Manual Transmission Fluid

wiprotege5 said:
If you could find Mobil One, I would really recommend it. I used it and it made a world of difference.

I like you changed your mind about doing it yourself. All you need is a 23mm (I think i remember) socket and a funnel with a long tube attached.

Drain.
Put 1.9 qts in
Done.
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You are correct in that both drain & fill bolt are 23mm. However, the g15 trans takes 2.9 qts of fluid, not 1.9. I always just put in a full 3 qts, I don't see how it would make a difference.

Also, mobil 1 is not as highly rated synthetic as say redline, royal purple and others. They use a cheaper synthetic (its a grade 3 vs. others that are grade 4 IIRC). Now I don't know whether that makes a difference in performance or effectiveness, but... For the same price you can get others that are a higher rated synthetic. Just my .02
 
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The only one I could find was Castrol Syntec full-synthetic GL-5 75W-90. I tried Canadian Tire but they only had semi-synthetic motomaster gear lube. I found the Castrol stuff at NAPA, but even they had a very limited selection.

So I bought 3, 1 quart bottles which works out to 2.84L. The service manual says to use 2.68L so I should have more than enough.
 
ucMP3 said:
You are correct in that both drain & fill bolt are 23mm. However, the g15 trans takes 2.9 qts of fluid, not 1.9. I always just put in a full 3 qts, I don't see how it would make a difference.

Also, mobil 1 is not as highly rated synthetic as say redline, royal purple and others. They use a cheaper synthetic (its a grade 3 vs. others that are grade 4 IIRC). Now I don't know whether that makes a difference in performance or effectiveness, but... For the same price you can get others that are a higher rated synthetic. Just my .02
Click to expand...

Oops, 2.9 sounds better. Sorry.
 
Castrol Syntec is good. You buy a funnel/tube to fill with? I recommend going with the cheap $2 funnels with the small tube attached. They work well. I've used some of the other "nicer" ones that have valves and other BS, and they are usually pieces of crap. Save your money and use the simple funnel.
 
ucMP3 said:
Castrol Syntec is good. You buy a funnel/tube to fill with? I recommend going with the cheap $2 funnels with the small tube attached. They work well. I've used some of the other "nicer" ones that have valves and other BS, and they are usually pieces of crap. Save your money and use the simple funnel.
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I saw some at Canadian Tire but wasn't sure how long the tube has to be. The ones that they're selling have a 30-40cm tube; is that enough? Worst case, I use a normal kitchen funnel with some tubing from a hardware store.
 
CheeseHelmet said:
I saw some at Canadian Tire but wasn't sure how long the tube has to be. The ones that they're selling have a 30-40cm tube; is that enough? Worst case, I use a normal kitchen funnel with some tubing from a hardware store.
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I don't know exactly how long it needs to be, but a couple feet would be more than enough. Either of those two options will work just fine. I was just trying to say that you don't need anything fancy. A simple funnel with a tube affixed to it works best IMO.

You will want to make sure the tube will fit into the fillling hole tho. So if you go the hardware store route, just make sure the tube is not very large in diameter as it needs to fit into the fill hole.
 
I went under the car this morning to squirt some PB blaster on the plugs and I took some pictures. Could you please make sure that these bolts are the right ones? Sorry 'bout the image quality, I had to stitch two pictures together because my camera has a very narrow angled lens...
 
Those seem to be the right ones. The pic looks a little odd to me, I guess because it was stitched together and its upside down from how I would normally see it.
 
ucMP3 said:
Those seem to be the right ones. The pic looks a little odd to me, I guess because it was stitched together and its upside down from how I would normally see it.
Click to expand...

Cool, if you'd like, here are the original images: Drain, Fill

I was surprised that they were the same size, a bunch of videos for american cars on youtube show that they have a big drain plug and a tiny fill plug.

Thanks again :D
 
I recently did my tranny. When I spoke with my dealer they used to use Redline MT-90, now they recommend BG Synchroshift II (costs $30/bottle from dealer or $120 CDN to change the fluid -- ripoff!)

There's some brief discussion about that here: http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123679012&highlight=synchroshift

That wasn't readily available and I read about Motomaster Formula 1 75w90 full synthetic from Canadian Tire on the toprotege forum (there were several threads about it), so I decided to give it a try for fun. As it turns out the shifts are reasonably smooth when warm, in the cold it's not as smooth. Another thread for your perusal: http://www.toprotege.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48056&highlight=motomaster AFAIK the owner's manual states GL4 or GL5 gear oil, but I guess one may be better than the other.

Next time I will probably try the BG Synchroshift II with a little bit of Lucas oil stablizer.

Some tips/comments from when I changed the fluid -- make sure you remove the fill plug first, that way when you remove the drain plug, it will drain better. When refilling I didn't have any rubber hose handy, however, the 1L bottles had nice "squirt" type spouts so the fluid transfered quite fast, (I also used ramps). I wasn't able to completely empty the bottles so I transferred the leftover fluid into the last bottle and ended up putting in ~2.65 L overall (hence no need to completely dump in the last bottle).

If changing the fluid with the car leveled, just fill up till it just starts to overflow from the fill hole. But if using ramps remember not to put too much in due to the angle. The first time I ended up putting 2.75L and a few days later fluid was leaking from the top bolt so I had to drain some. Also inspect the crush washers, if they look too mangled be sure to replace them, or you may have leaks.

Is there anything else I missed?
 
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RockerPro5 said:
If changing the fluid with the car leveled, just fill up till it just starts to overflow from the fill hole. But if using ramps remember not to put too much in due to the angle. The first time I ended up putting 2.75L and a few days later fluid was leaking from the top bolt so I had to drain some. Also inspect the crush washers, if they look too mangled be sure to replace them, or you may have leaks.
Click to expand...

I think I have 4 safety stands, so I'll just jack up all four tires to the same level. Where do you get those washers? I asked at NAPA and the guy didn't know what I was talking about. I'll bring the part number (99564-1800) tomorrow and see if he can find it.

Also, should I change the oil when the engine is hot or once it's cool? I'd much rather do it when it's cool but I read on some site that you should run the engine for a while before hand.

Thanks for all the info!
 
The oil will drain much better if its hot/warm. It doesn't need to be at running temps, but warmer temps will aid in the draining.
 
CheeseHelmet said:
I think I have 4 safety stands, so I'll just jack up all four tires to the same level. Where do you get those washers? I asked at NAPA and the guy didn't know what I was talking about. I'll bring the part number (99564-1800) tomorrow and see if he can find it.

Also, should I change the oil when the engine is hot or once it's cool? I'd much rather do it when it's cool but I read on some site that you should run the engine for a while before hand.

Thanks for all the info!
Click to expand...

Yeah, the hotter, the better. There's a better chance that you'll get more fluid out that way. Do you know approximately when it was changed last? My washers were still in good shape, so I re-used them. Just make sure they're seated properly, and the bolts are tight enough. I would either go to Canadian Tire, PartSource or AutoValue for parts. I haven't had much luck finding specific things for my P5 from NAPA, or good advice lately (although it depends who is working when you go).

Another thing I've wondered, will you get more fluid out if you leave the transmission in gear, or in neutral?
 
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For a simple part like a couple washers, I'd go straight to the dealer. For a few dollars you'll make one trip, find exactly the part that fits, and know it's decent quality.
 
maxpower said:
for a simple part like a couple washers, i'd go straight to the dealer. For a few dollars you'll make one trip, find exactly the part that fits, and know it's decent quality.
Click to expand...

Indeed. As long as price isn't too much. We once needed a new oil plug for our old Chrysler minivan, went to the dealer and it was $15!! The PCV was listed at $22!! My old high school mechanics teacher asked how much it would cost to rebuild the vehicle. (rlaugh)
 
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Stealership, for a washer?? Go to Auto store or hardware store. You can find the washer u need online and bring that info with u, or just bring the drain bolt with u. The washers don't need to be replaced unless they are broken, which shouldn't be the case...
 
I did it! It took me about an hour, but I replaced the oil and lubed the bushings. Shifting is smoother but the change wasn't that dramatic. I'm still glad I got it done; it's one less thing to worry about.

I'll get to work on a small howto for whoever is interested, but it really wasn't that complicated.
 
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