Transmission Cured

[Mizzle]

Stock is what, 75W-90, right?
So 70W-90 would help the cold-shifting issues... though I'm curious as to how well 70W-80 would hold up.

:edit:

I was wondering what fluid Mazda uses for OEM?

[tddvrrn]

Originally Posted by paramount So I am new here and I am too stupid to figure out how to post a new thread. I do not actually own a mazdaspeed3, however I am installing the same transmission that the ms3 has in my automatic car as a project. I would like to know what you guys are at RPM wise while traveling 65 mph. Thanks!

i am at about 2000. i'll try to remember and get you a more exact #. it's funny you're installing our tranny after all the complaining i hear everyone doing about how much our tranny sucks!

ha!

i don't mind it, though. bunch of whiners!

[paramount]

The final gear ratio is .843 i think and thats REALLY tall. The stock tranny in my car's final gear ratio is .68, so you can see why I would ask. Gearing wise you guys could get an extra 2-3 mpg if your tranny wasn't as tall, which is why I would like to have the 6'th gear exchanged with the fifth, throw the 5th out and have AISIN make a new 6th gear with a ratio of .65-.68 ish.

Oh and about the tranny, I have found a tranny that will easily bolt right up, actually several and from what i have heard they all SUCK so thats why I'm here LOL

[Tomas]

I have about 400 miles now after changing from Amsoil to Motorcraft.
Motorcraft is smoother.
Took about 200 miles for the LSD whine to go away.

[oatmealboy]

My car has never had a smoother shifting feeling as it does today, and the XT-M5-QS fluid might have made the biggest difference (about 500 miles on it so far). My current setup is as follows:

JBarone SSP
TWM Shifter Base Bushings
3" shifter extension
CP-E RMM

[digitaljedi]

got to try this, sounds promising. this transmission is a pain in the ass.

[WRX_Fan_0717]

Anyone know any difference in the Gen2s?

I know this is the Gen1 forum but you guys seem to have the more readily avail answers and smarts.

I have a 2010 MS3 and second gear rubs at 600 miles (now at 3k miles) when cold. It's freaking crap and notchy when cold. Lately i have to force her into gears when the trans is cold. I feel as if synchro damage is evident soon.
I shouldn't have to bear a brand new car.....ridiculous,......but I love her. lol

So consensus is 3 qts........friction modifier or no? and anyone have any idea if the second gens trans is different?

[I gotthatzumzum]

Ugh, wanted to order the motorcraft stuff this weekend... but they only have 1 quart in stock on that site! lame.

[R.MS3]

Originally Posted by WRX_Fan_0717 Anyone know any difference in the Gen2s? I know this is the Gen1 forum but you guys seem to have the more readily avail answers and smarts. I have a 2010 MS3 and second gear rubs at 600 miles (now at 3k miles) when cold. It's freaking crap and notchy when cold. Lately i have to force her into gears when the trans is cold. I feel as if synchro damage is evident soon. I shouldn't have to bear a brand new car.....ridiculous,......but I love her. lol So consensus is 3 qts........friction modifier or no? and anyone have any idea if the second gens trans is different?

Just so you know the GEN 2's trans use a different thickness oil than the Gen 1's, so this Motorcraft stuff is probably not the right one to use it.

I heard Amsoil makes one that's to specs but I'm not sure how good it is.

[WRX_Fan_0717]

General consensus is to runt he motorcraft tons of GenPus are running it with tons of luck.

Mine turned out to be a bad second synchro and was rebuilt by the dealer. They denied and denied until it start rubbing just to get her into second. She shifts like butter now since it's warmer and the rebuilt. Once it's broken in i'm changing to Ford Syn.

[I gotthatzumzum]

Anyone happen to know what the thread pitch/size is on the gearbox drain plug? I think i'm going to try and find an aftermarket magnetic one.

[indianaryan]

24mm

[nyghtryder]

Originally Posted by indianaryan 24mm

thats the head size not the thread or pitch size

[I gotthatzumzum]

Originally Posted by nyghtryder thats the head size not the thread or pitch size

Atleast he tried. I have magnetic drain plugs for both the oil drain plug and transaxle drain plug on order. I ordered them from magneticdrainplug.com and it was only around 22$ shipped if I remember correctly. (ordered them at work, so thats where the invoice, etc. is.) They didn't have a direct listing for the transaxle so I contacted technical support. They got back to me within a few hours, and had a plug they said should work, and they mentioned up front that if it didn;t work, they would get me the correct one asap. Great customer service so far. Also just ordered my motorcraft fluid. I'll report back in a week or two with all the information.

[chumpsteak]

Just wanted to update with my recent tranny experience. I'm at about 8K miles on the motocraft fluid and my transmission started grinding really bad in 2nd again. I was ready to blame the trans fluid but then I replaced my 40K mile Medievil RMM with a new Torque Solutions mount, and now the transmission shifts better than brand new. No grinding at all in any gear and the shifter will even slip back in to first around 18-20 miles per hour with no effort. It just slides in to gear now without having to wait for the syncros or force anything.

If anyone with transmission issues hasn't replaced their RMM I would highly recommend it.

[M4Nathan]

Well seeing all this praise I'm in. probably pick some up soon and give it a shot because i grind like a mother from 2nd-3rd, probably because ive only driven 5k in manual cars and i learned in the MS3 (Bad call, those RE50s arent meant for several burnouts repeatedly.) So ill grab some tomorrow and pray that it helps. almost got beat by the new v6 mustang due to a miss shift. That would have been terrible.

[Domino81]

Originally Posted by darth vader Any Ford technician/parts guy will know exactly what I am talking about. It's a little 4 oz bottle and it's is called "friction modifier". It is used in alot of ford's Trak Lok diffs from millions of cars in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Basically it makes gear lube a touch more slippery than usual, to reduce LSD chatter. It's called fish oil because it reeks like rotting fish. Costs a couple bucks, no more. Ford Racing Performance Parts []

GM has something similar.

I called Ford today using United Auto's (my place of employment - I'm in commercial parts) account... $18 and change. Fuck you, Koerner Ford.

[super_pablo_]

gotta say... i swapped to the motorcraft shit about 2 months ago.... havent really felt any improvements. I never had any complaints before... but everyone said it was buttery smooth.... maybe my shit was always smooth, who knows... just saying... it didnt make any changes for me.
changed at 23,000 miles, im currently at 25,000.

[evidence]

Yeah I've been Red Line -> Amsoil -> Red Line and noticed a slightly louder whine from Amsoil. Never tried Motorcraft but Red Line gives me no issues or obnoxious noise so sticking with it.

[ericm979]

I just switched from Redline to the Motorcraft stuff in my '08 with 50k miles.

It shifts much better and the loud diff whine is gone. Also my teeth are whiter and I'm even more attractive to the opposite sex than I already was.

AMSoil, which I had before the Redline, had diff whine as soon as I installed it. It was quieted with the Redline but gradually got louder over 30k miles. Perhaps some component of the oil wore out.

But the Motorcraft stuff is way better than either Redline or Amsoil. I wish I'd switched a year ago.

[Domino81]

I have diff whine with my RP. It works better than what I can only assume was stock.

Can you both run faster and jump higher?

[zehnder.eric]

Purchased my 2007 Mazdaspeed 3 with 83,000 miles (don't know the history) and it was sometimes grinding going into 2nd and CERTAINLY when it was cold. Overall I thought the shifting was good.

I replaced it this weekend (87,000 miles) with the Motorcraft XT-M5-QS and thought it made it smoother in every way. I wouldn't say it blew my mind but I certainly think it's smoother and more enjoyable overall. The real test for me will come this Winter (Michigan native) as last Winter shifting was pretty horrible.

[aurthor]

Man, you guys have me so hopeful. I've been having crazy 3rd gear grind for many miles and I've tried so many options (RMM, shifter plate, shifter bushings, shifter weight). I'm hoping this resolves and shifts like butter (as many have said).

[blkspeed307]

Alright joined the club this came in today will be changing fluid nxt week & c how it goes

[qwerty4550]

Originally Posted by blkspeed307 Alright joined the club this came in today will be changing fluid nxt week & c how it goes

Give us an update on how you think it is so far! How long does synthetic tranny fluid usually last? I have about 30-40k miles on the Redline MT-90 and wondering if I should change it at some point. Also, I have had issues with the tranny popping out of 2nd gear and have the AWR RMM. Anybody still have this mount? I have had it on for about 50k miles.

[blkspeed307]

^^^noticed an improvement after a few days over factory fluid .But most noticeable difference is in cold weather the transmission feels like it runs so much smoother.
Shifting is a lot smoother in all gears.

[Noddaford]

145k on my 6. Using Amsoil with no issues. I am thinking about trying the XT-M5-QS in my sons RX8 because it grinds on higher speed down shifts into second gear.

[steveyaj]

So does this stuff really work?? I too am also having this 2nd gear grind when the car is cold.

[LatinKraze]

Gonna swap out OEM Tranny fluid for the Motorcraft when I do my spin-on conversion. I have no grinding issues. Shifts take a bit more muscle on cold mornings, more noticeably in 1-2 but betters when it warms up. Tranny whine is there but it doesn't bother me. We'll see how this stuff turns out. I'll update after extensive "testing".

Update: Did the spin-on conversion and tranny fluid swap with the MotorCraft stuff and put on about 100 miles today. Feels like the oil warms up faster allowing for easier shifting when cold out. Shifting is noticeably smoother and even better when up to temp. I don't know how much better it can get but I am happy with the outcome so far.

I drained 2.5 quarts and it took three to fill, lol.

[PureDrive]

Are people putting the car up on jackstands at all 4 corners to do this? The car has to be level to put the correct amount of fluid in, which is keeping me from changing it out; don't want to put too much or too little in.

[Noddaford]

Originally Posted by PureDrive Are people putting the car up on jackstands at all 4 corners to do this? The car has to be level to put the correct amount of fluid in, which is keeping me from changing it out; don't want to put too much or too little in.

Jack up the side that the fill plug is on. Fill it with fluid. Put a drain pan under it and let it down off the jack. When the fluid is done running out, jack it up and install the plug. Now you have the correct amount.

[Tommy]

Any reason not to use Mobil1 75w90?

[LatinKraze]

I used two jack stands up front and then jacked the rear to level out the speed.

[falcon]

So just got my car back from the dealership for a tranny fluid change. Not sure what was in my car as I bought it second hand about 7k ago, but after the change they did today, I now have diff noise. What can I do to get rid of it? Does the motocraft XT-M5-QS have any differential noise when used?

[Qckslvr]

Since I sell the XT-M5-QS, I shall have to try it

My car just hit 40k and in the mornings doesn't like 1st and 2nd. No grinding, but hard to shift.

[ink28]

gonna have to try this

[Biggs]

I changed mine tranny fluid out on friday and put in XT-M5-QS. after about 200 miles of driving i have to say the shifts are definitely smoother. the clunk going from 1st to 2nd is less pronounced as well..

this shit really is the real deal.

if your still wondering about this stuff dont... do the swap now.

[UnamusedPunk]

The gear shifts are smother forsure, but what I really noticed is at wot it seems like the pull is smoother. Dunno if anyon else has experienced this.

[Domino81]

No. But gear changes are a pleasure rather than a cringe in anticipation of grinding now.

[kingbird72]

I've decided to jump in and change my tranny fluid last week, I had some Motul 75w90 GL4/5 gear oil laying around, I do have to say I've never had any shifting or gear issue with the stock fluid with 28000kms on the car, after I replaced the tranny fluid, I did notice it's hard to shift into 2nd gear when car it's cold, after it warms up than it's perfect shifting.....maybe next time i will give the ford fluid a try....