Traney Fluid Suggestions

Ok I have done a BUNCH of reading accross this forum about fluids for my differential and traney. I am running a 2000 2.4L (4 cyl) 4x2 and was wondering what fluid and the amounts to place in them. From what I have read a lot of people like royal purple and have read good things about a couple of other brands. But I wanted to set my own topic in here to get a firm confirmation on what I have read specifically for my vehicle set up. From what I understand I need to pull my drain plug and let it flow out and then simply fill up until it starts coming back out of the fill hole on both the tranny and differential. If this is not true what are the exact amounts I need. I guess my real questions are.

1. I have read I need something with MTL for my differential. Do I buy that pre mixed or have to mix it myself. And what viscosity/brand do I use (i.e.) 75w-90
2. What viscocity and amount do I put in the traney.
3. what brand do you recommend

Yeah I know this post turned out way bigger than I thought it should have too.

Thanks guys

1. YOu don't want to use Redline MTL in your differential. MTL is a product made by Redline. YOu should be able to use any 80w90 gear oil in the diff.

2. I'm assuming a manual transmission which calls for a 75w90 weight gear oil which is GL-4 compliant. the GL-4 rating is very important as newer GL-5 compliant oils have more additives that can harm the soft metals in your tranny

3. There are several brands that people are using. Redline, royal purple, amsoil etc. I'm currently using redline mt-90 synthetic and have had no issues. You can use the same gear oil that you use in your transmission for your transfer case

Hope this helps

*edit* Shit just realized you said you had a 4 banger, I'm not sure if what i said above applies to 4 cylinder version or not. Someone else might chime in here

I just happen to be sitting here w/my DSM for my '01 Fronty. Looking at the KA24DE specs (I'm guessing this is the same engine):

-as NUTZ said 75/90 gear oil for the tranny. GL-4 only (gonna have to check that on mine )

-For a standard differential: 80/90 GL-5

-For a Limited Slip Dif.: 80/90 GL-5 or you can use 90 if the temp. is above 0 degrees F. THIS MUST BE LSD OIL.

Hope this helps.

I doubt that a 4 cylinder 2WD has the LSD.

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Probably not, but it would be wise to know for sure.

looked in my manual and it says API GL-4*1 viscosity 75w-90 only so I will stick with that, also as per your suggestions. But it does not say anything about differential. It does however say something about the "Final drive" and it just says 3 1/8 pts of API gl-5*1. no SAW viscosity level. Any iudea what that is?

One more thing... how can I tell if it is a LSD? in my manual it says replace LSD fluid every 30 miles in the maintenence schedule, but its a very generic book. It does not seperate that schedule from 4X4 or 6 cyl.

Oops I just did a little more research and found that it will have a orange sticker on the Diff and if thats fallen off jack up the rear and spin a tire, if both spin its LSD?

I don't know if I believe the tire spinning deal... but what has been said (if you choose to believe it) is that if they both spin the SAME direction that is the LSD... if they spin opposite, that is non-LSD.

AAR, HERE is the sticker:


I don't think it would come off even with lots of offroading... it's a mylar sticker and it is ON THERE... Even if it had come off I'll bet you could see where it used to be.

qb][/QUOTE]I don't know if I believe the tire spinning deal... but what has been said (if you choose to believe it) is that if they both spin the SAME direction that is the LSD... if they spin opposite, that is non-LSD.

Yep, that's true. Same direction = LSD. No doubt.

I been to 3 auto part stores and nobody carries Gl-4 75w-90 all I have been able to find is the gl-5 stuff......

Yeah, it's sort of a tough find....I don't know if you have an autozone there, but if so they sell a brand called coastal which is standard dino oil gl-4 rated. If you can't find any, you might have to pay a bit more and get a synthetic gear oil. You should be able to find products from redline, amsoil, royal purple that will be gl-4 rated. Don't just give up and buy the gl-5 rated gear oil, it can potentially be very harmful to your tranny

I found some Coastal GL4 at Advance Auto Parts a couple of months ago.

I put Castrol Syntorq LT 75w85 GL-4 rated in mine a few weeks ago. So far it shifts great! But I didn't have any problems before either. I got tired of looking for & reading bad things about other oil. From all I reseached, It sounds like the best. The only down side is it's $$$! Online is the cheapest way to go. I would have bought it online but needed it that day. I ended up buying it at a local GM shop that had it in stock.
Castrol Syntorq LT is available in quart bottles from Dodge dealers (p/n 4874459) and GM dealers (p/n 12346190).

Yeah, I was kind of hoping to put synthetic in anyhow. I was really hoping to get ahold of some lucas that would work but could not get any. I have an autozone here, hopefully they will have a GL-4 synthetic somewhere. I did not find any at advanced, oreilly, or the other place i went.

Went to the dealership and they were trying to tell me that GL5 was better for my traney even though I had a gl4 one. I told them thanks and did not buy anything for the traney yet. I know they have the coastal stuff at autzone so I am going to pick that up on my way home from work today. I have a feeling that the people that owned this car before me did not do the best job on fluid changes so I am going to use the coastal and then change it to a better synthetic in about 10k miles to get the rest of the gunk out.

treeman how much you pay for the syntorq from the dealer?

He told me $16 per qt. But when I looked at the bill he only charged me $15. I have seen it for $12 online but then you have to pay shipping.

Here is some info I collected before I decided to use it.

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/archive/topic/1237.html

http://www.xterraownersclub.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000625

http://www.quad4x4.com/NV4500FAQ.htm Scroll down to want lube I should use

Where you can get it online
http://www.quad4x4.com/NV4500%20Parts.htm

http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm

I decided to go with the Redline fluids for the tranny and transfer case.

I mixed the MTL and MT-90 50/50. So far so good. (2 days, 40 miles)

You can get redline oil at many performance shops. I got mine at Jegs (local) but you could also get it through their catalog.. $7.99/qt. with free shipping.

Beware though, others have expressed problems with the MT-90 (ChuckH?)

I found this at Royal Purples website and It says it works in a GL-4.

"Max-Gear® is recommended for use in truck, motor home / RV, and automotive front or rear differentials, manual transmissions and lower gear units of marine engines that specify use of an API GL-5 or GL-4 fluid."

What do you guys think?

Mike, check out amsoil . They've got 75w90 GL-4 synthetic for $7.80/qt.

I ordered 4qts* of that, 3qts of 80w90 @ $7.40 and 4oz. of LSD additive. $70 shipped.

*The DSM calls for 5 7/8 pints, but my notes tell me I put 3 1/2 qts. in last time.

Did my differential this weekend only a 1 1/2 quarts drained out... I jacked the front end up too but nothing else came out.

Hm, the FSM calls for almost 3 qts. How much did you get back in it?

1 1/2... I even drove her for 25 miles at 60 MPH to get the fluid nice and hot. The one good thing was that the fluid looked semi clean. It was not pitch black like I was expecting.

Ah, my bad. I was looking at the specs for the v6. 2 3/8 pints for yours. You didn't overfill did you?

Got my amsoil for the rear today. The GL-4 for the tranny is backordered. Grrr.

Hey, Mike, did you have a LSD in there?

Gear oil typically does not change color like that. Engine oil turns black because of blow-by gases and residue that find their way into the bottom-end of the engine. If the gear oil turns into chocolate milk then you know that water got into the axle or transmission, whichever is in question.

Nah, I wish I did not think you could overfill it, I put about what I got out of it. I filled it till it came out of the fill plug. Thats what everyone was saying to do.... I FINALLY got some coastal gl4 for my traney. I am going to let it sit in there for 10k then replace with redline gl4 that I found online.

When I said naw, I meant no LSD. I guess i have the most basic one you can buy but it does the trick for now. I got to look inside one of the brand new ones this weekend while I was in Orlando and they are pretty sweet. It looks like the body is a little beefier as well

You know about "popping" the emergency brake, if you get wheel spin in the snow or mud, to trick the tranny into operating like a posi?

Got my GL-4 synthetic from from Amsoil the other day. Just gotta get that stuff in now.

I live in florida so no snow and probably won't get to take it off road any time soon. But thanks for the tip

Bet it would work in sand, also.

Probably gonna have to change the tranny fluid soon so was doing some reading up on the subject and found this post as to why GL-4 is still required... I had heard about the metal used on the syncro's before, but this went into more detail....

from what I'm reading there may be some people out there afraid to use synthetic oil. synthetic oil reduces running temps up to 30+ degrees. for LSD like mine I use synthetc oil with LSD additive. I also use something in my radiator called Water Wetter from Red Line. Tests show a 40-60 degree drop in flash temp in the coolant. It also has a friction modifier in it to lube the water pump (post t-belt). I even went as far as to find synthetic ATF for the trans after the overhaul and shift kit treatment and added a tranny cooler (50,000lb) for towing (overkill). I add an oil additive (prolong) to the synthetic oil in the engine every 6,000 mi., and I still change the oil every 3K. As far as engine oil I use Mobil 1 racing oil in the 10W30 variety.

I'm ignorant of tranny fluid things here so bear with me - I know with changing engine oil you're supposed to let all the oil drain out before you put in new oil and especially before you change over from dino to synth. So is that true in a tranny too? I believe a mechanic once told me that unless you use a special machine that gets all the oil out of the tranny then you're leaving a lot in there with a standard pull the plug and drain (no, he wasn't trying to convince me to let him do the job, we were just chatting).

So anyway, if I have dino in there now can I just drain it and pour in some synth?

brad cook

If you have a manual tranny, drain and fill is all that's needed. With an automatic, however, about half of the fluid is in the torque converter and won't come out by draining (so mechanic is right, special equipment necessary to completely remove old fluid).

There are differing opinions about whether professional flushing is necessary or whether backyard drain/fill on a more frequent schedule is sufficient for an auto tranny.

Cool! Thanks a lot. That's good to hear.

brad cook

So I was looking at the Coastal tranny oil at Autozone and the one I found said "GL-5, GL-4, GL-3" on the front. Is that what I'm looking for or does the one I want only say "GL-4" on it?

brad cook

Anyone? Anyone?! I was really wanting to try and get this done today so if someone knows the answer please chime in!

brad cook

Nevermind. I just decided to bite the bullet and pay $15 a quart for the Castrol Syntorq from my local Dodge dealer.

Although it isn't labeled as "Castrol Syntorq" now. It's labeled as Mopar Synthetic Manual Transmission oil 75w85 GL-4 or something to that effect. I believe it has the same part number though.

brad cook

I know this is too late but I believe the 75W90 Coastal that I put in my Frontier just said GL4. But I wouldn't be upset because you certainly didn't go wrong with synthetic.