Manual Transmission Fluid Garbage

[UM_Ftown]

If the engine blows up and you change your own oil with non Ford oil, same thing could be said.

Not even close. You can run whatever engine oil you want as long as it meets or exceeds the manufactures specifications.

Run whatever manual transmission fluid in it you want as long as it meets the manufacturer specifications. Put thick gear oil in it that’s not the same spec and have issues later down the road that’s on you and it won’t be warrantied.

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[BigHoof]

Not even close. You can run whatever engine oil you want as long as it meets or exceeds the manufactures specifications.

Run whatever manual transmission fluid in it you want as long as it meets the manufacturer specifications. Put thick gear oil in it that’s not the same spec and have issues later down the road that’s on you and it won’t be warrantied.

Who said about running anything not per spec? The BG meets it as well as many others. So yes, it is the exact same situation.

 

[redone17]

If the engine blows up and you change your own oil with non Ford oil, same thing could be said.

I am with you. I use Motul in the engine. I am certainly interested in upgrading this too.

 

[Sugarwolf]

I couldn't wait lol. I changed mine to the Amsoil DCT a couple weeks ago. It meets and I'm sure exceeds the ford spec and made a significant difference for mine. Seemed just a little thicker than the stock stuff. Noise I had wasn't bad and it didn't bother me much tbh, but I feel better about knowing what is actually in it.

 

[Rick Astley]

It's nice to see somebody actually trying to do something instead of just bitching and moaning about it (ie: the @zombie Approach).

With Mitsubishi Evo's the secret sauce was a 60/40 mix of Redline MT90 and Penzoil Synchromesh and once that was discovered all the 5-speed transmission issues went away and people were getting 50K miles out of them at 600+ WHP.

Personally I'll be sending a sampling of the factory engine oil and transmission fluid to Blackstone Labs to get baseline of what's going on instead of how a fluid "looks".

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/information/sampling-procedures/transmission-sampling/

I look forward to trying some different fluids over a controlled period and having them tested to see what works best for this transmission. Amsoil now makes a light weight synchromesh which could be blended with their 75w90 GL-4.

Edit to post Ford's recommended transmission fluids for MT vehicles.

In trying to assist further on other transmission dual-clutch fluids which meet Ford's WSS-M2C200-D2 standard, there are no Amsoil products currently meeting this requirement. EDIT: plugging in the Bronco to use Amsoil's search function will not document DCT as an acceptable fluid even though the tech sheet on that fluid indicates it meets standards.

Redline offers their MT-LV which meets the requirement despite being 70w75 instead of 75w80 as implied by "WSS".

https://www.redlineoil.com/mt-lv-70w75w

And what I intend to use on the first fluid change is the updated version of the tried and true BG Synchroshift (now in version II) which meets Ford's WSS-M2C200-D2. This was the stuff of legend in my old Evo days and is a real miracle worker for helping brass synchros work snicker-snack smooth and silky. Cold temps tend to be an issue for this fluid which is why they blended it with MT90 back in the day, I'll do a 66%/33% blend of BG SSII and the Redline MT-LV.
https://www.bgprod.com/catalog/driveline/bg-syncro-shift-ii/



Note that the older MT-82 Transmission used in the Focus RS also has/had cold weather issues as oil shear problems on the synchros. This type of article goes way back to when the RS was being sorted out in the aftermarket. The fluid suggested in the below does not specifically meet Ford's current recommendation but may have at the time the article was written, originally the MT-82 had fluid requirements of XT-M5-QS

https://www.svtperformance.com/threads/mt-82-manual-transmission-oil-change-amsoil-mtf.1183093/

 

[Rick Astley]

I couldn't wait lol. I changed mine to the Amsoil DCT a couple weeks ago. It meets and I'm sure exceeds the ford spec and made a significant difference for mine. Seemed just a little thicker than the stock stuff. Noise I had wasn't bad and it didn't bother me much tbh, but I feel better about knowing what is actually in it.

For anyone interested in actual info on the Amsoil DCT referenced above instead of anecdotal conversation here is the page with data, link to chemical specs provided after the jump on Amsoil's page.

https://www.amsoil.com/p/100-synthetic-dct-fluid-dct/

 

[Rick Astley]

I will be running Amsoil DCT in mine once it’s back from the TSB work. Or maybe I won’t if it looks like water. Lol

As listed above, DCT meets the WSS standard and will be 75w80, same as the factory fill.

 

[illverado]

Ordered some BG syncroshift 2 on eBay, thanks for the recommendation OP!

 

[Brnzbronc]

It's nice to see somebody actually trying to do something instead of just bitching and moaning about it (ie: the @zombie Approach).

With Mitsubishi Evo's the secret sauce was a 60/40 mix of Redline MT90 and Penzoil Synchromesh and once that was discovered all the 5-speed transmission issues went away and people were getting 50K miles out of them at 600+ WHP.

Personally I'll be sending a sampling of the factory engine oil and transmission fluid to Blackstone Labs to get baseline of what's going on instead of how a fluid "looks".

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/information/sampling-procedures/transmission-sampling/

I look forward to trying some different fluids over a controlled period and having them tested to see what works best for this transmission. Amsoil now makes a light weight synchromesh which could be blended with their 75w90 GL-4.

Edit to post Ford's recommended transmission fluids for MT vehicles.

I’d be interested to see the results, I suspect a lot of brass. I thought I read somewhere that the synchros in these are brass? Hopefully that’s wrong

 

[Sugarwolf]

@Rick Astley I got the recommendation try a 22 or 23 on Amsoil sir.

 

[Rick Astley]

I’d be interested to see the results, I suspect a lot of brass. I thought I read somewhere that the synchros in these are brass? Hopefully that’s wrong

Brass is a fantastic material for synchronizers. Not the most robust, but it helps to create excellent shift feel.

The S2000, TSX and to a lesser extent the US market Evo 8-9 were famous for their excellent feel and function out of their transmissions. When test driving thr mannequin rig in 2021 I had guesstimate that Ford used brass synchros in the MT88 based on feel alone. That's now been proven to be true.

Unfortunately for the S2000, they switched to carbon synchros for the mid-model-refresh and transmission feel dropped significantly.

 

[Rick Astley]

@Rick Astley I got the recommendation try a 22 or 23 on Amsoil sir.

BTW, how many quarts were required for the drain & fill?

Spec is 5.1 quarts total capacity, but typically a D&F will be at least a quart or two less than total capacity.

 

[Sugarwolf]

I pumped 3 quarts back into it.

 

[zombie]

It's nice to see somebody actually trying to do something instead of just bitching and moaning about it (ie: the @zombie Approach).

Lol, the manual transmission in my Bronco works great, I'm not "bitching and moaning" about anything. If you (or anyone else) want to do Ford's job for them, be my guest.

You do you, and maybe realize others have the right to choose something else.

 

[redone17]

@Rick Astley - why a blend? Is that common practice in your world? I’ve always used Redline on my VWs.

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