Welp, after 2,000 miles I changed out the transmission oil, transfer case and rear differential fluids on Saturday. As others have posted, it's fairly trivial in terms of labor. I ran the Evo up on to ramps in my driveway. My driveway is sloped at such an angle that the car sits fairly level.

Anyway, I used Red Line MT90 in the gearbox and Red Line 75w-90 in the transfer case and rear differential. The oil in the transmission was really dirty, laden with very fine metal particles. It looked pearlescent when it poured into the drain pan. The drain plug was fairly well coated in particles as well as you can see in this pic. There were no chips visible when I cleaned the plug. What you see on the plug in the photo are the particles aligining with the magnetic field of the drain plug.



This transmission hasn't really been abused. I will admit to grinding gears three times since owning it. If ever sneaks into my garage and puts a 6th gear in the same place as my old Audi S4, I'll know exactly where to find it. Old habits die hard...

At this point I'm not really freaking out about the metal content of the oil. The transmission feels solid and shifts very, very nicely from gear to gear with very smooth dog engagement at all engine/road speeds, especially after switching to the synthetic. The whole drivetrain is much quieter now. Even my non-gearhead wife agreed when I mentioned it.

Does anyone think I should be freaking out?

 

nope. it is quite normal for a new car to have some metal bits and shaving.

 

I wouldnt mine looked like that at 1050 miles when i changed mine.Mine feels solid as well the redline makes it smoother IMO.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

I really wasn't worried when I first drained it out. I kinda expected some metal given the lack of a filter and the fact that there are SO MANY freshly machined parts moving together. I started to second guess later that evening.

Since the oil change I must say that this transmission has the best feel of any I have used in my 20 years of driving.

 

Just be happy there is a magnetic plug

 

I just changed mine today with 6200 miles on it. I had about the same amount of metal on the magnet as your pic. I found 1 tiny piece of metal in the trans oil about as big as - that line. Front diff was the dirtiest then trans. None looked real dirty though. Rear diff was very clean and had about the same amount of metal powder on the magnet as the trans.

I can definately tell a difference when shifting. Goes into first easier and shifts with less effort. Well worth doing.

I also used Redline MT-90 and 75-90.

 

how long did the process take? Planning to do mine this weekend

 

Took me about 1 hr. My driveway is slanted a bit so the car was perfectly level on the ramps I used. I just had to turn the car around when I went to do the rear diff. All the oil fill bolts have "oil " stamped on them so easy enough to identify.

 

Good to hear. Did you use a pump to fill them or did you fill them from above?

 

I've been trying to find this oil pump someone bought from harbor freight, but I cannot find it online. Can someone let me know what pump they are talking about? I know about the drum pumps which cost around 50.00$

 

I just did mine today too. I used a tranny funnel, (skinny end) and attached a 1 1/2ft section of clear tubing. I was able to fill all three from above. For the rear diff. I put the funnel in the rear wheel well and snaked the hose down to the diff. filler hole.
They say .59qts for the rear diff and the transfer case but in both cases, I onl;y got about 1/2 qt before it started flowing out the filler hole. I guess you can't drain it all out.

My rear diff had a big glob of metally goo come out. much more that the transfer case or tranny.

Redline is the way to go!

 

With many limited slip rear differentials you have to add a additive to make it work correctly. Is everyone just using straight Redline 75W-90?

 

sccavee:

Redline diff fluid has friction modifiers (for LSD's) in it already. If you get the "NS" variety then you have to add the modifier as this is for non-LSD equipped cars. Check-out Redline's website:

http://www.redlineoil.com/

for a better description.

Adios,

Fusoguy