Change your manual transmission fluid ASAP!!!

[SomeoneWhoIsntMe]

Extra-S is a pretty well regarded GL5 gear oil, I wouldn't go so far as to call it "re-labelled generic stuff" you can "pickup at 7-11", but then again, I guess I'm not trying to hawk motul and amsoil products.

That said, it's not the best stuff to be running in the stock manual trans, or the rear diff either really. Works great in Subaru transaxles though.

[AZP Installs]

Originally Posted by SomeoneWhoIsntMe

Extra-S is a pretty well regarded GL5 gear oil, I wouldn't go so far as to call it "re-labelled generic stuff" you can "pickup at 7-11", but then again, I guess I'm not trying to hawk motul and amsoil products.

That said, it's not the best stuff to be running in the stock manual trans, or the rear diff either really. Works great in Subaru transaxles though.

Actually if you read what I said above, and I will clarify...

Subaru ExtraS is VERY good and we use it all the time.

Subaru ExtraS is NOT what was mentioned above, I will quote it:

"Well, I ordered the Subaru Extra - S fluid from Amazon but instead the 'High Performance Gear Oil' arrived."

My 7-11 comment was referring to the "Subaru High Performance Gear Oil" which is NOT EXTRAS!

Please read before accusing me of "hawking" products. I've been in this community for 12+ years helping more subaru owners over the years with information. I don't do it for the money, I do it for the love of Subarus!

-mike

[SomeoneWhoIsntMe]

Ah, my mistake. I guess he should probably notify amazon and get it exchanged. The cool thing about amazon is the service you get with orders fulfilled by them, returning that stuff is no big deal.

[AZP Installs]

All good in the hood.

Yeah I've had Amazon replace stuff they've messed up on me, but as a small retailer who has real customer service and knowledge, I make every attempt to support the small businesses when I can. Once you push out the small businesses, the knowledgebase and any form of customer service will quickly evaporate from the Etailers and Big Box stores.

-mike

[n8dog11914]

Originally Posted by AZP Installs

Actually if you read what I said above, and I will clarify...

Subaru ExtraS is VERY good and we use it all the time.

Subaru ExtraS is NOT what was mentioned above, I will quote it:

"Well, I ordered the Subaru Extra - S fluid from Amazon but instead the 'High Performance Gear Oil' arrived."

My 7-11 comment was referring to the "Subaru High Performance Gear Oil" which is NOT EXTRAS!

Please read before accusing me of "hawking" products. I've been in this community for 12+ years helping more subaru owners over the years with information. I don't do it for the money, I do it for the love of Subarus!

-mike

Yes, I'm probably going to return it and look into something else. Personally, I am happy with the shifting on my BRZ and thus wanted to find something as close to OE fluid as possible. Previously I had a 350Z, I chose to change to Redline and thus was not happy with the change. That is why I wanted to stay as close to OE fluid as possible but since Toyota and Subaru both wouldn't sell me the fluid at the dealer, this was my other option. I will most likely go with Motul in the future.

Regards,

[radroach]

An update on my results with Motul Gear 300, it shifts wonderfully and warms up quickly, but for me when cold during the first few minutes it will get stuck in 1st, 2nd, R during the first 3-4 shifts, still making double clutching or grannying into 3rd necessary, or otherwise then I t'll grind pretty harshly. After that though, very easy and smooth, especially made the reach into 5th gear much quicker.

[billyk]

Originally Posted by billyk

I was part of the "my FRS won't go into 2nd when cold" camp. This led me to investigating changing tranny oil to fix the problem. It seems that some folks that change tranny oil experience shifting nirvana, and others say that it really didn't do much. In some cases, people report that some oil choices make getting into 2nd when cold actually worse.

I'll apologize in advance if you've already tried the technique of just remaining in 1st gear for a longer period of time to spin up the syncro when cold, but it works almost every time for me.

My previous experience was that when I leave for work in the AM in Winter weather, it's not that 2nd gear is "tough", it's actually impossible. It's like 2nd gear is totally locked-out. Dont' even mention double-clutching - that just doesn't work. I've got to skip to 3rd and try to avoid the lug. Once the tranny is warm, 2nd is great.

But I found that instead of zipping up my street in the AM spending maybe 1-2 seconds in 1st gear then struggling with 2nd, I intentionally go up the street slower, remaining in 1st, slowly accelerating without shifting and then holding it at 3k or so for a couple of seconds prior to shifting to 2nd. This seems to allow that cold syncro to spin-up, which it doesn't want to do at all when cold. With temps in the single digits, with the stock gear oil, that ice cold shift into 2nd is almost always perfect - smooth as silk. As I improve my technique, my success is increasing to nearly 100%.

Discovering this has made it so I have a lot less interest in changing my gear oil asap.

Update:
I'd say I've got my technique up to 100% now. For those first couple of shifts from 1st on a Winter morning...

Accelerate slowly and stay in 1st for 4-5 seconds.

For me, works every single time. Getting into 2nd is like butta. Stock gear oil.

[FyeaFRS]

There was someone doing a groupbuy on an all motul fluids change over a while ago, I can't seem to find it anymore. Does anyone have any info on this?

[AZP Installs]

Originally Posted by FyeaFRS

There was someone doing a groupbuy on an all motul fluids change over a while ago, I can't seem to find it anymore. Does anyone have any info on this?

We charge $85 shipped for 4 liters of Motul gear 300.

Mike

[zooki]

Just to add to the thread, I bought the Motul from AZP(4 liters, $85) and changed both trans & rearend today. I have a lift so it made things easier. Didn't have new crush washers so I used Permatex anaerobic sealer on the washers and threads instead. Works like a champ. Previously had Pentosin in the trans. Feels about the same as the Pentosin when it was new. I try to change out the fluid every 20-25,000 miles.

[MoonieGT]

One more happy Motul user here. Just replaced the transmission and diff fluid last night. The difference is night and day. It's really ridiculous that Toyobaru uses a fluid that holds the transmission back so much. It's such a nice gearbox with the Motul in it.

[dirtbike250x]

I can say that I too am a believer in the transmission oil change with the Motul 300 stuff. It really does make a noticeable difference, and I think it should have came from the factory with a similar fluid.

[sato]

I just replaced mine at ~22k miles at the dealer. World of a difference

[stevesnj]

I have not even 1500 miles on the car, sounds like Motul would be a good choice. I might as well do the rear diff while im all greasy.

Did everyone use the 100% synthetic or the Synthetic blend?