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What fluid for a 5 spd?

wildcar

NAXJA Forum User
Location
south central Pa
My fiance's cherokee's tranny fluid needs changed and I was wondering what fluid to use. She almost has 200,000 miles so I was also wondering if there was any cleaners or tranney flushes I could use to help it out. She has a 93 sport 2 door with a 5 spd and a 4.0. Thanks for the help.
 
If it is an AX-15 and calls for GL3 lube you are limited to two, Dealer/OEM at $15 a quart or Redline MTS90 at around $11 a quart. DO NOT put a GL5 rated lube in there, it will eat the synchros.
 
GL5 supercedes GL3 and GL4 it will say this right on the back of the can. API ratings are up graded every few years your owners manual will probably call for GL3 which was the API standard when the vehicle was made but is now replaced with GL5. Mitchell on demand calls for GL5 75w90. Regardless of what manual trans you have.
 
zipjeep is *WRONG*. Even D/C has supported this misinformation.

GL5 oils contain sulfur which will corrode away the synchros.

I'll second the MT90. If it spends any time in cold weather, the synthetic makes cold shifting much more pleasant.

Post up what year XJ and what engine it's got, that'll give us a pretty good indicator of what transmission it has.
 
x2 on what Rich P. and ChiXJeff said. If you don't believe us, call up your local Jeep parts dept. and ask for Manual Transmission Fluid (it's GL3 spec ... i.e. it doesn't have the sulfur content that eats brass synchros). Or you can just give them your VIN number and they'll tell you that is what's called for in your AX-15 (and that is what you have in your '93 5-spd. if it's a 4.0). GL5 replaces GL3 and GL4 for most all purposes except for manual transmissions that have brass synchros like the AX-15. I have recently also seen it on the shelf at Autozone as Manual Transmission Fluid and has all this same info (about protecting brass components) on the bottle. Redline MTS90 is what I ended up using and it does the same thing but it's synthetic.
 
I have the T5 transmission and 160,000 on the clock (although the transmission is a bit newer). Anyway, the Redline MT90 is definitely top notch. As you have already discovered, there is a lot of controversy surrounding transmission fluid. With Redline MT90, you just CANNOT go wrong. It definitely improved the performance!
 
zipjeep said:
GL5 supercedes GL3 and GL4 it will say this right on the back of the can. API ratings are up graded every few years your owners manual will probably call for GL3 which was the API standard when the vehicle was made but is now replaced with GL5. Mitchell on demand calls for GL5 75w90. Regardless of what manual trans you have.

NO, GL 3 does not superseed GL1 and 2, GL5 does not superseed GL1-4, it is not like the API ratings, the GL are specific ratings, mostly pertaining to sulphur content where it is used as a lubricant under extreme pressure like the ring and pinion gears in a differential where shear forces are enormous. Tranny gears don't have that extreme pressure to deal with. If a GL lube jar says they meed GL5 requirements and GL2-4 they are full of it, the GL3 rating specifies sulphur content [less then .01%] or almost zip point zero while GL5 has a pretty high content, high enough that you can literally smell it. So it teither has sulphur or it doesn't, no wiggling there, not until they come out with a 'smart bottle' that can say 'oh, sintered bearings, I'll keep the sulphur in the bottle' :D
GL3 and GL4 are close.
The sulphur eats sintered metal which is the problem. This is also true for other makers, Toyota and Nissan both use Asin warners in their stuff and the reqirements are the same, you can also get lube from them too.

Just to add one more thing, I run Mobil-1 gear oil in my 98XJ w/over 330,000mi on the tranny, I bought a case or two when I got the jeep new in 97. I've used it all up having 3 other wranglers with AX trannies in them and went to buy more,. The newer bottles say GL5, my older bottles say GL3. I replaced my backup stock with Redline MTS90.
 
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Yet another vote for Redline MT90 or MTL if you're in a significantly colder region (better cold shifting).

Even the cheap GL3 from NAPA shifted like crap. So bad in fact that I thought I screwed up my AX15 rebuilt. My plan was to run cheap GL3 for a week after reinstalling the tranny and then change it out for the good stuff. After two days I switched to synthetic just to make sure it wasn't the fluid because it kept grinding going into first when it was cold. Synthetic made an immediate improvment and the grinding was gone.

Wildcar, your 93XJ 5-sp with a 4.0l is definitely an AX15.
 
... and before someone points out that the owners manual and FSM both call for GL-5 75w90 ... those manuals are incorrect and Chrysler has corrected it for their dealers. Again, if in doubt, give the dealer parts dept. your VIN and they will hand you bottles of Manual Transmission fluid made for the AX-15 and it will say GL-3 on the label.
 
Not only is sulphur burning Hell on sintered metal, it's also quite rude to copper alloys.

GL-3 is also made by Sta-Lube - I've been using it for a while. It's rather cheaper than the Redline, Amsoil, or whatever other synthetics are out there - which makes it a plus for me (and Sta-Lube does make good lubricating oils and greases, I've noted.)

However, do check the bottle - if it doesn't say "GL-3" on it, don't get it. Just keep looking...
 
PhotographerMike said:
Related;
Do I need to run GL 3 in my '96 4 cyl with AX5?

Thanks,
Mike

Yes, all the Asin warners in the AX series plus others need GL3. I believe the same is true of the NV series that went in in 99 or 00' but I'm not sure about that. I've not looked at my TJ owners manual or the FSM in respect to that but I would not be suprised if they had the same typo that the XJ's had.
 
I had good luck with Valvoline synthetic lube in my 95. Local parts stores didn't seem to have any GL-3, and I was desperately in need of a quick flush before the GL-5 ate it up, so I decided to try it. Even though it is rated as GL-5, it apparently has no sulphur, and my previously noisy, hissing, crunching AX15 has happily run for over a hundred thousand miles on a single fill of it (now over 260K). I would still recommend GL3 if you can find it, but this could be an alternative if you're stuck.

But I second the warning: do NOT put dino GL-5 in. When I did this, in accordance with the owner's manual, it was noisy, rough, and shifted badly. When I drained it out a few thousand miles later, it looked like liquid gold, filled with the dust of what used to be the synchros!
 
So I will be doing the MT-90 this weekend. Is there any kind of tranney flushes I could or should use when changing the fluid. I don't know when the last time it was changed so I'm guessing it's pretty dirty in there.

Now what fliud should I use in my 99 classic. It's a 4.0 with an auto.
 
wildcar said:
So I will be doing the MT-90 this weekend. Is there any kind of tranney flushes I could or should use when changing the fluid. I don't know when the last time it was changed so I'm guessing it's pretty dirty in there.

Now what fliud should I use in my 99 classic. It's a 4.0 with an auto.

No real flush I can think of, maybe pour hot clean oil down thru the shifter hole from the top then drain it [yea, the shifter comes out but it's a minor PIA to do], other than that just drain it with the nose up, then drop the nose and refill. Take the filler plug out first THEN the drain plug, thats in case you can't get the filler plug out. Othewise you will be pulling the shifter to refil.

I've not owned an auto in over 20 years so I can't recommend first hand. However owners here have had mixed results with synthetic auto tranny fluid, some work but a few have cooked trannies or caused slippage.
I run Mobil-1 in my engine, Mobil-1 in my AX15, Mobil-1 ATF in my transfer case and Mobil-1 in my front diff. Drydene in my 8.25 but that because Auburn says 'no synthetic' in their limited slips.
 
Ok, so for my next question. How hard is it to change the tranney and how long should it take? Do I need any special size sockets or special shaped key sockets? Like my VW GTI's tranney. Is it hard to get to the fill plug and where is it exactly?
 
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