When I changed my clutch this summer, I put some 80w90 fluid in my transmission. Normal stuff, said it was for gl4 and gl5 applications iirc.

Anyway, since its gotten colder in Kansas, my gearbox has been a notchy rubbery pos and really really tough to get into gear.

I broke down and bought 5 quarts of mt90 on the web for 7 bucks/bottle with like 6 bucks shipping to kansas. It arrived in 3 days from Pennsylvania.

Put it in on Sunday.

WHOA.. this is by far the biggest change I've felt in my car in a LONG time.

Even with 24 degree temps, windchill in the single digits, my gearbox feels tight and crisp, no more notchiness, no more rubbery feeling until it pops into gear. Glad I finally did this. I know my car thanks me for it. The fluid is very fluid even at cold temps so far, no more thick honey feel to my transmission.

If you dont have it already, get it.. its worth every penny.

 

yup...i agree..never use gl-5, it eats our gears.

 

i love the stuff too, where did you buy your latest batch from ?

 

I just replaced mine for the same reason. Notchy on cold mornings. MT90 from Summit, under $50 shipped to my door in 3 days. Notchy shifting is completely gone. The wife even noticed.

Before I got the MT90 I went to the Nissan dealer in town to try to get GL-4. Their parts department said..... "We upgraded to GL-5" and showed me a bottle of Pennzoil GL-5. I told him I was looking for GL-4 and he said that it was the same thing and that it would be fine. I just smiled and walked out.

 

Yeah the dealers are clueless. Complete dumb@sses.

 

Can this stuff be used in -40C winter ???

i am looking to flush mine tx

 

I did the same exact thing and gave me a bottle of pennzoil and I looked at the bottle and it said GL-5 and I told the guy my car only takes GL-4 and his reply was GL-5 is better.

 

what about heat? does heat, well obviously, but how does heat affect tranny flud?

 

You should be able to use MT90 if you have been using GL4 with out any issue, the MT90 will feel better than the GL4. If your concerned with the weight look at Redlines MTL it is lighter weight than the MT90. Alot of the Z guys run MTL when the syncros are getting crunchy.

 

is that redline fluid synthetic? Anyone ever have problems switching to synthetic in the tranny?

 

Yes the Redline fluid is synthetic..... my Max is an auto, but I'm running MT90 in my Z32 with great results. I don't know of any issues from switching the gear box fluid to synthetic.

 

I know this may sound stupid, but a mechanic once told me that changing the transmission fluid in a manual transmission can sometimes lead to problems? Anyone heard this before?

 

Dont they sell both MT90 non synthetic and synthetic?

 

I think all the gear lube is synthetic based
here's a link: http://myoilshop.com/AutoPrds.html

 

thanks for the link, how many quarts are needed for a fill?

 

I'm using MT90 and like it. There's nothing wrong with switching to synthetic, and it's pretty much always a good thing to change the transmission fluid to redline or some other simialr synthetic.

I think the bad thing about GL5 stuff was that it eats away at the synchros, IIRC.

 

Jesse its like 4.25-4.5 qts. The tranny will swallow 5 when the car is on stands but the fill is the 4.25-4.5. I used 4.5 so that I can have a half bottle for small topping off.

 

................. I wouldn't consider hiim a mechanic... at all.....
wow

 

myoilshop.com 42.xx shipped from PA to KS for 5 quarts

 

It's not recommended to swtich back to converntional fluids once you start running synthetic. There have been some people whom complain of notchier shifting in colder weather with MT-90, I being one of the latter, perfer Amsoil tranny fluid...however either will make a noticable improvment in shifting.

 

Yeah the GL fluid helped my synchros disintegrate at 120k miles...no longer do I have the privelege of shifting into first unless the car is completely stopped. The clutch evaporated, too, which I also believe contributed to it. Should have let the clutch bed-in longer, and switched to MT90 when I changed it...looking for a helical LSD now along with a new tranny.

 

i have over about 110k on my max....the tranny is leaking a little bit due to old age im guessing...not enough to see drops tho...only oil on the side of the tranny......would my tranny leak more if i change to mt90 since mt90 is synthetic and thinner?

 

update on feel of 5 speed tranny with MT-90 fluid:

if i get in car in morning without proper warm up (to move my car), its a little notchy, but that can also be because of my b&m sts and *** shifter bushing.

however, if i remote start and let car sit for a little, and start driving, things are super smove. I have had my fluid in for over 10k miles and no leaks, no problems thus far. Only thing i'm not happy with is when in gear, shifter can move a little from left to right. But i think thats due to a worn out spring? any recommendations on how to keep shifter as stiff as possible when in gear? this is not a serious problem but to make things perfect, just wondering.

 

it can happen with autos

 

So does any one tell those people that say GL5 is better that it eats up syncros? Thats usually good info for an idiot part pusher to know. They will either insist on GL5 if they are evil or actually tell people to get gl4...I do but then thats just me

~Alex

 

I just broke down a maxima tranny and I saw NOTHING to suggest a GL-4/GL-5 fluid is going to damage them. I'm putting in Neo 75w90HD (GL4/GL5) when I get it rebuilt and I'm confident it will go 200k without an issue.

I suspect the no-GL5 story got kicked off because somewhere some Nissan rep only saw GL-4 listed. There are in fact Nissan TSBs listing GL-5 as the recommended lubricant (ref. NTB94-100). The chart in that TSB is here.

Dave

 

I have heard that this can possibly be the case. I have MT-90 in my tranny and it has 170,000 miles on it and still feels pretty good (original 1995 5-spd trans). The tranny leaks just a little around the main seal but it hasn't gotten any worse in the last 2 years. I will put this in my next transmission as well.