual, love her. Buuut 5th gear grinds no matter what i do. Talked with a few buddies and did some research and I hear it may be the Syncros in 5th. I just changes the slave cylinder out today and change the trans fluid just the other day as well. Now I woulda called a transmission shop but its late on a Saturday and wanted to get everyones opinion on what the job should be around price-wise. I have no clue how to do it myself and I'm gonna end up getting it done by a professional. Thanks ahead of time for the input

 

Don't wanna get *hosed* by a transmission shop?

Pun intended?

 

I would first try replacing the fluid with something much heavier. I had bad grinding going into 3rd in my 6spd and going with lucas 85w140 paired with a half a quart of lucas heavy duty oil stabilizer cleared things up for me. Does it grind going into 5th right when you first start driving or after its up to temp/ youve been driving for 20-30 minutes?

 

Might be able to ride it out while longer using heavier fluid. The 6spd 4wd only holds 1.8 qts so once it gets hot, the fluid doesnt offer much protection. Mine is supercharged and i speed shift it from time to time and the heavier fluid has worked wonders for me. Its like molasses trying to pump it into the trans and its more difficult to shift until it comes up to temp. After that, its smooth sailing

 

Just like an automatic, just because it's a small problem the labor is about the same as a rebuild.

You don't want to tackle it yourself?

 

Car-part.com is where id search for a used trans near you. If youre shelling out the money, get a 2013 or newer one as they revised the internals and synchros to try to improve this issue. The earlier 6spds are known for having synchro issues, but my 2013 had the same issues too after adding boost

 

Try Redline MT90

 

No its right when it starts and driving for awhile. I'm 90% sure its not fluid cause I just changed it being that was one of the things I've read up on them. Only by letting the RPM's drop to almost idle will it not grind and go in

 

Did with no avail

 

Id still give the heavy fluid a shot. 25 bucks for fluid is cheaper the 600-800 for a new trans. It does sound like yours is on its way out though.. most wrecking yards offer a 6 month warranty on used trannys, so you can have a little peace of mind buying used in that regard. Just be sure to ask about warranty when purchasing one

 

I bought a used 5spd and it came with a 6month warranty.

 

A newer trans will be fine?

I Did just did heavier fluid, mt90.

 

Just wondering if you said you changed the ATF... did you fill it to the right height (is there enough) ATF in the transmission?

 

I did it after to attempt to fix the grind. 1.9 qts is what It said and yeah. Still grinds. As well just this afternoon I changed out a leaking slave cylinder and still grinds when shifting into 5th. I can skip from 4th to 6th easy. But 4th-5th grinds, and 6th-5th grinds.

 

Newer trans will be fine yes.

redline mt90 is not any heavier that the stock 75w90. Im talking about using 85w140 and adding oil stabilizer to make it even thicker. Redline mt90 sucks imo. I ran it and it did not perform well for me.

 

Also, Lucas 85w140 is Dino oil, not synthetic like the mt90. That will help some too

 

Its what I read and added it. Once I get the Syncros fixed or get a newer/used trans I'll try even thicker. But I'm not trying again to just end up with the same results.

 

A lot of ppl on here recommend the redline mt90, but it hasnt stood up in my experience. If youve got the $, a newer trans will be way better, just run heavy fluid in it from day one so you dont end up in this situation again down the road

 

find a local garage, best way is word of mouth, talk to them

 

So if a lot of people have recommended it and it worked we should disregard the majority and go with what one person says, that’s you. I had a shifting problem as well grinding going into 5th gear on my 06 X runner. After changing to the MT90 it took about 2000 miles of normal driving to smooth out but eventually the grinding went away and now 40k miles later still no problem. OP, Try it and give it time, what have you got to lose?