So as the title explains, this is my write up of changing the manual transmission fluid. First off, I would highly recommend doing this. The reason I had to do this on my vehicle is because changing gears was getting so hard that it wouldn't match up with my natural clutch movement so my car was jerking around and putting more strain on my xcase than I wanted.

Parts:
I bought 2 quarts of redline mt90 full synthetic oil off of ebay (only place that was pretty cheap and I could actually find it.)
Need a 8mm (think that's what it was) Allen wrench
Oil Pan
Jack and jack stands
Tube for getting the oil in the fill hole.



Make sure you get the parts before you jack up the car so as not to risk having to drive without fluid (common sense, but it almost happened to me .)
Now locate the drain valve. The picture below is of the drain valve and the wheel is the right front wheel just to help with orientation.


And it's probably a smart idea to know where the fill valve is before you pop the plug off drain. Note that the picture was taken from the front of the car.


So now it's basically common sense. Pop the drain valve with the allen wrench and wait for all the fluid to come out. Then put back in the drain valve and open the fill valve. To get fluid into the fill valve takes a little bit of patience, but works pretty fantastically using my simple method. All I did was go the hardware store and found the smallest funnel they sold and then found nylon tubing that mated right up to that.


Then run the tubing through the engine bay and down into the fill plug.



And just hold the funnel and fill 'er up



It does take a while to get all two quarts in, but I think I could have used a larger diameter nylon tubing to make it go quicker.

Hopefully that helps someone out there. I know it's just sorta common sense, but I decided my first write up should be about something that doesn't really have that many tricks

 

Thanks , this is worth FAQ

 

Sweet! I know it's simple, but some members recommended that I should do it, so I just threw it together. Thanks for putting it in the faq.

 

Can you clarify the fluid you used?
Your post above mentions both "full synthetic" mtl, and MT-90 (pictured). When I went make my purchase to do this myself I came across MTL (50204) labeled full synthetic, and MT-90 (50304) labeled Manual Trans 90W Gear Oil. Can you help? Want to do this right the first time.

thanks!

 

I bought redline mt90 oil. It should be full synthetic. I'll get a link to the ebay store I bought it from.

 

It should be the 50304

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400241388046...84.m1497.l2649

 

Great post OP. Planning on doing this on the weekend. Can you let me know if you put the whole car on jack stands or just the front while letting the fluid drain? Want to make sure I get all the fluid out.

TIA.

 

I only have two jack stands so I just jacked it up from the front. With the location of the drain valve, I don't really think it would change anything. In the grand scheme of things, it's probably only one fluid oz one way or another which doesn't concern me. Also, I only got about 1.5 quarts out, but took a pen light up into the drain and didn't see anymore fluid. Jag says its supposed to be 1.8 liters (2 quarts) so I think I must have just lost some in the 110k miles my baby has been on the road for.

 

Great instructions, disguay! I just followed them and changed the fluid in my 2005 and it went exactly as described. It took less than an hour and I had no surprises and the car shifts noticeably smoother now. Thanks!!!

Brandon

 

Abit late, but thank you disguay for taking the time and posting up a great write up with pics!

 

I have looked for the drain plug on my 2003 - 2.5 manual but I can't quite spot it. Is the picture above for my gearbox and if not does anyone know where it is. The fill/level plug on mine looks the same as the picture.

 

faltwen, if your xtype is a manual, the drain valve will be in the same location as it is in this picture. This picture was taken facing the right front wheel on the car.

 

Finally spotted it - here in the uk right front wheel means the right as you are sat in the car. I was looking in the wrong direction!

 

my bad, I do not know why I said front right. I meant to say front left as in the driver side of the car for US models.

 

soo its pretty much like doing an oil change except different area n pan of course. correct? or wuts the difference?

 

john, it's just like an oil change, except you don't have a dipstick and you have to fill it through a tube like I illustrated. Just follow the step-by-step and you're good!

 

Great! Thanx how much was everything u got?

 

Everything was less than $40 if you buy the lube online. Something really easy to do and it beats having to pay upwards of $2000 in the future for a new tranny.

 

A suggestion that I would add is to take the fill plug out before you take out the drain plug. I suggest this because if you drain out all of the fluid and cannot refill it, you are in serious trouble.

 

I just did this on Saturday. It was super easy and only took about an hour. I put in two whole quarts of the Redline MT-90.

The old fluid was black, but not too thin and there was plenty of it, so no signs of a leak.

I will say that it did not improve shifting at all. It's still very clunky going into 2nd. Shifts into all other gears just fine though.

Anyway, thanks for the detailed write up! Going to tackle the transfer case hoepfully next weekend.