hmm, im wondering if this will fix my problem. My truck when i shift into second and 3rd and then when i also downshift to 2nd and 1st will grind gears, even with the clutch pedal fully depressed, i have already replaced the pilot bearing, throw out and clutch and adjusted the cluth pedal fre play. my slave cylinder is also good. I have no idea why but it will grind like the clutch isnt in but it is.

 

The synchros in your tranny might be going out. How many miles does your transmission have?

 

to over fill it, you can also just jack up the rig on the fill side after filling to normal level, no need to go in through the top. I did this on my 2.7ltr 5spd with regular gear oil after my buddy told me about the trick. It did help for me, but I still feel the gears when I shift into first for the first time. I credit this to the tranny being "dry" before moving...

 

my truck has 228,678 miles. im not sure if it is the original tranny but im sure it is. i also know ht eoil level inside is a little low.

 

I recently changed the gear oil in my 2001 Tacoma 4X4 with 178,000 miles using NAPA gear oil with GL-3 ,4 and 5 applications. The factory manual says use GL-4 or 5 in the tranmission so I thought the NAPA oil would be ok. Not the case. Within a short time I noticed the shifting became notchy and I couldn't downshift from 2nd to 1st above 2mph. I had all I could stand of it and swapped it out with Redline MT-90 synthetic and what a difference. I raised the left side of the truck a bit and slightly overfilled the case with 2.5 quarts as that manual says 2.3 quarts. The shifting improved right away and now I can downshift from 2nd to 1st at 15 or 20 mph. Not my normal driving habit but it proves the synchros didn't like the NAPA oil and I also learned that GL-5 is not good for brass synchros. I don't know if my transmission has brass synchros or not but I wasn't happy with the performance of the NAPA oil. MT-90 from now on for my truck. It's good stuff.

 

You might get comments about how old this thread is but I'm all for updating old threads instead of starting another new one! Good on ya!

 

This thread is very old, but do any of the old OPs have any current updates on how this has affected their transmission over the long run? That is if anyone still has their truck and is still active on the forum.....

 

I actually put in the Redline stuff shortly after I made my post and there was definitely an improvement in shifting. I'm going to do another oil change shortly with the same stuff plus a little more as I did before. I wouldn't use anything else now especially since I'm towing a trailer now.

 

Bump. I am also curious to know how, long term, this trick has held up?

 

Swede, I see that you posted in 2004. What were you using in it since then? Is it still the original tranny and did you overfill it back then?

Edit: I think I just understood your post. You filled it with redline in 04 I'm guessing. How many miles do you have on the tranny since the change?

 

Good thread revival!

I replaced shift lever seat with one from Marlin Crawler. Made sense because ld stock one was beat up but ti did not help notchy shifting.

I think it is possible that slightly over-filling makes oil level reach a certain part that could use that lubrication. On my 86 Runner it does not feel bad- only that there seems to be something blocking the shifting mechanism from getting into gear.

Probably because Toyota engineers only know how to fill tranny at the usual opening, and you could not overfill from there.

 

60-70,000 Miles since then! Wow... way overdue!!!

 

Interesting.

I just changed the MT oil on mine, and A LITTLE OVER A QUART poured out the fill plug when I removed it.

The previous owner must have subscribed to the "if more is better, way more is way better" philosophy.

He had a similar view on bolt torque, it seems. The little aluminum gaskets were crushed, and it took 10 minutes to pry them off the plugs.

I was changing the oil, because it shifted so poorly. I may go back and top it off, per this thread, but if anyone is wondering, 3.5+ quarts does not yield better results and does leak from the breather (I think/hope).