I took apart the center console and shifter today to perform a fluid change. The boot was hard to get off at first. I spent half an hour with paper clips and flat head screw drivers trying to remove the plastic clips on two of the nuts. I finally grabbed two small needle nose pliers, unlocked the clips, and yanked it out.

Getting the boot itself off the shifter was a pain. The instructions said to "gently twist and pry off", but that didn't work at all. There was some sort of strong adhesive on it. It was easy to get off once I got the idea of pulling the whole boot plate above the shifter and flipping the boot inside out so I can grab it from the bottom and yank it up.

The rest was a breeze.

Unfortunately, I found out that I was missing a 24mm socket, so I couldn't even drain the fluid, let alone fill it from the shifter .

 

Good to know you can got through the shifter! That will be the way I do it soon *hit 20k miles...about time for that lovely 30k changes...might do it early when it warms up.*

 

I just changed my fluid this weekend this way and it was very easy I must say. I can't see doing it the normal way ever again. Wish I had known this previously.

 

Ive read somewhere on these forums that its not good to fill through the Shifter, but I cant find where I read that. Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

It's counter-intuitive, but the "just yank straight up on the shifter boot" method works AOK. I've not broken a clip.

 

There is no reason it could be bad, putting it in there is right near where the fill bolt is anyway. Dealer does it this way I believe. Only problem i foresee is some one ******* the rubber grommets under the shift boot. Mine came out very easily however without any issue.

 

The problem I can forsee with this is that it will be difficult to gauge the fluid level in the tranny. I would highly recommend that if you do it this way, remove the fill bolt when you're done to check the fluid level. Going by theoretical pre-measured amounts can be deceiving.

 

Yeah, I just added two quarts and left it at that. It's not rocket science, two quarts came out, two quarts went in. Anytime I drain the diff or tranny I measure what comes out.

 

makes sense... Alright well I need to add I think like .1 or .2 of a quart because I'm not exactly sure if it dripped out but I had used all 2 quarts but not all of it got to the tranny because I used the hand pump. You think filling .1 or .2 quarts through the shifter would be okay and not overfill it?

 

Just measure what comes out (funnel and 2 liter bottle) and just put that amount back in. But honestly there is no reason two quarts or less should not come out because the drain is at the absolute bottom of the tranny. Don't over think it, .2 quarts isn't gonna make a difference.

 

I'm not saying how much came out I'm saying how much went in. I don't think I got all 2 quarts because I spilled like an ounce and as we all know not all of the tranny fluid that went in the hand pump and through the hoses comes out, some stays in... So I think I put like 1.7 quarts or 1.8 but not enough to drip I don't think. It dripped a little but I'm not sure it was from the fill plug, so how bad could adding .1 or .2 quarts of Redline MT-90 be? I should be fine then right? If I have 1.7 or 1.8 quarts already in and I add .1 or .2 quarts It should add up to 1.9 or 2.0 quarts. I could be okay I assume...???

 

I agree with 9krpmrx8... 2qts is fine.
I once had the car up on jack stands and used a 4' level to make sure the car was perfectly level.
Then I filled the tranny through the fill port and after 2qts I was able to feel the fluid at the top of the fill port with my finger.
Since then I knew it would be fine to fill through the shifter with just 2qts.

 

Yeah you should bee fine. Any particular reason you are running Redline?

 

Why not use Redline? Ive read about the reviews and everyone seems to love it. I love it so far, its amazing and smooth as butter... Not as thick as I expected but works very well, shifting is alot easier now.

 

good thread i need to do this prob this saturday, this will help a lot

 

Meh, that's all BS IMO, all I have ever used is factory trans and diff fluids in all my cars, track days and all. Never had an issue when changed regularly.

Research and you will see many tranny probs due to people using fan boi fluids. But you know what they say about opinions right?

 

Redline is a good synthetic gear oil...there are others...but is is a really good product that is readily available in most areas

It beats most non-synthetic gear oils hands down....

 

No doubt it's good stuff. Just hate to see people get it because its all the rave and not because its actually good stuff and they researched it.

In the beginning everyone raved about other popular gear oils and then a bunch of people went out and bought it based on that alone and then were sorry when they had problems.

 

Oh really? That's a pretty broad statement. The only issues that have been widely discussed on this forum have been problems with Royal Purple in the transmission only. I've experienced those issues myself.

There has been plenty of documented success with Redline products and a growing number of BHR customers using Eneos's transmission fluid as well. Mazda doesn't manufacturer their own lubricants so I imagine a household name makes the factory fill as well.

Let's try and not spread misinformation.

 

Lemmings Deserve to drown......

Power to the people...information is the true power

Now drink the Koolaid I say..........................

 

Like I said, we all know what they say about opinions. I'm not spreading misinformation, it's my opinion. Royal purple is not the only one known to have problems. I believe synchromesh is another and that one in (as well as Royal Purple) was raved about in MSP forums at first and was problematic as well for some owners.

 

I picked Redline because I DID research, I found as many threads on this forum about Redline fluids and ive also had several locals around here that use Redline as well and love it. I picked what had the best reviews and im content, there is alot of bad information out there but I am pretty smart when it comes to "fan boi" fluids... I have not yet once heard anyone complain about Redline fluids, lots of people use them and love it.

Besides conventional cant beat synthetic in terms of protection so Redline wins hands down ( not to be confused with the problem Royal Purple tranny fluids have, yes they are synthetic but their tranny fluid is GL-5 which has a high sulfur content which can chemically wears down brass synchros)

My 8 is my baby and would never even chance hurting her...

Hell, me and Jon have the exact same fluids for our engine, transmisson and diff oil...

 

Good to hear man. Glad you researched it.

 

For the love of god....

The GL5's on the market require extreme transmission temperatures before the fluid become acidic enough to eat your syncros. There are plenty of manual transmission safe GL5's out there.

You do realize that Redline makes a GL5 for manual transmissions right?

 

Just repeating what i read off the Redline MT-90 bottle... lol

Not to meantion I was refering it as a Royal Purple problem, not a GL-5 problem, I should restate what I said...

Then I have a question then, What is causing the transmisson problems having to do with Royal Purple, I thought it was their GL-5 fluid that wore down brass synchros, which is not limited to other fluids out there that are GL-5...