Changed my trans fluid, now it grinds 5th
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Well after driving my car about 40 miles the trans seems to be back to normal. It only grinds when cold and shifting fast. After 3 minutes of driving its perfectly fine. It shifts smoother as well.
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it's probably better to use oem nissan MTF! i switched back to it after having a sh*tty time with redline *GL4* MT90. look at my past posts. if the temp dropped below 40 the first shift of the day would be difficult to engage. and shifts were generally rough compared to oem stuff. my gas mileage also went down 2mpg after i started using MT90. one thing i noticed is that nissan MTF smells completely different than MT90. perhaps the additive package is completely different. i almost thought nissan MTF smelled like a GL5 type of gear oil and had to double check. i believe that this type of transmission is sensitive to the viscosity of oil as well. make sure you use the exact spec of oil!
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also, your cars are still pretty new, why change so early? good luck. maybe someone will find an aftermarket oil that works without any compromise. please post results.
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I put redline GL-4 in, can't remember if it was one weight or a mix (for some reason I think it was 2 quarts of one and 2 quarts of another), and within 500 miles my tranny had thrown a synchro. My lesson was to not change the fluid until after 30k miles, regardless of what the manual says. I don't know what caused it, and I have trouble believing its fluid, but reading this makes me feel otherwise.
Edit, in response to below and thanks for jogging my memory, I mixed 2 quarts Redline MTL (GL-4) and 2 quarts MT-90 (GL-4) to get roughly a 72.5W85, this proved not a safe mixture it appears (although others have posted success with earlier year Z's)
Edit, in response to below and thanks for jogging my memory, I mixed 2 quarts Redline MTL (GL-4) and 2 quarts MT-90 (GL-4) to get roughly a 72.5W85, this proved not a safe mixture it appears (although others have posted success with earlier year Z's)
Last edited by Peak350; 01-10-2009 at 07:22 PM.
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OEM MTF is a 75W-85. Kinda odd viscosity that can't normally be found in most autoparts store (mostly 75W-90).
I still with OEM MTF for the transmission, but for the differential, Royal Purple MaxGear 75W-90 works wonders
I still with OEM MTF for the transmission, but for the differential, Royal Purple MaxGear 75W-90 works wonders
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i'm in new jersey. i had RP maxgear 75w-90 in the oem vlsd. when the temp was below 30 deg it would howl for a couple of minutes until the fluid got up to temp. so i switched to convention castrol hypoy c 80w-90 and the problem hasn't returned (knocks on wood). someone should make a sticky about the different gear oils and the results people have been getting. i would not want anyone going through what i went through with driveability problems and having to climb back underneath the car in the dead of winter.
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i'm in new jersey. i had RP maxgear 75w-90 in the oem vlsd. when the temp was below 30 deg it would howl for a couple of minutes until the fluid got up to temp. so i switched to convention castrol hypoy c 80w-90 and the problem hasn't returned (knocks on wood). someone should make a sticky about the different gear oils and the results people have been getting. i would not want anyone going through what i went through with driveability problems and having to climb back underneath the car in the dead of winter.
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changed the transmission fluid to a mixture of redline mtl and mt-90 gl-4......results so far are smoother shifts and fast shifts from 2nd to 3rd dont feel spongy anymore, just nice and solid. no grinds.
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My transmission failure may have been unrelated (and I had deemed it so), but I still figured I'd play it safe since the manual very oddly stated to use only Nissan fluid unless it was unavailable (seemed odd, the wording was almost implying there was a difference between nissan fluid and other brands in quality) so I decided I'd just give up on the redline stuff for future changes.
That said, I find it odd because tranmission fluid isn't where you make money on a maintenance item, you sell a $2 a quart oil for $3 a quart and make up some approval process its a pain to go through for your warranty to be valid saying you must use Nissan ABC approved oil. Pick random cheap oil, approve it, stamp it with a Nissan logo and charge more for it.
Makes me think there might be some additive in the transmission fluid, possibly even added after the early Z's to help reduce with the synchronizer failures.
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^ yep, 08. im not really worried though....i put the right stuff in there so if anytihng goes wrong i have warranty. i dont see how a synchro could blow just from using non nissan fluids
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I'm in Colorado and have used Redline MTL/MT90 for years now. No problems with using this combo and my CD009 tranny still shifts fine (although you need to let it warm up before shifting rapidly). Occasionally get the odd syncro to stick, but mostly that's just not hitting the rev match properly on a heel-toe downshift.
I use this same combo in my SCCA Touring 2 350Z racecar (and believe me, we run these cars HARD) and have had no problems either. Not sure what's up with all those who are scurrying back to the OEM gear lube.
I use this same combo in my SCCA Touring 2 350Z racecar (and believe me, we run these cars HARD) and have had no problems either. Not sure what's up with all those who are scurrying back to the OEM gear lube.
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I'm not sure. Perhaps the Redline cocktail works just fine, but running straight up MT-90 for me ended with bad results. Gas mileage went down dramatically probably due to extra drag from the higher viscosity. Also, when temps dropped below 30deg F which they tend to do a lot during Jersey winters I would get a nasty grind upon the first 1-2 shift after sitting all night. The only remedy for that would be to run in 1st gear for at least 10 full seconds to let the oil circulate before that first shift occurs. As soon as I went back to the OEM gear oil all was back to normal.