Interesting find with my trans oil change....

[Grizzly05]

So I decided to change my 6 speed manual transmission oil, transfer case and both front and rear ends. I went with Redline MT for the transmission, and 75W90 for the transfer case and front end, and 75W90NS plus 3.5oz of LSD oil (Toyota manual says 4% of LSD additive) for the limited slip rear end.

I decided to change the oil because the transmission syncro's were a bit stiff and occasionally it would grind going into second and third. After the change, its smooth as butta.

Here is where it gets interesting. The transmission drain plug is 24mm, kinda big I thought, until I noticed that there is a magnet in the middle of it. When I looked at it I was very surprised at how much metal filings were attached to it. The rear end has the exact same plug, with the same amount of filings attached to it. After seeing this, I'm glad I changed the oil.

Its kinda hard to tell how much is on the first picture, but after seeing it cleaned off you get the idea.








And this picture is a shop rag with what I wiped off. You can see the base of the plug now.

[Splicer]

Good thing the plugs are magnetic!

I hear nothing but good about Redline gear oils -- I ran it in my old Miata and my V45 Honda.

[rrhanck]

I am doing the same thing to my differentals this week but with Mobile 1 75-90, is the redline better I am not familiar with the product noticed it was around the same price? I was wondering about my transmission fluid since my trany seems to shift jerky at times but I have that automatic which I hear is a pain in the a** to change plus $$$ for the WS fluid, anybody else change out there automatic transmission yet?

[Chipper57]

ok what about royal purple i think thats what I'm going to go with

[Pb]

That's not bad at all. That's normal. This is why they have magnetic drain plugs.

[Grizzly05]

Originally Posted by Pb

That's not bad at all. That's normal. This is why they have magnetic drain plugs.

Yeah, I agree its normal, but I'm sleeping better at night knowing those little guys aren't in there anymore.

[wingysataday]

how many miles on the truck?

[EasyRider]

Ahhh...If I'm not mistaken, the auto 5-speed on the Tacomas are fluid specific there rrhanck. Apparently Toyota came up with a specific blend for this transmission, and I don't think there's a replacement. You have to keep using Toyota's fluid.
And that's a shame too. I prefer to use Mobil1 or Redline synthetics throughout my truck, but for now, it seems we're stuck with the trans. fluid from Toyota. Hey...maybe this "new" fluid is part of what's causing problems with some of the transmissions. (See thread regarding Transmission TSB)

[screeber]

Originally Posted by Grizzly05

Yeah, I agree its normal, but I'm sleeping better at night knowing those little guys aren't in there anymore.

I agree... How did your diff fluids look? Any foreign matter? And how many miles are on your truck?

[Grizzly05]

Originally Posted by screbr

I agree... How did your diff fluids look? Any foreign matter? And how many miles are on your truck?

I just turned over 15,000 miles.

The trans oil looked fine.

The rear diff oil looked a bit cloudy. It also had a little more metal filings stuck to the magnet on the plug. I'm wondering if the limited slip generated some heat along the way. I drive up to the mountains all winter during skiing season, and sometimes I'll go into an empty parking lot to play around, do spin outs, practice drifting, etc.... All in all, I'm happy with having changed the fluids. I do admit I am quite anal when it comes to my truck though....