OT: Truck Transmission lube?

I've never heard of dextron for a manual trans - sounds to me like a really bad idea - usually it's 90 wt gear oil, or maybe even 140 weight gear oil. My porsche uses 90 wt, my 36 cadillac uses the 140. Dextron as a lube in manual trans will, in my opinion destroy the trans - suggest you recheck the manual.

Ford (Australia ) uses dextron 11, in their 5 speed manuals fitted in the falcon sedan, ( i have one)

Just out of passing interest, most (and maybe all for all I know) Honda automotive manual transmissions call for straight 30wt engine oil.

Erik

My Mazda B3000/Ford Ranger uses ATF as the tranny fluid in the 5 speed I drive (328,000 miles) though I did put a pint of Power Punch Molly D in at around 245,000 miles.

Gunner

That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there. - George Orwell

My F 150 with a 5 speed uses ATF

Many years ago I owned a 1976 Saab 99 that used gear oil in the transmission and after blowing a transmission ( I was young :) ) I was told when I replace the transmission to run ATF and NOT gear lube, it worked fine for many years. The thought was that at cold starts the gear oil had a hard time getting to where it needed to be, I will say it shifted a whole lot better in cold weather with the ATF.

Not in the ZF transmissions, or at least not in all of them. BMW uses ZF transmissions in their cars and allow the use of ATF. The use of ATF is primarily for cold climates. 90wt is acceptable as well, but there may be warnings about using hypoid oils. Something about the additives eating brass parts inside.

My car had ATF in the manual transmission and like you mention it made more noise than I liked. I changed it out for 90wt and it got quieter, but the first gear change of the morning in mid winter is slow and difficult. After that it is fine.

I have heard some of Red Line's products being very good and the best of both worlds.

-- Joe

-- Joseph M. Krzeszewski Mechanical Engineering and stuff snipped-for-privacy@wpi.edu Jack of All Trades, Master of None... Yet

I'd use Redline MTL...

DextronII is the correct lubricant for the ZF transmission in your truck.

Rex the Wrench (I am a lead tech at a large Ford truck dealership)

Jake > I have a 1985 Ford 250 pickup with a 7.5 liter V-8 and a 5-speed manual

Thanks ALL,

Quite a diverse set of answers. I was going to try the Red Line until I found that it would cost me over 50 bucks to fill the tranny, so I opted for the Dextron II again. I was amazed to see that after almost 10 years in the tranny almost no metal filings came out with the old Dextron II.

Now I am wondering what all of that noise was while the tranny was in neutral at idle. It seems to have stopped now.

Jake > DextronII is the correct lubricant for the ZF transmission in your truck. >

This truck gets such fantastic mileage that the EPA does not even list a value for it. The truck is over 8500 GVWR so EPA don't rate them. So I don't think mileage is the reason they spec ATF as the lube.

I've got the same truck, engine and tranny, I have 136k miles and the tranny is going strong. The engine is burning a quart of oil every 1000 miles and gets 12 mpg but the tranny is bomb proof. I run Mobil 1 synthetic ATF in mine and it works real good lasts long time.

Erich

Jake, nothing lasts forever. Maybe you should do the drain/refill on a 5 year cycle. ;)

Rex the Wrench

Jake > Thanks ALL,

I was having some noise as well and it was getting difficult to shift at times, so I drained my tranny, refilled with new ATF, and stuck in a bottle of Power Punch Moly D (recommended to me by a transmission shop owner I know). In side of a mile, it was shifting like a new truck, and the noise was gone. This at around 235,000 miles..or almost

That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there. - George Orwell

Most newer manuals require something thin like Dexron and will shift very badly with 80W-90 gear oil. But I remember old 4-speed Chrysler manuals from the 1970s normally running 90 wt gear oil, but Chrysler said some Dexron could be mixed into it for cold weather use. I don't know if it's OK to put some 90 wt into a Ford manual that calls for Dexron.

On Mon, 10 May 2004 19:26:36 -0700, Jake in Escondido brought forth from the murky depths:

Did you drain the same quantity of oil from the tranny as you put back in? Low lubricant levels can make machinery howl like wounded banshees.

What amazes me is that Ford is now using Chebby lubes in their ve hickles.

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