so the right amount is 3oz of the GM additive right?

 

Just another report of after switching to RedLine oil in the tranny a noted improvement for a week or two, and then occasional first gear grinds unless I'm very, very careful. Been using the Redline for about 5000 miles now with excellent results other than the occasional 1st gear grinds when I'm not carefully downshifting.

I'm going to have to pick up a cocktail using the GM synchromesh and see how that works out...

 

There is a thread on the other board, which is down at the moment , concerning the use of my 'cocktail'.....and there have been nothing but :banana: :banana: posts by many happy users.

I have had it in my trans for almost 45k miles and I have no tranny issues of any kind.

It just plain works, no grinds, no grunches, no BS.

The ONLY possible issue is that the Synchromesh and the Shockproof is not GL-5 rated and thus, warranty work could possibly be denied by using it....and the color of the Shockproof makes it impossible to miss.

 

Which one of the various mixtures are you running?

 

you all complaine about 10$ a quart?? haha my supraTT getrag gear oil was 50$ a quart. and it took 3 quarts.

anyways.. not many STi 6spd posts here.. i like the trani to be smoother shifting.. may be i'll try it out, see if it'll make it better

 

Ok, so I just got the results back from Blackstone labs. I'm running 1qt Synchromesh, balance of Hypoy-C on the test sample (no Hypoy-C anymore so now I'm using Valvoline), and basically everything is within acceptable limits, and their suggestion was that I could probably put more miles on the next transmission oil change. I drained this at 30,000+ miles of use so as far as I'm concerned, I have few concerns with this mixture for my use.

I should say that the car has not been tracked, not even an Auto-x on this tranny fluid. I'm fairly easy on the car and the transmission, though I do run nearly to redline several times on a daily basis.

If anyone's interested I can post the actual results when I get home.

 

Please do. Also, how many miles do you have overall on the transmission? This kind of long term result is what I have been waiting for.

 

Results here

 

Ok... my unlucky deal here.....totaled my previous 02 wrx which had no problems.... then bought a used 03 with 16000 miles from a dealer in seattle area.... drove the car from seattle to vegas....(knew that the 36000 warranty expired), but i noticed alot of noise when decellerating in first gear (not downshifting, but that too if i did that), but im just talking about 1st gear driving, hence following somone in a parking lot type a deal.... give it gas.... let off.... lots of whirring noises. So i brought the car into subaru to be diagnosed, and they are saying possibly front diff and main shaft is where the problem lies. And they also told me that SOA has voided the warranty on the 60000 powertrain (couldnt disclose to me why... privacy act shiet)..... anyway...... the car seems to be ok other than the noise... and also a slight vibration for 2 seconds after coming to a complete stop. The car made it from seattle to vegas with no problems, and i dont plan on racing the car, but dont want to spend 3000 bucks repairing quite yet, or 6000 on a 6mt swap, but want this to last.

question time: 1. Is the cocktail cure something i would benefit from if im not grinding gears, or something that might do more bad than good

2. What could be actually causing these noises? It sounds like the way it should sound but more pronounced and amplified.... kinda like the whirrrr sound when reversing.

Too cocktail or not to cocktail.... now that is the question.

Thanks

 

Hi. My 02 WRX is the first manual tranny car I've ever owned. I got it used with 26k miles - no idea if they changed the fluid before I bought it. Its at about 37k now and I've been meaning to change it and the rear diff fluid. from the sounds of it, I think I'll go 75W90 with 1 qt syncromesh for the tranny and maybe mobil 1 synthetic for the rear diff (is that ok?)

my car's tranny acts different day to day... one time this week it was very strange - kept having a hard time getting into first and I had to let out the clutch and depress it again to get it to go in... another time I was at an auto-x and in between my runs it kept grinding going into first... other than that, I have occassional grinds going into reverse, also sometimes if I am driving extremely spiritedly and am shifting fast I grind going into 4th. I would say I am a pretty spirited shifter - I shift pretty fast when I want to, IMO... so I think i am probably kind of hard on the synchros, so upgrading the tranny fluid isn't a bad idea, especially to a mixture that benefits the syncros - I do a lot of auto-x and track, and dont like not being able to downshift into 1st without double clutching/rev matching. Other than all this, the gearbox is pretty notchy, but I thought that was just the way WRXes are.

However, I've never changed either the tranny or rear diff fluid on any car... is it easy to do? The rear diff sounds fairly straight-forward, but wasnt too sure about the tranny fluid.

Also, do you all flush it out (as in pour oil in and drain it immediately to remove excess dirt/metal fragments?) - I wasn't sure how necessary something like this would be.

Sounds like this is a pretty reliable thing - more stories of long-term application would be nice (saw Uncle Scotty's 45k post and Subawho?'s 25k mile post, and the oil analysis post ... wouldn't mind hearing more long term success stories

 

wizurd - if the transmission warranty's been voided already, what's $20 in fluids going to hurt? In addition to eliminating my grind when going into 1st (even at a stop sometimes!) and reverse, shifting feel was much better. I already have the SPT short shifter, this cocktail just smoothed it out more. I will say, however that the Hypoy-C seems to have been a better fluid than the Valvoline non-synth I used this last time. Synchros are still behaving though, so I'll put up with the 10% reduced shifter feel.

dark_vandal - Your description is a classic example of a transmission that could benefit from the Synchromesh. And go with the slipperiest synthetic you can get in the rear diff, Mobil 1 is good. Rear diff is SUPER easy, don't even need a socket on your wrench, just a 1/2" drive extension. Put the square extension into the top fill hole first (if you can't get this one off, you won't be able to fill it once it's drained, grok?), remove the top plug. Then remove the bottom plug over a drain pan. Best if the car is on jack stands for plenty of room to work and level, but if not, you can probably get to it without a jack unless you're lowered insanely.

Car has to be level (or front end raised slightly if you're REALLY ****) to drain all the fluid out. You could flush it with some clean non-synth before the real stuff, just temporarily put the drain plug in otherwise the fluid won't flush anyof the inner workings, it'll just run out. Put the bottom plug back in, tightened to...eh...tight. Find one of those clear hoses you can screw onto an oil bottle as an extension, and you can literally squeeze the fluid back into the casing. Fill through top hole just until fluid starts to come back out, let it drip until it stops (just not RUNNING out, a small trickle is ok, don't overfill). Replace the top plug, tighten and that's it. 15 minutes tops including cleanup assuming the plugs come out nice and easy.

Transmission fluid, just like motor oil. There's a large drain plug in the bottom of the tranny case. Open it over a drain pan (it comes out fast), flush with non-synth fluid if you want. Check the magnet on the plug for large chunks of metal, hopefully you won't have any, sludge is fine, you're bound to have some just from wear. Clean it off, close it back up, tighten. Transmission fill is on the passenger side of the car, between the turbo and the transmission, under the intercooler. Remember that hose extension? Use it here also and you don't need to remove the I/C. Put the one quart of Synchromesh in first, then a full quart of whatever else you're using. I think it's 3.7qts total, might be 2.7...eh...don't remember, just check it frequently while filling and you'll be fine. Do NOT overfill it. Drain some out if you do. Another 15-30 minute project first time through. Take your time and you'll still be done in an hour.

 

the original and best, of course

many of these 'cocktails' posted here(while not the original) seem to be working for their users...

YMMV

 

Hey guys I just wanted to be 100% sure...this is what i need to buy right? I have an '06 WRX but only have about 13k miles on it. Would you consider it a waste to change out the fluid now for this cocktail...or +1 for thinking ahead?

http://www.5speedtransmissions.com/gm_syncromesh.html

Then mix it up with my choice of tranny fluid...sounds like 75w Valvoline is the choice after reading this whole article. Do you guys mix it up before pouring it in..or does it not really matter? And is more syncromesh necessarily better?? I'm leaning towards a 70/30 TF/syncromesh ratio...but show me the light if you think 50/50 is the way to go.