I have over 110,000 miles on my 1998 24 valve. The owners manual says not to change the oil in the 5 speed manual transmission. The Dodge cost for the oil is ~$24 a quart!!! so I wanted to believe the manual.

But I want to go through my truck (brakes, fuilds, ball joint, fuel pump, etc.) to get ready for the next 100,000 miles and I am wondering about the tranny oil.

Is the only oil still the overpriced Dodge stuff. I know the 6 speed boys are running Redline oil at less than $10.00 a quart and seem to like it. Has anyone ran this oil in the 5 speed manual??

 

Standard Transmission in Dallas/Fort WOrth has Castrol Syntorque for something like $65 a gallon.

Castrol Syntorque is the stuff to use, not Castrol Synchromesh.


EDIT:

http://www.standardtransmission.com/

its under Dodge/Cummins....its $54

 

I used Royal Purple SynchroMax for $6.50 qt. local price...and I believe it is also rated for the 5spd. It smoothed out my shifts, and I changed it recently at 49k miles. Their website gives a list of applications & dealers.

http://www.royalpurple.com/

**EDIT** I just checked their website. If you have the NV4500, DC says to use 75W85 GL-4 which for Royal Purple is their Max-Gear 75W90.

 

redline MTL

 

A really good locval transmission shop around here that does a lot of work with the NV4500 reccomended I change mine and replace it with Castrol Syntorque as previously sugested.

 

Redline MTL ($7.00/Qt) seems to work great in my 4500 just like the 6-speed guys, 5,000 so far on mine with great results. Or you can mix it 50/50 with Redline MT90. Take the bottom bolt out of the PTO cover to drain it, use RTV on the bolt when you put it back in.

Tom

 

Or the stuff is avaiable from gm dealers, since the NV4500 was used in them also. It says on the inspection plate on both sides of the trans. use dodge part# or GM part#. When I rebuilt mine last summer I refilled it with the GM stuff @ $13.58 a quart.

 

How many quarts does it hold?

 

4 QUARTS.

Fill it up till it runs out the filler plug.


The PTO inspection plate says to only use Castrol Syntorque or the stuff from the dealer.

Find a place that sells the C.S., and get it. Dealer is too epensive, unless you go to GM.

 

I know everyone says they use their Brand X but all I can say is that when I was also thinking of changing mine I did some research and found that one reason Castrol Syntorque is the OEM lube is because the NV4500 has fiber synchro's. To what I understood there were many lubes that were tried and tested but ONLY Castrol Syntorque had the heat range for those synchro's. This is why the warranty is voided if anything else is used.
Then after all the reading I did, I opened up the fill hole and found clear honey colored lube dripping out so I closed it up and forgot about changing anything.

 

what kind of synchros do the 6 speeds have??....Just bought the Redline MTL and am thinking I should maybe go with the stock stuff....

 

BRASS

Tom

 

Thanks Tom!!,,,,,I vaguely remember reading that now that I think about it.

 

So your saying there isn't a change interval on the 5 or 6speed trans?! Or is there...

My fluid looks good and clear yet... But I was thinking about changing the trans fluid here soon getting up to 60K. According to the dealer I got my truck from they inspected the fluid @ 30K and said it might need changed by 60K... Hmmm...

For $65 a gallon for CS fluid that expensive stuff!

Funny... I never been back to a dealer yet... Just listen to everyone here! At least I've never been steered wrong here! Thank to everyone!

 

Dodge says don't change it, but the general rule is every 20-30K, I do the transfer case every 10-15K

Tom