I would like to get an idea of the state of people's manual transmissions and the effects of different manual transmission fluids.

My car has 65K on it. I've only had it for a month. I went from whatever fluid was in the car when I purchased it to Redline MT90. The fluid we drained from the tranny was dark grey, murky and very thin in consistancy. I'm not sure if it was stock or if someone changed it to something like ATF. Before the change shifts were inconsistant at best. When the tranny was cold it was very difficult getting it into gear. The 1-2 shift would grind and the 2-3 didn't seem as smooth as it could be. Once things got warmed up the shifts smoothed out a little. The 1-2 shift was still inconsistant. Sometimes it would grind, sometimes it was smooth.

I changed to MT90 a week ago and noticed an improvement across the board. I thought at first it had taken care of the problems but it really didn't. Although not as bad as it was before I still have the 1-2 trouble and trouble when cold.

I have a feeling my car was driven hard before I bought it and I know that the 2nd gear synchro is probably worn but I'd like to explore all of the options.

So, if those of you with manual transmissions or experience with them could post the MTF you're using and your oppinions and experiences I would really appreciate it.

 

1-2 shifts always suck unless you have a O2M tranny in a 225TT/GLI. Its the way of life. Not to mention the syncros suck *****. Just let the tranny warm up more and keep in the MT90

 

GM synchromesh made my cold 1-2 shift smooth in my A4.