Redline MTL Mtx Oil?

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yamahaSHO

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This car takes ATF. You'd be better off using Redline D4 ATF. So far, the D4 has shifted the best in my tranny.
 

tominos

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atf in an mtx? really?

i've used the redline mtl in my 97 civic two times. made the shifts alot smoother. like cutting a hot knife cutting through butter.
 

yamahaSHO

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Many MTX's take ATF nowaday. You can run MTL in your tranny if you'd like, I'm just here to tell you that ATF is what is called for in the manuals.
 

dstig1

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I had very bad luck with MTL a few years back. Almost couldn't get the car to shift into gears. I've tried D4 also, and it was OK. The best I have tried was Mobil 1 synthetic ATF. Like buttah. A lot of people say great things about GM Synchromesh, but I have not tried it personally.

The caveat is that different SHOs seem to be happier with different fluids (which really doesn't make sense to me). I have heard plenty of people "back in the day" who thought MTL was great. Most of what I have heard lately is experiences with it similar to mine - I'd recommend staying away from MTL. Mobil 1 or Synchromesh are probably good candidates for most people. I think the mobil1 is $5-7/qt, and Synchromesh more like $10.
 

jedhead

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I had MTL in my first tranny, but I switched to D4. I have ran D4 for about 11 years without problems and I don't have any grinding. I can shift from neutral at start up in to reverse without any grinding or difficulty.

Bob
 

shojuan

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Apart from being a GL-4 lubricant, redline MTL IS also designed to be used in transmissions that call for ATF. Before I rebuilt my 89's tranny with the newer fiber lined blocking rings I found that MTL worked better than D4. After the rebuild D4 wasn't so hot. Now using Royal Purple MAX ATF. Working pretty darn good.

Just wanted to set the record straight about redline MTL. There is no good reason not to try it in a SHO tranny. If it works, keep it. If not, try something else. I'll mention that I used to own a 90 and later a 91 4-cyl 5-speed toyota camry and toyota called for ATF in the tranny. IIRC, a dexron II atf. I switched both of those to Redline MTL and the shifting was perfect. It was notchy with the factory fill but absolutely perfect with MTL. Way better than the SHO tranny ever could be. Butter.

Really, it comes down to trying a fluid which is appropriate to use in the SHO tranny (MTL is on that list) and finding out which one works best with yours. In the old 89 tranny before the rebuild (between 140,000-200,000 miles) with the old brass blockers MTL was ok, D4 was terrible, and a mix of 50% D4, 40% MTL, and 10% MT-90 was butter. In the rebuilt tranny with fiber lined blockers Ford Motorcraft brand Mercon was pretty good, D4 was terrible, and Royal Purple Max ATF is pretty good to very good...can't remember if Mercon was better or if the royal purpple max atf is. Still have a bit of extra effort to get into first but nothing like straight D4. Before the Royal Purple I was going to try 70% D4 and 30% MT-90 and I might try that in the future...the royal purple is fairly close but not quite "IT" for my 89's tranny. The Royal Purple is good enough though that I'd ditch that mix in 300 miles if it offered no improvement. Lol, and I still have yet to try Royal Purple SyncroMAX and even mixtures of Syncromax and MAX ATF. If I find anything that works as buttery smooth in my rebuilt 89 tranny as MTL did in my old Toyota Camrys' then I will stop and stick with it forever.
 

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