changed Manual Transmission fluid

[Schludwiller]

Our club decided to go in on a 16 gallon drum of Quakerstate 75w90 gl-4 gear/tranny oil with the help of Evergreen (member here on the board). He was able to get it through a Nissan Dealership.

So PNWX should be having a big oil changing party here real soon. :alien2:

[silverxglider]

I finally got the Royal Purple in this weekend. The temp was about 8 degrees F. There was immediate improvement in shifting.

I had it done by a local mechanic because it was just too damn cold to do it myself. My dealership supposedly changed the fluid 10,000 miles ago (at 30,000 miles) with Mobil 80W90 GL5. The local guy said that it didn't look as though the drain plug had ever been removed - no wrench marks on it, and the fluid that drained looked too dark to be only 10,000 miles old.

So I don't know whether to be happy that maybe the dealer didn't change it at all (putting the wrong stuff in) or pissed that they charged me for changing it when they didn't.

[Schludwiller]

Well we did the change (PNWX).

Nothing like laying on your back under the truck with rain water going up your pants leg and tranny oil going down your arm. One gear tooth came out of the tranny. Better than Charles, but damage nonetheless. Maybe it was a baby tooth. Shifting is much improved and we have a big drum for the next change.

If you are in a club, this is the way to go.:sun:

[kaybeejay]

Thanks guys for all your feedback, actually I got a nice deal on some Amsoil 75W90 from a fellow NCCXer who has some connections. I should be draining and filling in the next couple of weekends.

[silverxglider]

I may have spoken too soon. Shifting seemed easier for the first couple of trips with Royal Purple but this past week, it's even harder getting into second gear than it was before, at least until everything is warmed up.

Of course, it's been under 10 degrees F everytime I've had to go somewhere lately so maybe it's too cold even for synthetic to be smooth.

I'm at a loss...

[kaybeejay]

I have an update to my problem.

It turns out that the service guys OVERFILLED my fluid and that was causing the hard shifting. I called 1-800-NISSAN-1 and made an official inquiry and the dealer looked at it again, and together they were able to solve it.

The dealer drained the surplus fluid and now the shifting has returned to "normal".

I was really impressed with 1(800) NISSAN-1. They really came thru for me on this one. (then again, the problem was induced by the dealer, so they SHOULD have come thru for me.)

[OffroadX]

Weird. The guys with the early Hardbody/Pathfinder manual transmissions have to deliberately over-fill their trannys to keep from killing them. The fill hole was moved a couple of inches higher later in production to correct the problem.

Brent

[ChuckH]

Bringing this topic back from the dead...

I've pretty much decided that 75W-85 GL-4 gear oil would be perfect for the Xterra, so I was searching for 75W-85 and ran across something interesting. Nissan specs 75W-85 GL-4 for the 350Z. The reason I find this interesting is because the 350Z is a brand new car and GL-4 is ancient oil...that's one of the reasons it's so hard to find anymore. Plus, it's even harder to find than 75W-90! I would think that Nissan would move forward at some point and change the metals in the transmissions so they can use GL-5 lubricant since it's superior to GL-4. Makes me wonder if the 350Z has the same clunky shifting as the Xterra!

In any case, I have yet to find 75W-85 gear oil here in the U.S. In my searches for 75W-90 and the 75W-85 I've noticed that they are widely available in other countries, but not here. Chevron makes it, Valvoline makes it... After thinking about it, it totally makes sense. In the U.S. something like 85% of the new cars are automatics. You go to the auto parts stores and there are 15 types and brands of ATF on the shelf and only one or two variations of gear oil. Are they trying to get the last 15% of us to convert? In contrast, I think 90% of all cars sold have manual transmissions. Their shelves are probably loaded with manual transmission gear oil and a couple containers of ATF. We're shipping all out good gear oil to Europe!

Damn the manufacturers, the oil companies, and the lazy ass Americans!

[ChuckH]

And another interesting find...

Nissan specs the 75W-90 GL-4 oil for 2000, 2001, and 2002 Xterras, but for 2003 they changed the spec. to 75W-85. Damn; and I thought I was ahead of the game but it seems they figured out before I did that 75W-85 would work better!

Now if I could jsut find the damn stuff! If not I'm just going to go with Redline MTL which is a 70W-80, but is actually closer to an 85 according to Redline. I've heard of a few people running it in the Xterra with no problems.