5sp acting weird.

[Todd Jacobson]

Over the weekend we experienced a strange problem that maybe you all can help me with. After traveling 100-200 miles at 75 mph the tranny didn't want to shift. After getting gas and traveling at 35 mph for a couple of miles it did OK. 200 miles later at high speed it didn't want to shift again! Am I heating the clutch fluid to boiling? Or? Thanks! TJ

 

[Slick Rick]

:thumbdwn: Ohhhh Yeeeaahh!


I inspected my Manual tranny fluid at like 69 000-70 000 km ( 44 000 miles or so ) and was surprised to find what the condition of the fluid was.... the color was brownish-red. No wonder it was so hard to shift gears. The worse part about it was that I let it stay like that for a while. I had a hard time shifting for the longest time and when I brought it to the tranny shop to ask what the problem was they were not sure. The one thing they did said was that it couldn't of been the tranny fluid cause Manual trannys didn't go through nearly the same amount of stress and processes that an auto did. He said I probably didn't have to change the fluid till 100 000km (60 000 miles). What he didn't realize is that the 5 speed in the X literally cooks the stock fluid that's in there.


Anyway, I drain my fluid and replaced it with Redlines MTL. Yeah, yeah, I know, the manual call for ATF, but Redlines Manual Transmission Fluid is the only one (that I know of anyway) that actually says it can be used where ATF's were called for. In fact, it says that it much much more better than for stick shifts than applications which call for ATF because it , well, it's hard to explain everything, so just go to there web site and it explains everything. Anyways I started the X up and it's like a completely new tranny! I was so impressed with it's performance. The stick literally slides in to gear effortlessly. Unbeleiveable! My only wish is that I should have done it much more sooner.It's running much smother too. No complaints at all! Awsome stuff. You might also want to check your clutch fluid levels too though. If it's dirty, get it flushed. If it's really low, you might have bigger problems.

 

[Todd Jacobson]

Thanks Slick! I'll probably change-out the fluid this weekend. I did change out and bleed the clutch last summer and that improved the pedal action immensely! I'll keep everyone posted. TJ

 

[Slick Rick]

No problem!

 

[Slick Rick]

One more thing. The tranny will hold about 2.5 quarts- 2.75 quarts. ( Not exactly sure, but under 3 for sure ) Remember to use synthetic too. Also, place your bin or what ever you are going to be using to catch the old tranny fluid far away from the drain plug when you go ahesd to do this. In other words, don't place it right underneath the plug. I speak on expierence. I placed mine farther away but not far enough. Almost all my tranny fluid landed on the driveway instead of the bin.


Finally, there is a magnet on the end of the drain plug for metal shavings. When I took mine out, it had quite a bit of them stuck on to the plug. When I got them all off I screwed the drain plug back in and out to get more shavings out of the tranny. I had to do it 3 times until I got not more out. You should do the same thing too.

Good Luck