OK, this past weekend I decided to do the fluid swap to the Redline MTL in the manual trans.
First I want to say before the change, I had a lot of the common issues.....nibble into 1st, 2nd, and sometimes 3rd. It would get better when warm, but was sometimes nibbly even warm. I never had issues with it NOT going into any gear....
Now, I pulled the car on ramps in front, the lifted the rear to level it, and used jack stands on rear. (I don't have access to a lift).
The old fluid was already almost black (I don't know how it looks from the bottle though). It had an odor I'm not really familiar with. Now I was a tech for Ford for a while, and I don't recall a manual trans fluid smelling like this. It's hard to explain.
Now there were no metal flakes, or synchro material in fluid at all.
Now, the Redline MTL has a good color, and a more normal gear lube smell to it. I used a cheap fluid transfer pump from Amazon to fill it. The tube it came with didn't reach all the way to the bottom of the bottle, but I pumped away, using 3 quarts....BUT I didn't completely empty the bottle because of the pump tube. Now I used a piece of mechanics wire bent to where it was shaped like a J to check fluid level since you can't look in the fill whole, and my finger couldn't get in there either....now on this wire, the short part of the J I bent to be 3/4 inch long.
Spec from the manual is 2.7 quarts, or 1/2 inch below fill hole, so I used my homemade level-checking tool to dip in to check level. Worked like a charm....it was filled to spec.....the tube from the pump being too short worked our for me.
I started the car and drove around the neighborhood to get the fluid to spread around. I let sit over night to let fluid soak into synchros (not sure if this is necessary, but oh well)....
This was Saturday. Sunday and today I put about 30 miles on it, and I am happy to report a noticeable difference. Nibble seems to be gone, and shifts seem firm, smooth, and precise. Now this is still a stock shifter/bushing car, so there is still room for improvement of course.
It feels great warm, and when cold, my nibble is gone......let's see what more miles does for it!
Sorry for the long post!!!!!!!
Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app
First I want to say before the change, I had a lot of the common issues.....nibble into 1st, 2nd, and sometimes 3rd. It would get better when warm, but was sometimes nibbly even warm. I never had issues with it NOT going into any gear....
Now, I pulled the car on ramps in front, the lifted the rear to level it, and used jack stands on rear. (I don't have access to a lift).
The old fluid was already almost black (I don't know how it looks from the bottle though). It had an odor I'm not really familiar with. Now I was a tech for Ford for a while, and I don't recall a manual trans fluid smelling like this. It's hard to explain.
Now there were no metal flakes, or synchro material in fluid at all.
Now, the Redline MTL has a good color, and a more normal gear lube smell to it. I used a cheap fluid transfer pump from Amazon to fill it. The tube it came with didn't reach all the way to the bottom of the bottle, but I pumped away, using 3 quarts....BUT I didn't completely empty the bottle because of the pump tube. Now I used a piece of mechanics wire bent to where it was shaped like a J to check fluid level since you can't look in the fill whole, and my finger couldn't get in there either....now on this wire, the short part of the J I bent to be 3/4 inch long.
Spec from the manual is 2.7 quarts, or 1/2 inch below fill hole, so I used my homemade level-checking tool to dip in to check level. Worked like a charm....it was filled to spec.....the tube from the pump being too short worked our for me.
I started the car and drove around the neighborhood to get the fluid to spread around. I let sit over night to let fluid soak into synchros (not sure if this is necessary, but oh well)....
This was Saturday. Sunday and today I put about 30 miles on it, and I am happy to report a noticeable difference. Nibble seems to be gone, and shifts seem firm, smooth, and precise. Now this is still a stock shifter/bushing car, so there is still room for improvement of course.
It feels great warm, and when cold, my nibble is gone......let's see what more miles does for it!
Sorry for the long post!!!!!!!
Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app