heyguys. just did a trnny swap on my 5 speed. I've been pondering about which gear oil to use. I heard redline mt90 was good but its so dam expensive now! also I heard about penzoil syncromesh.
I came across Valvoline 75w90 gear oil. the bottle specifies that it meet's or exceeds api gl-4 specs which is good. but also says that for gl-5 which made me nervous because gl-5 has chemicals that eat the metal in our tranny's.
I was wondering if anyone used Valvoline gear oil and how well itworks. thanks

also I have a ground connector that I can not figure out what it connects to. driver side grounded to fenderwall by tranny mount under spiral tubing.

 

I run Amsoil in all my Maximas. You can get some Amsoil from our Vendor named talkinghorse in the Group Deal/Vendor section

 

Hi,
This is a little off topic, but I wanted to post my experience in the hope it helps others.

When I replaced the tranny in my 97 5spd, I looked all around and was unable to find straight gl-4 locally. I don't know why, but I cannot bring myself to pay that much for redline or amsoil and have it shipped to me. So I did the only thing I could, put syncromesh in. This was in June of last year. Shifting was ok, little notchy, and I had to come to a complete stop to go into first, but it was a used tranny, I figured it came with the territory. Fast forward to last week, I found 85w90 GL-4 at a Napa 20 miles from my house. It was the only place I didn't try before, as the Napa in my city didn't even know there was a difference between GL-4 and GL-5.
The difference is amazing! I was having some input shaft bearing noise on syncromesh, it isn't gone all together, but drastically reduced. I got used to hearing a click whenever I changed gears, that's gone completely. Shifting is smoother.

Apparently, from online reading, the viscosity of syncromesh is quite a bit lower (thinner) than the GL-4 I put in. Syncromesh doesn't hurt the syncros, so it's still ok to use, but my tranny is much happier with the correct GL-4 fluid. Thanks to NAPA for having a gallon of liquid gold!

 

As you found out, synchromesh is not the correct fluid for your transmission. Not only is it the wrong viscosity, but it also doesn't contain the proper additives required to protect your transmission and ensure proper operation.

People sometimes complain about the cost of AMSOIL and other premium fluids, but I don't see how they save money by purchasing and installing the wrong and/or inferior products, and then replacing them with other stuff when it doesn't work out for them. Concerning shipping, the cost of transportation is also included in the price of goods sold at local stores...it's just rolled into the retail price you pay.

AMSOIL Manual Transmission and Transaxle oil is a premium quality synthetic GL-4 lubricant that is specifically formulated to be used in manual transmissions/transaxles requiring a GL-4. It's designed to excel in severe-service conditions that exceed the limitations of conventional fluids and it has twice the service life of conventional oils.

I know how much NAPA charges for the Sta-Lube product, and in the big scheme of things AMSOIL really isn't that much more especially if you buy at wholesale (see ad in Group Deal/Vendor section). When you consider the major leap in quality, performance and service life, the total life-cycle cost of using AMSOIL is generally less.

Good luck with the NAPA/Sta-Lube oil. I'm glad you got the synchromesh fluid out of there.