When should you change fluid in manual trans???

[01 XLT Sport]

I have an 01 4.2, manual with 20,000 miles. When would you recommend that someone should have the transmission fluid changed, flushed? Also what is a good, or the best fluid to use? I believe the owners manual recommends 30,000 but should it be sooner?

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[AlmostRice]

I think you should change the oil in the 5spd as soon as you feel any change in the shifting. I was having problems shifting 1-2 and 2-3 for the past 1.5 years and now at 45,000 miles. I just changed the fluid. I used 3.3 quarts of Amsoil ATF. I was looking for Redline D4 ATF but the shop had to order it and I did not want to wait a week.

Anyways, there was really no change in shifting at first. But the next day, the more I drove the better the shifts got. I am not saying they are like a race car shifter now, but there is a definite improvement. going into 1st and Reverse is not an excercise in futility anymore.

I just recommend changing it even if it is with the regular ATF. The fluid I removed was dark black and did not resemble ATF. Maybe changing the tranny fluid should be more frequent like 20 k miles

Hope this helps

[DrDevon]

...I live in Houston, TX and do it every two years (for me, that's about 25,000 mi.) with Mobil-1 ATF. Like your other response, I noticed much better shifts into 1st and reverse within a few days. Good synthetic ATF (meeting appropriate Mercon spec) will help both in hot and cold.

Hope this helps.

[01 XLT Sport]

Thanks, AlmostRice and DrDevon,

I haven't had any problems with shifting. It shifts great, of course for a truck I don't speed shift or anything (lol). I did want to ask because if it wasn't really necessary till say around 40 or 50k then why do it, but I am glad to hear your responses.

DrDevon: I live in New Hampshire so we have, sometimes, cold winters (of course I use 5w-30) for oil, you say where you live you change it about every 25k. Since I live here where summers can get very humid and around 90 degrees, and winters very cold sometimes down around 0 degrees, but usally 15 - 30 degrees, would 20 - 25k still be recommended?

Thanks for your help.

P.S. Is it something that would be easy to do myself or do you recommend taking into a shop to have someone do it?

[Hunt4Fun]

It is an easy job. I did it with a syringe.

You only need to open the drain plug, let it drain, reinstall the plug and refil. The refil process is faster if you have a small pump. I have one now, but didn't at the time. It takes longer to do it with a syringe, but it works.

I put in 3+ quarts of Amsoil as well and the shifting was noticeably smoother.

Best of luck.

[DrDevon]

...it is relatively easy to do, just time consuming. I use about six quarts of fluid. There is a drain plug down low, and you remove it similar to the way you would an oil drain plug. Drive it for a good while on one of those humid, 90-degree days (i know what you mean), wear some gloves if you like, and drain the tranny fluid into a pan. Look over the drain plug (it has a magnet) for shavings - shouldn't be too much. Replace it and pop out the fill plug, which i think is directly (vertical) above the drain plug. You will likely need a clean (new, even) funnel-and-hose assembly to get the new fluid into the tranny easily, so it's a lot easier if someone's underneath holding the tube and someone's above pouring into the funnel.

(This works a lot better if you can meet one of the mechanics at a small gas station to let you do some of this on his/her oil change lift.....mucho easier.

Heat and wear kills transmission fluid. You may get more time due to your temperature, but i would probably change that fluid after 35,000 miles if it were up to me, maybe 45,000 or so if it's virtually all highway driving with little shifting. I do plenty of local stuff, so I play it low-key.

Enjoy your truck.

[hmustang]

I say about the same as a auto about 30,000 miles.

[jrm1493]

EVERY 3000 MILES when you change your oil!!!

j/k... i'm planning on changing mine every 25-30k

so far so good with the m5od --> redline D4 @ 7000, planning on going to mobil 1 ATF @ 30000 (i'm at 25k now; my friend tried mobil 1 atf and really like the way it improved his shifting).

my roomate had a pesky leak in the Tr-3550 in his '91 trans am and ended up changing his ATF about every week for a month until he finally figured out that he had cracked the case when his driveshaft blew up (the car is far from stock).

btw...

i got a great little pump at napa that makes it a simple job, almost as easy as changning the oil. it empties the 1 qt. containers in about 4 or 5 squirts.... works great and was only like $5

[Talleywacker]

i try to change it every 15k or whenever my clutch goes out or when I take the truck in to overhaul the tranny.

I just changed to royal purple atf and notice smoother, less noisy shifting.