If anyone has changed the manual transmission oil after break in, what was it like?
 

I'm curious because I am hearing a lot more noise from the transmission in this car than I did back when I broke in my OG 86.

I'm at about 2500km right now and just picked up the (stupidly expensive) Toyota LV 75W stuff and I reckon I'm going to find a fair amount of metal.

I wouldn't normally think to do this until like 5k or even 10k honestly (then back to usual interval), but my gut is telling me to change it ASAP.

Love to get some feedback if you have changed it or experienced similar.

If it's a brand new car, bring it to the dealership. You have powertrain warranty. Don't do it yourself or bring it to any other shop.

I get that. I didn't say I was going to do it myself. I'm getting a transmission specialist mechanic to change it and take a sample. There is no legal basis for a certified mechanic not to be able to change the transmission oil and be fully covered under warranty, and so that being in mind I'd like an independent analysis that isn't from a Subaru dealer (plus it costs less).

I'll also add that I did talk to my Subaru dealership and they were quite keen for me to wait much longer.

I have my receipts from Toyota for the oil (interesting note - Subaru wouldn't sell it to me because they only get it from Toyota in 20l barrels).

Ed: Also, I did get them to do a quick test drive at 1000 kms and the kid who they got to do it came back at said to the boss - "that's just how they all are". I'll also note, I was their first customer and they only have a demo car in auto. He also came back with the AC blaring at max, so not sure if he was being very diligent. Trusting my gut, can't hurt.

If it’s making more noise than your old car something is wrong.

My 2022 makes the same clattery chatter noises that the 2013 made. It’s definitely not louder. Is there another dealership you can try?

Everything about my 2022 mt is much smoother, less chattery than the 2020. I changed to Motul about 10,000 miles in on the 2020 because it was notchy and chattery and it helped somewhat. But was still bad and was thinking about going to Pentosin. The 2022 is so good as-is I don't plan on changing it all until recommended by service interval (not sure what that is).

I changed to Motul 300V around 1,000 miles or even before, don't remember. The transmission shifts a little cleaner, a little less notchy. But I didn't have any alarming noises coming from the unit before or after. I did it for 'performance' sake. The amount of lever rattle (in neutral) was remarkable when I bought the car. That hasn't gone away. I figure that's just a quirk of the model.

I put Redline MT-LV in the 2020 while I had it, and it seemed to be better than stock for daily driving.

The sounds its making is like when you pour sand onto the floor. Its more prominent under 2.5k revs. Sometimes its not there, but most of the times it is. I've also noted its very very slightly there when I am in neutral and pull the clutch out, just about where the engagement point is - but its no-where near as loud.

I had quite a bit of metal goo on both my tranny and diff plugs when I changed mine at around 1200 miles. Even with fresh fluid mine still isn't very smooth shifting into second when cold. Otherwise it feels a bit better then the stock stuff. I used mt-85 plus some leftover MTL in the tranny, and m1 75w-90 in the diff. The rear diff fluid looked really good, and was thicker then I expected the stock fill would be. The tranny fluid was a different story.

For anyone thats interested - there is quite a bit of metal in the transmission oil at 2k miles. Glad to get it changed early.

https://i.imgur.com/fB3hia2.png

I too was surprised by the amount of movement in the shift lever. Adding a stiffer transmission mount (STi) solved most of that, and ended up improving shift quality by a noticeable amount.

Is the OEM MT transmission fluid plug magnetic?

Yes, I think the engine oil plug is also, but that was squeaky clean.

That's on my list to do; mind sharing the part number and where ya bought it from?

I see ST41020AS000 [$105.92 USD + Shipping] from Japanparts.com (Japanparts No. 484-001-019) being the cheapest place to get one from.

I try to order a few parts at a time... Am still investigating if the Subaru subframe bushing inserts and longer tS subframe bolts would make a difference for our cars. I don't see any subframe inserts back there. Would rather keep it OEM than aftermarket, if possible. Looking at ST20176AS010 (4x) [$33.56] and 20157E x2 (2x) subframe bolts [$30.20].

Can someone confirm the rear subframe inserts are the same for all four positions? Same deal with the bolt kit - it looks like there is 20157E and M000378 on the parts diagram but the bolt kit indicates x2 bolt per kit and the RH side is the longer bolt - I assume that'd be the same for the front two and rear two positions? Or if these are even the right parts I should be looking at!?

As far as this thread goes - folks on facebook that track the Gen 2 regularly are changing out trans fluid often and finding it the fluid is breaking down quickly and leading to subpar shift action. Some food for thought. Maybe a trans cooler would be a good upgrade? Is that something the first gen cars have?