I just got a 05 Scion tC with about 118k.. so i did the normal maintenance aka spark plug.. brakes.. alignment.. manual trans fluid swap with just 80w90 GL-5.. and a couple other things

A couple days later after swapping the trans fluid all the sudden shifting from 1st to 2nd at about 4 grand.. it wouldn't go into 2nd gear. I pulled over tried 1st and no luck.
After getting it into first i took off and it went into second but had to play with it.. and since then it wont go into first unless im going like 10.. never did that before and i can feel it shift a little harder..

So i today i swapped the oil back out with syn power 75w90 GL-5 Valvoline.. after driving it around it helped alot but still wont go into 1st unless close to a complete stop.. Is that just normal because im going to fast or is the sycros going bad?

Also should i do another fluid swap with MT-90 readline? heard its suppose to help out alot with hard shifts?

 

i wouldnt go into 1st unless your at a complete stand still,if your still rolling a bit,you can get away with starting in 2nd gear....try eneos......i wouldnt use redline.......usually when you go above 10 mph or so 1st gear gets lock out or hard to get into....but i never do it unless the car is a t a complete stop

 

From what i heard i thought redline was suppose to be better cause its GL-4 instead of 5?
I could be wrong i just don't know. The GL-4 was suppose to be easier on the brass parts inside the trans?

Thanks

 

i mean you can use it,im not saying not too.but based on other people reviews and what i read and experience.....iv used redline also,at first it was good,after 3000 miles or so,shifting becomes harsh again,could be the climate im in or whatever,i switched to eneos,i felt the difference immdiate...30k miles later,still no issues (knock on wood)..i think there a tread on the tranny fluid change where,alot of people from redline switch to eneos or what ever else they used...some people,it worked,others it didnt...i guess try it see how it works for you

 

right now the syn power val. really has worked well.. mornings are still alittle hard to shift from 1st to 2nd but.. the more i drive the better its starting to shift!

 

depending on your climate...the gear oil needs a few minutes to warm up,but some gear oils warms up quicker then others......the first few minutes of driving is a little harsh,but after like 15 mins or so ,should be good to go...at least for me......

 

Yeah thats how it is right now.. the temps starting to stay around 40-50 each day so as the overall temp goes up, my car drives better

 

tCs first gears are short really and you don't want to do that. When at a complete stop you can throw it in first. I won't forget when I got my tC the first week and I stalled because I forgot about that -.-

 

toyota has moved to GL5 now, i've heard this problem before. go back to GL4. i just swapped mine with mobile1, since my 1st gear was getting stuck. someone had posted a claim that GL5 shortens the life of the synchros.

 

It's all about oil viscosity. I've used Amsoil GL-4 75w-90 with great results, changed to GL-5 75w-90, because I got a quaife lsd installed and wanted a bit more extreme pressure modifiers. That didn't lasted long enough because it gave me shifting problems, went back to the GL-4 75w-90 and the problem was 95% solved. For some reason I still had some grinding going into third when cold on the initial drive.

About two weeks ago while on my way home from work, I had trouble going into first gear. I had a ss braided clutch line laying around and decided to give it a try. Well what do you know, it worked. I guess having ss braided brake lines all around, just made the weakest link get weaker (rubber clutch line). Heck I didn't even noticed a stiffer break pedal after installing the ss brake lines last year, now I have a completely different feel all around and no more grinding. I guess having an extreme ACT pressure plate might do that too, poor slave cylinder is working double time.

Here's some good viscosity info: (thinner better for us)

kinematic viscosity
@40C @100C
Amsoil GL-4 75w-90 88.4 14.8

Mobil 1 GL-5 75w-90 99 15.2

Redline GL-4 75w-90 90 15.6

Eneos GL-5 75w-90 82 14.7

Valvoline GL-5 75w-90 100 15.6

If you go by the numbers maybe that's why people are having great results with Eneos 82/14.7 combo, I just play it safe with the GL-4. Give Eneos a try and come back with the results, maybe even swap brake and clutch lines for ss braided one's if you got cash laying around.

 

this is the viscosity that gave me issues
GL-5 75w-90 114.7@40C and 16.9@100C

 

Its been about 2 months now since i changed to the syn power.. seems to do pretty good.. goes right into first now no problems