Hi all, got a 88 4Runner 3vze with the R150F trans. A few months ago I wanted to do some preventative maintenance and change the manual trans oil out, so bought some royal purple which seemed to be within the specs required GL4/5 75w-90 gear oil but now it's not really shifting into 2nd very well. Do you think I just need to top it up now that I've put about 3k on it or should I drain and fill with something else like mobil 1? I just wanted to treat her right by buying the expensive ˟˟˟˟ but it doesn't seem to have acquired the taste for it lol.

Other factors here: 218k miles, P.O. says he replaced the clutch but I notice I have a small leak on the flex line which goes between the master and slave cylinders (engine bay), so that may also be a factor factor too? Also it has obviously gotten colder since May when I did this.

Either way, I think I'm gonna go out there now and see how full it is.

Thanks all!

 

Alright interesting development here: I open the fill plug and oil streams out at a steady pace! I'm on as flat of ground as I think is possible so maybe I overfilled it? Trans is cold, didn't move it before I opened it up.

When I did fill it a few months ago I filled it until it just started to trickle out, but I had it up on a lift so maybe it was not "level" but idk how else to really do that I guess. I used a siphon pump to get the oil into the hole from the bottle...

Do you think I should keep the fill plug open until it stops coming out?

 

Well... what's the oil capacity of the transmission and how much did you put in there?

 

Says 3.2 qts which is round about what I put back. I decided to let it drain out of the fill hole and I'm gonna try it tomorrow morning when it's cold to see what kind of difference, if any, that makes. I guess I could have overfilled it, which I guess makes sense if it's hard to shift in the morning because it's got more oil to push against... Idk. Could also be my synchros are not so great anymore due to P.O.'s use.

 

It sucks but I'd drain it and fill it with redline MT-90 which is GL4 only oil. The GL4/5 stuff seems to give issues in these transmissions.

While I didn't use royal purple, I filled mine one time with GL4/5 and had shifting issues going into 2nd. Drained it out and put in MT-90 and it has been smooth since. A few others have had similar issues and similar results after the redline was put in.

 

X2 on the MT90

.That is what I put in my trans and transfer case. From what i read the GL4 has no sulfur. No sulfur means if you get water ingress then sulfuric acid is not formed to wear the brass syncros.

I have heard, but do not know it to be true, That Royal Purple is not as good as claimed.

 

I've only ever used MT90 in a Toyota manual transmission. That's what's in my 4Runner now, it's what was in the 4Runner before and it's what I had in my Xrunner.

 

Thanks for the input guys, if I have more issues tomorrow I'll get going on the mt90. Kinda sucks bc royal purple wasn't cheap either but whatever.

 

I just tried MT-90 with 1 quart of Redline Lightweight Shockproof. The shifting is even better than MT-90 on its own. Note my W59 is recently rebuilt.

 

Update: I think that did the trick! Shifting was a lot smoother today, all in I probably had an extra cup's worth (maybe 8oz). Dunno how I overfilled when I did it, but whatever, just glad she's shifting better now. If it somehow comes back or definitely the next time I do it, I will go with the redline MT 90 based on the recommendations I'm now seeing everywhere lol. Thanks all!

 

Glad you figured it out.

 

GL5 is designed for hypoid gear differentials, and is made to reduce friction as the ring and pinion slide over each other. You don't need that in the transmission, and the extra slickness of the GL5 interferes with the operation of the synchros, making for hard shifting. As noted, Redline GL4, being not as "slick", works much better.
The manual recommends either GL4 or GL5. You won't hurt the tranny using GL5, but you'll be happier with GL4, particularly in an old tranny with worn synchros.

The VF1 (used with the 3.0 V6) "shift on the fly" transfer case also has synchros, and will work better with GL4. The older gear-driven RF1 tcases (used with the 22re) don't care which gear oil you use.

Differentials are GL5 only. Don't swap in GL4 for them.