Synthetic gear / MT oil

Cool, maybe I'll give it a shot. What are the notable differences btwn that and the stock stuff in your experience?

 

Dayum...$22 quart on Amazon! Does it rub your balls for you when you clutch?

 

@BeaverNation are you running it in your t case too?

 

I've heard good things about that Ford fluid but it's expensive as hell. Redline isn't exactly cheap either but it's not that high, and it gets great reviews as well. Made my shifting noticeably smoother.

Redline also makes an oil called Shockproof in both heavy and light formulas, but it's more expensive and I haven't heard many reviews on it for Tacomas. Supposed to be even better though.

 

It is expensive but I think it's totally worth it. This after I was just complaining about the price.

After all, the cost over a couple years fades quickly into the black hole of mod expenditures

 

I've Run the Redline MT-90 in an NV3550 and it shifted nicely. I haven't changed the trans oil in the Tacoma yet, I might run the MT-90 when I do.

The diffs on the Tacoma I'm running the cheaper Amsoil 80-90. Amsoil is to expensive for me for the engine. I'll stick to Mobil 1 for that.

Amsoil and Kendall are grade 4 oils and have very long service lives. Redline and Royal Purple are grade 5 synthetics and have amazing protection, but don't last as long as a grade 4.

Biggest thing is actually changing it as suggested by the manufacture.

 

Lazy question: how many quarts for the tranny?

 

Full synthetics in both my engines, diffs, and transmission. No noticed difference but I still happily load it up.

I'm switching to Amsoil from Mobil 1 now.

 

Ok, I'm about to order the Ford XT-M5 stuff on Amazon but I don't see where it specifies the viscosity...

Is this the right stuff?

$31 Ford Genuine Ford Fluid XT-M5-QS Full Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid - 1 Quart , black

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Ford...&ie=UTF8&qid=1507064593&sr=1-1&keywords=xt+m5

 

About a month ago I had to do a shifter assembly bearing and seal on my fathers Mazdaspeed3 and decided to do a fluid change while I was in there. After refilling with OEM Mazda fluid there was terrible groaning from the LSD and average at best shifter feel.

So many on the Mazda forums recommended the Ford fluid over all else; I don't think I've ever experienced a simple fluid change make THAT big of a difference before, in any application. Now it's quite and smooth as can be. I have no idea what they put in that stuff but from what I have experienced the hype is definitely real.

 

I was pretty convinced and about go with Redline and then I read the same thing on a Mazda forum about the Ford stuff. So what about the viscosity? I don't see 75/90 anywhere on the bottle...

 

Ok, found this

https://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubrica...ransmission+Fluid&category=Transmission Fluid

 

Alright, ordered the Ford / Motorcraft stuff. Should get to changing it in the next day or two. Will report my findings if anyone's interested...

 

You may or may not have 'instant' success of feel change. Some folks in my experience do, some don't. Partially depends on what you are coming from and if any issues are actually improvable via fluid.

I will add this for encouragement. The first couple of generations of Miatas had an off the shelf truck 5 speed. LOTS of folks who used them for autox and HPDE, as well as full on track rats jumped on the Ford bandwagon. Many of them had significantly upgraded HP as well.

As with most synthetics, if you are pounding on the vehicle (extreme duty) keep your OCIs at that level. If you are just a causual user with occasional additional stress, double your OCI. Otherwise you're wasting your time and $.

Look forward to your thoughts after having it in for a hundred miles or so.

 

I'm trying to smooth out the shifting. This transmission has always been a little clunky going through the gears unless I'm really paying attention. It isn't intuitive like all other manuals I've driven. It is to some degree driver's error on my part in the sense that if I'm paying a lot of attention to my shift points and time the clutch just right, I can glide right through the gears. On the other hand, the lag of the drive by wire mechanically disconnects the truck from the driver. It takes less effort if I'm really winding it up to say 3k + rpm for regular around town driving. But, I don't really like to drive that way - I'm a pretty conservative driver. Typically I shift around 2k unless I'm getting on the freeway for example, or am in 4 low. So I find myself really paying attention to shift points, as I already mentioned.

This is probably obvious after the aforementioned, but I'm definitely not pounding on it. Although I almost found my rev limiter recently while passing an RV up a steep grade in Grand Teton park...

OCIs? HPDE?

 

Oil Change Intervals (or lubricant)

High Performance Driving Event

Be careful not to shift at too low an rpm and lug your motor!

 

Ah, got it.

Definitely not lugging it. I only shift low when I'm barely on the throttle - down shift if I need to get on it a little harder - or what is probably normal to the average driver.

 

I legit shift the exact same way. I feel like reading around here you’ll see everyone winds every gear out to 3500+ which seems absurd to me. But I feel like I experienced a similar learning curve with this transmission shifting more conservatively.

I changed the MT fluid with Amsoil at 10,000 miles; between that and true break in its silk in that range now (shifting in the high 2ks) and cruising otherwise.

OA

 

amsoil in everything since '78. never a problem.

 

I'll usually shift around 2500rpm in low traffic/flat roads. I'll shift around 3000rpm if going uphill or merging into a freeway.