Supposedly Jiffy Lube will drain and filter your transmission fluid and flush the tranny (?) with some fancy pump machine to get rid of all the metal particles, and they can put synthetic Mobil-1 in for around $70. I was planning on draining my tranny fluid myself (74K miles, don't think it's ever been changed) and putting in Redline MT-90, but I'm concerned that simply draining and refilling with synthetic won't be as good as this Jiffy Lube service. Anybody know anything about this?

 

I just know that I would not trust Jiffy Lube to work on my car. They may or may not do a thorough job. I do most of my maintenance anyway.

 

That's my feeling. I want to do it myself, but I couldn't flush the tranny like JL is supposed to be able to.

 

In a manual tranny, the fluid just sloshes around and lubricates all the moving parts, it isn't used actively like in an auto transmission. If you just drain the fluid I think most of the metal particles would come out because there aren't a myriad of channels like in an automatic. When I drained my tranny's fluid it was black.

 

That "machine" thing does not apply to Manual trannies--manual requires only a drain and refill. And I would NOT let those guys use Mobil 1 fluid in your MT--Mobil 1 fluid is GL-5 compliant, which will tear up your synchros. Use Redline MT-90 and do it yourself, have a mechanic do it, or MAKE SURE the Jiffy Lube guy uses the stuff you bring and only does a drain/refill.

 

If you can change your oil...you can change your MT fluid as well. Its that easy. Only recommendation is buy a tranny fill tube/funnel assembly and it will be super easy.

Oh yeah...one more trick, if you dont already have an aftermarket intake, is pull the stock airfeed tube (with the temp sensor in it) and everything to fill it is within easy reach.

As far as I know, there is no machine that will "flush" a MT. CLosest thing to do is many, short, concurrent runs/drains/fills. But that gets expensive.

Good luck!

 

Thanks very much for all the advice, guys. I'm definitely going to do it myself with Redline MT-90. Woohoo!

 

I know you had the same problem that I'm having now. I think I found the Drain plug for the MT but I'm fuzzy where the fill part is on the tranny. Could you help with the location. Not sure where to fill the tranny back up again.

 

I haven't noticed, does MT have a dipstick? That's the thought got me pondering.

 

There's a good how-to in the 4th gen section. It's a square hole on the driver's side where you will need a 1/2 inch rachet. Standards are a 3/8" rachet but I bought a 1/2 inch from sears. It was a ***** to get out the fiill hole so I had to take it to mr oil change and he had to use a long pole to get more leverage. I brought my own funnel and tube and RL-90 and gave the guy 20 bucks for his help. Any questions, send me a pm or something