hard shifting - odd issue

[Pimpin Dsmstyle]

I'm not sure exactly what the kid used but he says it was GL-4 AMS oil. I went to napa before and they said that AMS doesn't offer a GL-4 specific gear lube. I'm not one to trust a worker at napa though heh.

Anyways issue is as follows. If the car sits for as little as a week, the tranny is next to impossible to shift. Once you get moving in 1st / 2nd for a short while, you can get it to go into 3rd and 4th. By the time I made it to my house ( about 2 miles) it was going in 1-4 just fine. I didn't go over 45 mph so I didn't even try 5th gear. Could it be just that he has too thick of oil in the transmission? Or maybe he didnt have enough? I've never seen a problem like this before. He told me it did this to him one time before when it sat for a month while he was driving his other car. He said on his way home ( 30 minute drive) after picking it up, the problem was completely gone. Drove normal for a few months up until it sat for a couple weeks yet again.

91 talon tsi AWD 5 speed. I originally installed the tranny for him and used some cheap napa GL-4 specific shit. The tranny shifted like butter and gave me no troubles what so ever. He felt the need to switch to a synthetic fluid of his choice going against my advice for Redline or Royal purple. I just need to know if anyone else has had this problem or if anyone has any other ideas besides the gear lube being too thick / wrong weight / no MT-90 to lighten it up.. Any ideas are appreciated.

[Kracka]

MT-90 is the thick stuff, MTL it what thins it out ;)

Since you don't know whats in the tranny, drain it and fill with some good Redline (or at least some generic parts store GL-4).

[s1ngletracker]

I had some tranny fluid in my talon that made shifting a little sluggish when cold, but it wasn't ever like I couldnt get into gear. You should definitely drain it asap.

[Pimpin Dsmstyle]

What bugs me is that it ends up being perfectly fine. Sort of makes it a ghost problem.. I'll see if I can find some napa GL-4. The one in st.paul was the only one around me that I know of that has carried it before.

[Goat Blower]

I use GM Synchromesh, works great.

[AJ]

So it's beacuse the heating of the fluids along with movement of shifting eventually thins it out enough to shift well huh? I'd definatly replace what's in there.

[Jakey]

What bugs me is that it ends up being perfectly fine.

Fluid viscosity decreases as temperature increases (it becomes easier to move as it heats up) so with the symptoms you're describing, he must have some thick shit in there.

[xveganxcowboyx]

Yeah, sounds thick to me. Pain to shift until you have some miles on it, then shifts allright. Maybe a little stiff.

Can't remember which synthetic I have in mine. It's thin, but works great.

[Pimpin Dsmstyle]

So what I'm gathering is that the tranny should be just fine once I replace the fluids?

I use Redline in all of my trannies. I told this guy to do the same but he was too lazy to go to LSE and pick some up.

[Pimpin Dsmstyle]

MT-90 is the thick stuff, MTL it what thins it out ;)


I always get it confused :P Everytime I pick it up from LSE, I just say " I need whatever an AWD needs. I get like 3quarts of one thing, 1 quart of another and 1 quart of another. That is good enough for the entire drive line if you use them in the proper location :P My mind can only handle so much dsm stuff!