How To: Change Manual Transmission Oil

Here are a few steps on how to change the manual transmission oil. This is not that hard of a task, but if you have never changed the manual transmission oil it's hard to know where to even start from.

Equipment Needed


Transmission Oil
Capacity (from FSM): 3.6-3.8 liters, (7-5/8 - 8 US pt, 6-38 - 6-3/4 lmp pt)

Most people would suggest Redline MT90, the choice is up to you. You can get it fairly cheap at GoFastDepot.com (http://gofastdepot.com/store/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_31)
http://gofastdepot.com/store/catalog/images/mt90.jpg

If you don't want to use Redline MT90, check the FSM (Factory Service Manual) for the specifications of the oil that can be used for the transmission.


Wrenches
For drain plug:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2233.jpg

For fill plug:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2235.jpg



Sealant
FSM has these listed: Genuine anaerobic liquid, Three Bond TB1215, or equivalent


Funnel and a hose or little Fluid Oil Pump
I highly suggest a Fluid Oil Pump that can be found in Advance Auto Part for about $6. Using the pump will help you get the oil in a much shorter time, it took me about 10 to pump all the transmission oil.

Product Website (http://www.crcindustries.com/auto/content/prod_detail.aspx?S=Y&PN=SL4344)

Get it from Advance Auto Parts (http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=CRC&MfrPartNumber=SL4344)

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2238.jpg


Oil Drip Pan to pour the old oil into
I used the normal oil drip pan that is used for engine oil.


Down to the Business

1. Take a drive in your car to warm up the transmission fluid. This will help it exit the transmission quicker.

2. Take off the fill oil plug, it is found facing the front of the car. This way if the fill plug gets stuck you can still drive the car, instructions on doing that are in Step 3. Thanks NismoSER (http://www.sr20forum.com/members/nismoser.html) for the tip :biggthump

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2236.jpg

You will have to use this wrench:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2235.jpg



3. Loosen the Transmission oil drain plug and let the oil empty out into the oil drip pan. It might have a pretty bad odor. While the oil is draining cleanup the plug and remove and dirt or debris from it.

Use this wrench to loosen the drain plug:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2233.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2228.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2234.jpg



4. After all of the oil has been drained, apply some sealant (as listed in the Equipment Needed section above) to the drain plug and tighten the bolt according to the FSM torque numbers.
FSM Torque Numbers: 25 - 34 N-m (2.5 - 3.5 kg-m, 18 - 25 ft-lb)

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2237.jpg



5. Plug the hose from the funnel pump to the fill plug and add about 3.6-3.8 liters (7-5/8 - 8 US pt). The way you can check if you have enough is by putting your finger in the hole and if you feel the oil right up top, then you have enough. (Note - if your front is jacked up, the oil levels are not going to be even)

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2238.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2239.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2241.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Sentra%20SE-L/Maintenance/Tranny/Cimg2246.jpg

The finger method of checking if the oil is full. Thanks Mike for the pic :biggthump
http://www.sr20.net/d/66465-1/mtfluid.jpg

For the pump to better fit the MT90 bottle you can cut bottle tip at about 4 ribs. You can see this indicated below with a yellow pointer. Thank You for the tip BBYE V8 (http://www.sr20forum.com/members/bbye-v8.html)

http://www.photodump.org/stored18/MT90cut2.jpg


6. Add some sealant around the thread of the fill plug, then tighten the plug. Thats it!

Big thanks goes to Sentrixx (http://www.sr20forum.com/members/sentrixx.html) and AztekSE-R (http://www.sr20forum.com/members/aztekse-r.html) for telling me how to do this. Also big thanks to Serban and the GoFastDepot.com for the great prices! :biggthump

i have Redline MTL sitting for months... i do alot if driving, about 300-400mi a week... will MTL be good for my tranny, or get rid of it and use Mt90....

How many miles is MT90 good for before one should think of swapping it?
Let's say for, 1)mellow daily driving miles, 2)harder driving miles, and 3)racing miles?

D

The finger method ;) :D

http://www.sr20.net/d/66465-1/mtfluid.jpg

Mike

Nice write-up. I personally take off the fill plug first, so that I know I can get the new oil in there.

You never know, for some strange reason, your fill plug might be seized, get stripped out, etc. etc., so I just want to be sure that I don't render the car un-driveable.

i have Redline MTL sitting for months... i do alot if driving, about 300-400mi a week... will MTL be good for my tranny, or get rid of it and use Mt90....

I wish I could answer but I'm not too familiar with this area, I was told MT90 is the best choice by couple friends, so that was good enough :)

How many miles is MT90 good for before one should think of swapping it?
Let's say for, 1)mellow daily driving miles, 2)harder driving miles, and 3)racing miles?

D

I hope as much as the normal Tranny oil, but I heard every 60k might do...

The finger method ;) :D

http://www.sr20.net/d/66465-1/mtfluid.jpg

Mike

Hahhahahaha :rofl: :biggthump

I'm gonna add that writeup :biggthump

Nice write-up. I personally take off the fill plug first, so that I know I can get the new oil in there.

You never know, for some strange reason, your fill plug might be seized, get stripped out, etc. etc., so I just want to be sure that I don't render the car un-driveable.

Thanks :D, thats a actually a good idea, I will mention that in the writeup :biggthump

Even if you can't get the fill plug out, you can fill it through the speedo hole. The fill plug was stripped on my car when i bought it, so that's what i had to do.

Even if you can't get the fill plug out, you can fill it through the speedo hole. The fill plug was stripped on my car when i bought it, so that's what i had to do.

Speedo hole? Where's that?

Speedo hole? Where's that?

Near the firewall on the tranny. Unbolt the speedo sensor, take it out, pour the fluid in, install speedo, and that's it.

Near the firewall on the tranny. Unbolt the speedo sensor, take it out, pour the fluid in, install speedo, and that's it.

Ohhh I remember seeing something about it in the FSM, thanks for the suggestion Dave! :biggthump

Another good write-up. :biggthump

Another good write-up. :biggthump

Thanks bro :D :biggthump

very good thread. thanks

very good thread. thanks

:D glad to help

Updated the writeup with more information and corrected some bugs :biggthump

Nice write-up. I personally take off the fill plug first, so that I know I can get the new oil in there.

You never know, for some strange reason, your fill plug might be seized, get stripped out, etc. etc., so I just want to be sure that I don't render the car un-driveable.

that's one reason why I NEVER overtighten the tranny bolts. they really do NOT need to be tight at all. Slightly tightening with a 1/2" ratchet is good enough

Edit

Port all how-to's to the new forum and delete them from here!

Port all how-to's to the new forum and delete them from here!

Doing so, but they restricted me from editing my stupid posts! Only way out is taking down photo bucket :(

Doing so, but they restricted me from editing my stupid posts! Only way out is taking down photo bucket :(

WOW.....