Thread: Troubled Tranny

For stock or nearly stock HP, Redline MTL would work for you in the Madison climate. Especially with winter coming. In the south, I use MT90 because of its higher viscosity. It really helps smoth out shifting. I noticed it even when my car was new. It may buy you a little more time before you have to pull the tranny out.

I do not drive in the winter so i am not sure what i am going to do. I might pull the whole thing, clean it out, and take a look at it. I will get some MT90 for when i put it back together.

Well i did find out that the Mobil1 75W-90 is GL-5. I went to a local parts store that was suppose to have some MT90 but they did not carry it anymore. So i asked what else i should use and they suggested Amsoil 80W-90. So i bought that but when i got home i looked at it and noticed it was also GL-5. So i will take it back and go to another shop that sells Redline and pick some up. I am hoping it helps a little bit and i can get another summer out of the tranny before i have to change it.

if you can get amsoil, there equivalent to mt90 is mtg.

edit link- http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/mtg.aspx

Thanks, i will stop by today and see if they have it.

There's some "GM vehicle specific" penzoil stuff in a yellow bottle that's GL-4 I believe. Had to get some in a pinch but never ended up using it. Been rocking Redline for the past 6 years.

Well i got some MT90 in last night and it is better. It was a tad cold (50's) and it seemed the oil was a little thicker than the Mobil1 stuff but it was better than before. I still have a little issue with the engagement point. If i press the pedal in too far it does not want to go into gear, there is a little sweet spot. I am going to try and reinforce the clutch bracket and see if that helps.

glad to hear it worked for ya. i'll be putting my mt90 in next week sometime

If you having trouble finding Gl4 you can always grab some stalube from napa. It's 85w-90 so it's a little bit thicker then recommended. I put this in my car after a clutch job becuase I didn't want to wait for amsoil to be shipped. My intention was to swap it out but it's bee working so well I have left it in. It will make it hard too shift when it get down below the 20's but anything above that your good.

I used it as a temp and the fact that it was only $17 for 4 quarts as opposed to the $50 for mt90.


If you can't shift into gear still after a week or so it might be time to look at your TOB and clutch disc.

I drove it to work today and its even better. It shifts smooth and even at high RPM it will go into gear without issue. But it still have the issue on where the pedal is. I think i will adjust it a little bit more and see if i can get it in a better spot. I might also put a stopper on the floor so i can not push the pedal all the way down. I will see if i can get my friend to weld the support on the clutch bracket this weekend, i am sure it will help after hearing what Andreas has been saying.

Edit:
During my quest to figure this out i went to several parts stores and tried to get their opinion. All of them recommended GL-5 based oil, only 1 carried a GL-4 oil, and most of the guys at the counter said that GL-5 would not hurt any GL-4 tranny and GL-5 is better. This is not true as i have proved with just replacing the oil and nothing else. I am trying to find out what Nissan says to use.