Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior Wow, changed my transmission oil

Oil used: Redline MT90 (75w90 for manual transmission w/synchros) and Lithium grease.

I have 65 thousand miles on my car now and lately I've been hearing a constant squeak coming from my tranny.

I heard a lot of good stuff about Redline MT90 tranny oil so I decided to give it a try. After looking in the GTS owners manual, I found that the 2zz tranny takes 2.4 quarts of oil.

I went down to my local speed shop and bought 3 qts for $9.95 a qt.

After I got home from work, I decided to do the oil change. I jacked up the car with 4 jacks. 1 on each corner of the frame and made sure it was as level as I could get it for best oil drainage.

Unscrewed the fill plug on the side of the tranny and unscrewed the drain plug and out it came into the catch pan.

I fabricated a device to funnel the oil down into the fill hole. I used a garden hose about 2 ft long and a funnel. I attached them so I could flow the oil into the tranny through that cramped space of an engine bay. Before all this, I had to remove the drive side under engine plastic panel and front driver side wheel.

After replacing the oil, I let it idle for a while and as I shifted through all the gears with my foot on the clutch. I could tell right away that the smoothness of the shifts.

Test drive: I love this stuff. It made shifts extremely easy especially since I have TWM short shifter. The 1-2 shift is VERY smooth now. I haven't tried lift yet because I want to at least put 20-40 miles down so the oil gets circulated thoroughly.

Yesterday I used a can of spray lithium grease to lube my shift links located under the CAI and ECU. After thoroughly spraying the links, I put on a surgical latex glove and rubbed the grease deep into the joints each time I put it into each of the 6 gears and the reverse gear. It helps if you have someone cycle through your gears while you lube the links.

Tranny oil per qt was $9.95
Spray lithium grease was $2.50 at Pep-boys

Highly recommended to those who want smoother shifts and prolonged synchro life.

Sounds great Steven. Can't wait to throw this stuff in my ride.

you dont have to use redline. I understand royal purple and amsoil is just as good. just make sure the oil you get is for transmissions with synchros

Steven -

when I shift from 1-2 I hear this "squeak" sound, and I hear it from 3-2

I had the tranny oil changed by jiffy lube about 2,000 miles ago.

Also, when I shift from 2-1, if I am not at a COMPLETE stop, the gear box grinds and crunches.

Any help?

Thats your shifter linkage cable...mine squeaked going from 1 to 2nd and I think I put...Lithium? on it. I cant remember 100% what it was, but it made it stop.

where is this cable located and how can I "grease" it

OK, Here ia picture of where this is. I got this from Nezumi at celica.net...If your standing facing your engine, it'll be on the right side directly back from the air box. Near the side of the block/tranny. Its brass colored so you cant miss it...

And what I used: White Lithium Grease [valvoline.com]

thanks heather!

I'll do this after Isabelle blows through!

Yeah, tell me about it...

Have fun! haha

one other thing...

if I shift after 5000 RPM, the clutch makes a squeaking sound...I put some grease on the spring, but that didn't do anything...


any ideas?

I would try changing your transmission oil. I didn't even know when the last time mine was done nor the kind of oil used.

had my oil changed like 2K miles ago by Jlube

your tranny oil not your motor oil

Deag watch out for Heather! she knows what she's talking about

yes, J lube changed my tranny oil...

well, they charged me $25...and said they did.

I thought you sold your celica?

Anyways, if it grinds, do the oil change yourself and use the oil I mentioned above.

the tranny oil isn't the problem. You first have to locate the noise. Is it coming form inside the car or the engine compartment. Mine squeeked but was from the engine compartment. Have someone move the shifter/shif through the gears whuile you lube up the linkages. Maybe give your slave cyl. a couple sprays cause that could be where you are squeeking from also.

Nope, dealership replaced the tranny (so they said, I think they just fixed the busted parts, cheap bastards) but it's squeaking now and it wasn't before.

I'll try the lube thing on the cable in the engine, but the clutch thing eludes me.

why are you whoring my thread Billy? jk

When I installed my ACT HDSS clutch I used mobile one 75w 90 tranny oil, I also use mobile one 5w 30 motoroil... I like the performance of mobile one.

This thread proves that better oils and lubes may help your car last and performe better than the cheap stuff.

steven

Thanks

I change my tranny oil every 30K. Just paid Toyota $81 this last weekend. Damn, I need to start doing this myself. Toyota says we need Type-T tranny oil. How's it different than the REDLINE?

Tony - In the back of your owners manual, it should tell you the type of transmission fluid you need and how much of it the transmission requires. Just tell the sales associates at like Kragen, Autozone or Pepboys and buy some of that stuff.

Or you can go to a speed shop that retails redline or any other high performance stuff and get it from them.

Has anybody used Royal Purple's Synchromax transmission oil? I've heard a lot of good things about both Royal Purple and the Redline that Steven used. I don't really want to use the same old Honda MTF and I want to switch to synthetic, so just wondering if anybody had any reviews on the Synchromax.

Royal Purple is just as good as Redline IMO.

Yeah. How about that Redline though...still performing as well as when you first put it in?

Yep! It performed REALLY well like the first 2 weeks. It's been a few months to a half year now since I changed mine. My shifter still feels good. Just keep lubing your shifter links.

My shifter has always felt smooth yet firm because I have a TWM short shifter.

Does anyone out there have redline mt90 in their tranny with a stock shifter?

Good deal.

Smooth yet firm is the best description I've ever heard. That's exactly how I would like mine to feel.

when i shifft or drive real slow i feel and hear a noise from under my foots like scratching from to high snow or somfhing(and its clean on the street) hehe.
is this becuase of the gear oil is bad?

I didn't notice any noises like that before I changed mine but that does not mean it couldn't be fixed by some new tranny oil. If you haven't changed it within the past 30K miles or more, give it a try.

thanx steven, i'll def. do that

I have 65K miles on my car, but I don't hear any squeaking noise from the tranny. Should I change my tranny oil? Was it part of the 60K service? If so, I'm going to be jellin' at someone soon...

You dont really ever have to change the MTF, at least in my car you don't. It's just an optional thing to do every 15k miles or so, but most people do change their MTF because it does make a difference.

I'm just doing a reply to the post I wrote a week ago. I had my manual tranny flushed today. I know I didn't need to flush it I just felt better doing it. I also had Redline MT-90 put in. I am very happy to get that used Toyota crap out of there, especially with the hard driving I had done in the past. Well over due and I wish I had done it earlier. So far I'm very happy of the results and knowing that I will be better protected from here on. With the clutch pedal adjusted (I think), lithium grease on the linkage, and the Redline my tranny and shifts are smooth with not even a grind at all speeds. Almost like new if I could remember what new felt like. Toyota charged me $94. Well worth it.

one question..i had my clutch replace with the ACT street clutch about 2wks ago..but whenever i shift into reverse gear it grinds. what do you guy think it might b? if i shift it really SLOW it won't grinds but if i shift it Fast it'll grind..it's stupid because it's still brand new..