Hey, fellas.

I recently bought an 89 pickup 4x4 with a 22re engine and w56 transmission.

The transmission has a strange roaring sound in every gear but 4th, so I decided to check the transmission fluid.

When I finally broke the fill plug free, I got wonderful warm fluid pouring down on my face. Strangely, the fluid was clear, not incredibly viscous and had what seemed to be a bit of a green tint to it.

Is this clear/green fluid the right stuff? Everything I've read here points to the correct fluid being a red color.

I'm wondering if maybe the noise is resulting from the previous owner using the wrong type of fluid. Any thoughts?

 

If you have a W56, then it takes a GL-4 75W90 Gear oil.

Get that it should be red out of your head. That is used on auto trannies, which a W56 is not.

Who knows what was in it, you never posted any pictures, so it's pure speculation at best here.

Put real Gl-4 (Redline MT-90) and run it. Pray it fixes your problem. If not, you will need a new trans.

 

Wonderful. Thanks for the info. I'm getting ready to order some redline. Is there any point in cutting it with Lucas Oil or some sort of additive to dull the noise until I can put a new tranny in there?

Hopefully it doesn't need a new tranny, but I'm looking at worst case scenarios.

 

I put lucas in mine, it seems fine but i dont know how it worked without the lucas, as ive put it in ever since i swapped it. I just throw a little in there before each quart of redline...

 

There should be no need for anything but the MT-90. The MT-90 is a pale gold color, btw.
It's possible that the PO had 30wt motor oil in it. Some motor oils have a dull greenish color.

 

Like i said, i just threw it in there because it was a used transmission, im in no way saying its essential, im not really even sure if it does anything besides piece of mind.