[lo bux racer]

My manuals are still packed up in a box somewhere. I have the MTL, I bought three quarts, but I'm not sure it's enough.

 

[lo bux racer]

I would. If you run synthetic, 10w-30 doesn't need viscosity modifiers, so the oil maintains it's viscosity much better than running 5w-30 which does require VI modifiers.

 

[lo bux racer]

75w-90 GL-5. You're better off with Red Line MTL IME. It's made for transaxles. Gear oils aren't necessarily designed to work well with synchros. Make sure the oil you get specifies transaxle applications.

 

[lo bux racer]

Good for what? Shifting?

I'm very skeptical of mixing lubricants when there are so many good inexpensive choices designed to work with transaxles.

I can assure you, using an oil that does not meet the manufacturer's specification does most certainly void any warranty on your gearbox. I have been told that repeatedly by Toyota and Getrag. Mixing oils means you are on your own if you have a failure.

 

[lo bux racer]

Yeah, it looks like 33104 is the drain and 33101A is the fill. I'll get under there and take some pics tonight. I'm going to change my oil to MTL anyway.

 

[lo bux racer]

Those are them. Be smart: remove the one with the sticker first. If you don't, the oil will splash everywhere when you drain it because the air vent isn't intended to flow enough to drain the gearbox. Top one first, bottom one second with a good sized drain pan underneath. Be sure it holds at least a gallon.

 

[lo bux racer]

Pep Boys won't have Red Line products. You'll need to go to a race shop for that. We have Tognotti's in Sacramento, they're a grocery store sized high performance shop (primarily domestic, but they have import stuff too, and they have all the good oils and goos you need).

 

[lo bux racer]

MTL. It is specifically designed for transaxles. That's what the tC has.

 

[lo bux racer]

Fill until it drains out of the top hole. It's not possible to overfill, the excess just pours off.

 

[lo bux racer]

I've run MTL in more than one transaxle calling for 75w-90. I get almost 3% better gas mileage just from using MTL, and I've never had synchro issues or differential issues. I've put it in 3 different AE-92 Corollas, 4 different AW-11 MR2's and my '93 GTS Celica. Never had anything even close to a transmission problem. I'll take the fuel economy any day.

 

[lo bux racer]

It will just keep your wallet fatter from saving gas.

 

[lo bux racer]

I changed mine tonight too. I had an hour and a half drive from Napa to home, so the oil was nice and hot, good for a change. I covered the subframe with aluminum foil to keep the oil from splashing all over it, but it still made a huge mess. I even let it drip from the drain bolt for a good 10 minutes before I completely removed the plug. It kept up a pretty steady stream, but as soon as I removed the plug it gushed out everywhere. Thankfully the aluminum foil did keep the oil off the subframe, so the only thing to clean up was the floor. Man, what a mess!

I'll have to take it for a spin and see if third gear is still cantankerous. I hope it will work better now. FWIW, it took a little less than 3 quarts, but it was easy to do other than the spillage.

 

[lo bux racer]

This is what you really need. The other stuff is intended for differentials and contains a slip additive that is not friendly to synchros.

 

[lo bux racer]

A few pics of draining the gearbox are here. I left out the massive spill after I removed the plug completely. I should have left it draining as you see in the pics and had a beer or two while I waited to let it drain slowly. I had to clean the floor with laundry soap to get the oil up.

 

[lo bux racer]

Originally posted by goldenchild@Aug 3 2005, 09:06 PM
ok I am about to change my gearbox oil and I am going to go with redline, but should I get the redline 75W90 NS? or what...not sure the temperatures here are speratic, so if that makes any difference

Not NS. Just MTL or MT90. Or the Amsoil from the other thread. Any of them will work fine.

I change the oil in my Supra every 20k miles. The tC isn't scheduled for a transmission oil change until over 100k miles. It's really up to you, whatever you feel comfortable doing. Gearboxes aren't terribly hard on oil unless you spend a lot of time at WOT.

 

[lo bux racer]

I haven't noticed anything different except reverse being a bit more touchy when leaving the garage in the morning. Definitely not anything while moving forward. I had just a few ounces left. Was the car level when you filled it?

 

[lo bux racer]

That sounds about right. I had about 1/3 or maybe 1/4 of the bottle left when it started overflowing. Sounds like you're being hypersensitive. I honestly have not experienced as great a difference as I have in the past with other Toyco transaxles, but I have missed third a lot less.

 

[lo bux racer]

Originally posted by hamster@Aug 15 2005, 03:12 AM
okay.. i got another question... call me paranoid, but the way i see it, its better to look stupid and ask questions to learn than to look smart and be quiet and be dumb.

I didn't lower my car when i added the MTL so that probably means that i added too much gear oil to my car.... is too much is bad? i remember reading a post about having too much motor oil.. i know that is bad... is the transmission the same way?

Not really. Just extra fluid drag. Maybe an aeration problem, but as the kind of difference you are talking about, I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[lo bux racer]

Then run MT-90. They also told me to run D-4 ATF in my Supra's Getrag and it damaged it. I have a lot of experience running MTL in Toyotas. That's why I'm using it. If you'd rather follow their advice, there's nothing wrong with it.