[mhughett]

I changed my gear oil for the first time about 2 months ago using Motul 300. After the change, I had some difficulty getting into second gear when cold and occasionally did not go into other gears as smoothly as I would like. Keep in mind that "cold" is a relative term as the change took place in late August. I was not looking forward to going through the winter with product so I thought about trying something different.

I used to have BMW's with manual transmissions and used Royal Purple synchromax with great success. I knew this was too thin for the BRZ transmission but I had several quarts in the garage. Pentosin MT fluid has been used very successfully on some BRZ's and is actually the factory fluid on BMW's. So I had an idea. I drained just over 1 quart of Motul out of the gearbox, put the drain plug back in and then filled with Synchromax. The car was dead level as I have a lift that raises the whole car at once. I filled until it weeped out of the fill hole. Then to make sure it wasn't over filled, I drained about an ounce or two using a mity vac oil change pump.


After putting the panel back in place and cleaning up my mess, I took the car out for a spin. I wasn't expecting that much change but I was wrong. I have never felt this gearbox shift this smoothly. Not just into second gear but every other gear as well. There was no placebo effect here. It was dramatically better. Note that it was about 65 degrees when I took the car out this afternoon and I will be interested to see how it does in the morning when it is scheduled to be in the upper 30's. I also have my last track day of the year next Saturday so I should be able to see how it does under both extremes. Will let you know.