Until it warms up, the 1st and 2nd gear shift is quite difficult. The trans in question is on an 87 4Runner rocking a 22RE. I'd like to go synthetic and maybe free up a few ponys and mpgs.
Are the seals marginal on these? I'd hate to spend the money only to barf it all out.
What would you do?
What would you recommend?
i don't know about that specific transmission, but the syncros in some transmissions don't agree with synthetic oils..
What fluid is it calling for?
Its probably a synchro issue.....
Some guys swear by Redline MT90.
If it was me I wouldnt bother with anything but the cheap stuff. The W56 is just an Aisin transmission like the AX5.
What weight does it ask for?
My favorite in 75W-90 is Motul. I used in in my old Mazdaspeed3 after going through the worn factory mystery fill and a short round of Ford European Focus gear oil that seemed to make it notchier than before (and it HATED the cold).
The Motul is quite smooth in below-freezing temperatures, and like a hot knife through buttah when up to operating temp. I've also used Red Line in my old non-turbo FC, which is also very good, but Motul is my poison.
I forgot to say that its only when its cold out, like 30 and lower that 1-2 is a problem. Never an issue in warm weather or once I put a few miles on it.
Manual calls for grade API GL4 or GL5 in 75W-90 or 80W-90. 3 liter capacity.
Synthetic GL4 or synchromesh.
That's a common problem with Suzuki trans, and we use synchro. It's also a GL4
I'll second the Motul.
Ill need to try Motul next time. I replaced the oem MT fluid in my hyundai with the appropriate weight Redline fluid, and it made it MORE notchy. Annoying.
Appleseed wrote: I forgot to say that its only when its cold out, like 30 and lower that 1-2 is a problem. Never an issue in warm weather or once I put a few miles on it.
Ahh, my bad.....If it were all the time the fluid wouldn't change anything.....I also recommend Motul 
Thanks. Looks like I'll give Motul a try. Were's a good, cheap place to pick up 3 liters?
Never tried Motul, but I'm sold on the Redline MTL. Took my Hyundai Elantra from a bitchy, grinding, notchy piece of garbage to acceptable shifting with no grinds.
My '89 Toyota was pretty notchy no matter what, but it did leak all of the oil out over time. Redline is expensive stuff to puke all over the driveway.
failboat wrote: Ill need to try Motul next time. I replaced the oem MT fluid in my hyundai with the appropriate weight Redline fluid, and it made it MORE notchy. Annoying.
Really? Mine got less notchy, and definitely less likely to grind 2nd due to the factory syncro that's made of a Faberge egg's remnants held together by the tears of an infant.
Appleseed wrote: Until it warms up, the 1st and 2nd gear shift is quite difficult. The trans in question is on an 87 4Runner rocking a 22RE. I'd like to go synthetic and maybe free up a few ponys and mpgs.
The 5 speed in the Celica was like that when I bought it. I just dumped what was in it (some black, tar like substance that may or may not have been gear oil at sometime in the distant past) and replaced it with whatever the book called for- 80/90 I think.
Made a world of difference. I was sure the transmission was junk, but after changing the oil, it works great.
FWIW, I used whatever generic stuff they had at the auto parts store. At the time I was pretty sure it wasn't going to do any good and I didn't want to waste money on synthetic. You might try the cheap-o route before you drop the dough if you just want to get it working right. Or at least to "flush" the gearbox of whatever nastyness is in there before replacing with something more expensive.
failboat wrote: Ill need to try Motul next time. I replaced the oem MT fluid in my hyundai with the appropriate weight Redline fluid, and it made it MORE notchy. Annoying.
Ditto on this. I replaced whatever cheap E36 M3 was undoubtably in my MSM with the FM-recommended Redline fluid and it's awful.
Bad enough that i'm going to dump it out next week after only putting maybe 2000 miles on it and replace with something else.
I was once told taht you shouldn't run synthetic in a manual box that wasn't designed for it. Transmissions are voodoo to me, but they do, as I understand it, rely on some measure of friction to do what they're supposed to do. When I was working on my '72 Capri, the general though was that synthetic oil worked too well for the synrcos to do what they are supposed to do.
If its old, and the synchros are worn try something lighter- I had an old Commanche that wouldn't find second gear without a crunch, ever. Drained the gearoil, put in ATF and it shifted fine for the 6 or 7 years I drove it afterwards.
Wouldn't do that on something that was used hard, or for towing. I might drain half a liter out and top it up with atf, though.
I went from ATF to Redline MT90 in the MR2 and it doesn't grind on high rpm shifts anymore.
Depends on the trans, though...I went from GM Syncromesh to Mobil1 synthetic ATF in the M5R2 in my SC, and that was a good upgrade, too.
Not that it is a Toyota manual, but I feel like now is a good time to get my dirty secret off my chest...
I put Walmart store brand 75w90 gear oil in my subaru transmissions and diffs and I have been doing it for years.
Whew! That feels better.
In reply to Ojala:
Walmart fluids are actually pretty high quality.
I second changing the fluid with fresh, just cheapo 75w90 and see how it does.
This is a very interesting series of comparison tests of different gear fluids: http://www.goodsenseoil.com/G2457-GearOilWhitePaper.pdf
Having never done a fluid change on a trans before, how do I go about doing this? I assume it'd be good to get it warm. If it is filled with black goo, is there anything I should do to flush it out, or just drain what I can and let the new mix with the old?
You'll likely have a drain plug and a fill plug, pop the fill plug first, then the drain, these will likely be very tight. Typically speaking, on level ground you fill till it starts coming out the fill hole in the side of the case. If you get black or silver junk out, you can flush with cheap motor oil or ATF, just run it through the gears on jack stands, carefully, and drain.
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