Hey all. Over the past week ive noticed that 2nd and 3rd gear are getting progressively crunchier on my 5 speed from Harry's. I just finished swapping it in 2 weeks ago and wondered if i should drain out the synthetic manual tranny fluid and fill it up with cheap auto tranny fluid..run it for a couple hundred miles then put the synthetic back in. It seems to loosen up considerably when i drive it on the highway for an hour then take back roads but in the morning when its cold its really crunchy. Also could i get away with saving the synthetic thats in it now and just put that back in or just trash it and get fresh stuff after im done with this.

Hey all. Over the past week ive noticed that 2nd and 3rd gear are getting progressively crunchier on my 5 speed from Harry's. I just finished swapping it in 2 weeks ago and wondered if i should drain out the synthetic manual tranny fluid and fill it up with cheap auto tranny fluid..run it for a couple hundred miles then put the synthetic back in. It seems to loosen up considerably when i drive it on the highway for an hour then take back roads but in the morning when its cold its really crunchy. Also could i get away with saving the synthetic thats in it now and just put that back in or just trash it and get fresh stuff after im done with this.

 

Actually I wouldn't be running sythetic in there at all due to any issues with 25 year old seals but you'd need to define crunchy a little more. A 25 year old tranny isn't gonna be as easy to get into gear as a modern tranny, cold will make it a little worse. Glad ya got it in finally!

crunchy as in hard to get in or feels like gears arnt meshing correctly right away.

Your synchros are just worn out. It is a 25 year old tranny as was mentioned.

 

Try the ATF flush. Then fill it back up with gear oil and a quart of Rislone. Its an engine additive that works wonders on synchros.

 

Should help you considerably.

From what ive seen in other posts ATF does the same thing as rislone. Also i wouldnt want to just be driving around with rislone in my tranny for 20-30 thousand miles would i?

 

Your synchros are just worn out. It is a 25 year old tranny as was mentioned.

 

Try the ATF flush. Then fill it back up with gear oil and a quart of Rislone. Its an engine additive that works wonders on synchros.

 

Should help you considerably.

Rislone != ATF

 

According to Emily @ CCR, it adds a protective layer to the synchros. And I drove it in my wagon's tranny for 5k miles and it didn't cause any problems. You're just replacing one quart of the 4 quarts that it takes to fill it. Though its probably less for a FWD, so maybe only a half a quart.

 

Reference: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49955

Your synchros are just worn out. It is a 25 year old tranny as was mentioned.

 

Try the ATF flush. Then fill it back up with gear oil and a quart of Rislone. Its an engine additive that works wonders on synchros.

 

Should help you considerably.

 

The synchros shouldn't be bad. The car only had like 60k on it or something outrageously low like that. Risolone should burn off at a pretty low temp. I'm personally not a fan of adding stuff that wasn't meant to go in there.

yeah my tranny is only a 3 quart beast. Ok will give the ATF flush a try..if it loosens up a good amount would another direction to go be getting some redline?

The synchros shouldn't be bad. The car only had like 60k on it or something outrageously low like that. Risolone should burn off at a pretty low temp. I'm personally not a fan of adding stuff that wasn't meant to go in there.

 

thats the thing i dont think they are. My theory is they are really gummed up from sitting around the JY for awhile..or just sitting for awhile period. The tranny only has about 75,000 miles on it

thats the thing i dont think they are. My theory is they are really gummed up from sitting around the JY for awhile..or just sitting for awhile period. The tranny only has about 75,000 miles on it

 

I doubt that. The tranny I just put in my XT had a pull date of 98 (when the yard pulled it from the car before destroying it). I didn't change the gear oil for 2 weeks. That ea-81 had a recent inspection sticker on her.

Run a few hundred with ATF, then fill with Redline or your favorite sythetic. The synth gear oil helps a lot with cold temp shifting. ATF should clear up your "crunchies" pretty quick. I've had similar issues with tranny's that have sat for a while without fluid in them, or without being run through the gears in a while.

 

As far as I know, Rislone is just a similar formula to ATF but with more cleanser additives. It works very similar to ATF in my experience. Go with the ATF flush, and if you feel you want rislone after you have filled it with synth, drain a quart and put it in.

 

GD

Ok thanks everyone. Im going to run it on ATF for 200 miles and see what happens. I have to drive 50 miles on thursday and 50 on friday so ill let everyone know how its all going soon. Thanks for the great advice as always.

you may wanna try more than 200 miles. most of the recommendations ive read have said 500.. but what do i know, MY soobie has the 3 speed crapomatic tranny in it.

500 is fine, yeah. You aren't going to hurt it so run it till it feels nice.

 

GD

Your synchros are just worn out. It is a 25 year old tranny as was mentioned.

 

Try the ATF flush. Then fill it back up with gear oil and a quart of Rislone. Its an engine additive that works wonders on synchros.

 

Should help you considerably.

See my last post in this thread:

tranny additives

 

I did the ATF flush and refilled with Rislone and standard Valvoline 80W90 and the trans shifts like butter now. Your mileage may vary, but I'm sold on it!

74317.5 was on it to be exact.

74317.5 was on it to be exact.

 

What you went out, took the blankets off your GL where you installed that digie dash to tell us. Better take a nap.

hardly. digi in the basement.

I did the ATF in my hatch and I could feel a difference after only 40 miles. I went 400 total.