How often do you change your manual transmission fluid?

[lovemysan]

Originally Posted by Pyrorocketeer

.... apparently all that metal slurry floating around through the gears is good for a transmission? not just his, but anyone's manual transmission? Well... I guess if synros didn't wear, or you never ground a gear in your life, then possibly you might get away with never changing it.

seriously... come on here. most manufacturers recommend every 60-100k miles before changing.

change it to a good synthetic, and you'll never go back to the dino tranny fluids.

I think his point was if you own a $200 topaz there's not much point. I change mine every 60k need it or not.

[lovemysan]

Originally Posted by theclencher

ferd recommends no tranny fluid changes on the m/ts. in fact, there is no drain plug!!! i don't imagine siphoning it out of the fill hole would do much good either.

in the last 30 years i've only changed manual trans oil in one trans- a '60 vw trans, cuz i had it all apart. never in another one. never had a m/t fail on me either. must be dumb luck eh?

THere is too a drain plug, pull the driverside axle, tip the car up and pour it out. Easy!

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

VW also makes crappy cars on which parts break that never should,

You know... that's what people told me when I bought my car... they said every 1,000 miles I'd be having a check engine light...

20,000+ miles later, not 1 check engine light - not 1 broken part. And she's got 113,000 miles The only problems I've had are... Stripped oil pan bolt (another argument not to go to a quick lube place) and a broken head light bulb from a washboard road (unimproved old route 66 + DRL's).

So far, the car has been a champ mechanically I only wish I could still fit 10' 2x4's inside - now I just have to remember to have them trimmed an inch before I checkout

THere is too a drain plug, pull the driverside axle, tip the car up and pour it out. Easy!

Yikes! I'll take any opportunity to avoid dealing with axle spring clips Getting out - not so bad with a pickle fork (or any lever bar)... Getting back in has been a nightmare for me (I I haven't had any issues with my current car though)

[VetteOwner]

lol thats why i dont get why people say vw are junk... i havent heard of any major problems (besides a few electrical ones) that would make me not wanna buy it.

and yes axel shafts suck noodles to try to deal with. that and those evil invention of a mcphearson strut...

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

lol thats why i dont get why people say vw are junk... i havent heard of any major problems (besides a few electrical ones) that would make me not wanna buy it.

To be fair - the 90's was not a good decade for VW Electrical problems were pretty significant - which overshadowed everything else :/

[SVOboy]

I spent enough time working as a mechanic to see several VWs come in with ridiculous problems...my favorite was the 1-year old jetta with a broken water pump ending in a completely trashed engine...that's what this thread reminded me of...but in general, after I was forced to work on all the VWs because the other mechanics didn't want to (they take the longest to fix versus book time) I realized they can be a real pain in the ***...

[MnFocus]

Originally Posted by theclencher

ferd recommends no tranny fluid changes on the m/ts. in fact, there is no drain plug!!! i don't imagine siphoning it out of the fill hole would do much good either.

in the last 30 years i've only changed manual trans oil in one trans- a '60 vw trans, cuz i had it all apart. never in another one. never had a m/t fail on me either. must be dumb luck eh?

Ford doesn't ? Amazing ...the guy that helped in the design work of the MTX75 tranaxle does. I can't believe Ford would purposefully *miss out* on an opportunity to get a vehicle in for service...wonders never cease!

I guess you've gotten lucky (I wouldn't say dumb luck -more luck of the draw) as I've seen inside of many manual tranny's that should've had regular maintainance performed. It's a wonder they could shift semi easily at all.

An auto trans creates quite a bit of heat so obviously changing the fluid on a schedule is prudent . On a manual trans, 30-50k is about right and not all that expensive. Really helps with shift effort and can increase FE a point or two. as always ...ymmv.

[Pyrorocketeer]

Originally Posted by theclencher

in the last 30 years i've only changed manual trans oil in one trans- a '60 vw trans, cuz i had it all apart. never in another one. never had a m/t fail on me either. must be dumb luck eh?

and the fluid that came out of that 60's vw transmission what did it look like? tar perhaps with a metal flake to it? I'm on my 3rd personal vw trans rebuild, and every one so far has been black and thick as molasses. (early swing axle crashbox trans, 74 Irs trans, and a 79 6-rib bus tranny)

granted those cars are 30+ years old, but you did say NEVER correct?

do what you want I guess....

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by MnFocus

Ford doesn't ? Amazing ...the guy that helped in the design work of the MTX75 tranaxle does. I can't believe Ford would purposefully *miss out* on an opportunity to get a vehicle in for service...wonders never cease!

Why make it serviceable when no one is actually going to change the fluid? Make it completely fail and not drivable - then you're replacing whole parts at a premium for something the owner can't ignore

[Gary Palmer]

I only change the oil in the manual transmission when I have to pull the transmission to replace the clutch. I figure for the amount of oil it takes and what it removes, it's pretty cheap insurance at that point.