Transmission fluid swap?

[Jeff Lange]

Originally Posted by zdr93523

This is not an accurate statement or analogy. The transmission in the twins is sourced from Lexus and they have a TSB with a warning that use of fluid other than GL-5 will cause manual transmission damage. Toyota/Subaru just cheaped out on the fluid and I suspect this is why we are seeing lots of grinding issues. Subaru is notorious for this. Subaru manufactures Extra-S, which is excellent GL-5 fluid, but does not have it properly loaded in the Subaru supply system, so dealers don't stock it even though it will prevent problems in WRXs and STis and is a solid upsell. Instead, they just eat warranty repairs like the trans in my BRZ. Also, they do not specify which oil to use when they fill their engines and transmissions when new. You might get valvoline in one car, and something else in the next. It is just poor business practices, not that the trans was engineered to accept GL-3.

The transmission in the BRZ/86 shares nothing in common with any transmission ever used in a Lexus in North America. The transmission/TSB you are referring to is related to the RA62 (Aisin AY6) in the IS250, which is a completely different design than the one in the Zx6 (Aisin AZ6).

Jeff

[zdr93523]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lange

The transmission in the BRZ/86 shares nothing in common with any transmission ever used in a Lexus in North America. The transmission/TSB you are referring to is related to the RA62 (Aisin AY6) in the IS250, which is a completely different design than the one in the Zx6 (Aisin AZ6).

Jeff

I believe this is inaccurate. There's a reason why Subaru and Toyota replace and not rebuild the transmissions. Those who have rebuilt due to warranty denial have had source parts from Lexus because the internals are not in the Subaru parts catalog.

[axelo]

At 29k, shifting clunks are harsher...i notice oil has lost its protective properties, shifting is different compared to 2 yrs ago...thus below is my Labor day fun...

[Fastbrew]

I am putting in a full load of Pentosin MTF2 in the next couple weeks. So - we'll see how that goes.

[axelo]

Did today the change to Motul... Trans oil should be done sooner than specified on manual IMO...i have never launched my car, drive decent and at 29k oil was horrible, there's a huge change on the feel specially at 1st to 2nd shift, clunk is solid, strong...before, clunking was like "going to break" clunk, now is softer and smooth

I've not tried any oil other than stock, but i highly recomend by this experience to use motul 300 as soon as possible, your trans will last longer working properly.

[LeeMaster]

I cannot stress this enough, when I changed my rear differential fluid with Motul 300, my shift felt smoother, my clutch engagement point felt smoother, AND i also got rid of all those black gooey metal flakes that was magnetized onto the drain plug.

[Jeff Lange]

Originally Posted by zdr93523

I believe this is inaccurate. There's a reason why Subaru and Toyota replace and not rebuild the transmissions. Those who have rebuilt due to warranty denial have had source parts from Lexus because the internals are not in the Subaru parts catalog.

The only manual transmissions ever used in Lexus models in the USA were the E52 (ES250), W58 (SC300), W55 (IS300) and RA62 (IS250). None of which are related to the Zx6.

That said, in other countries like Japan and Europe, the Altezza/RS200/IS200 did use the J160 which is very similar to the TL70 in the FR-S/BRZ.

So in North America, no, in other countries, yes.

I don't know about Subaru not listing internals for the TL70 separately, but Toyota does.

Jeff