What oil for manual trans
 

The owners manual says single grade motor oil but my haynes manual says the manual trans uses ATF! I am confused to say the least. Anybody know whats right?

Any off the shelf ATF. 5W30 or 15W40 if its worn and sometimes grinds.

Go with the manual.

Some cars such as honda uses motor oil for their manual transmission. Using the wrong liquid can make the transmission inoperable. In colder temperatures it will gel up and you wont be able select any gear or drive any where.

I did some research on this subject a while back for my 240D. I came to the conclusion that Dexron III is the way to go. Mercedes-Benz of Reno agreed.

I use Delo 400 for summers when doing extreme off roading and for winters I use ATF. If you consider using engine oil, make sure its a HDEO which has the necessary shear strength to cope with the gears. Regular mineral based engine oil would shear very quickly.

ATF in Manual Transmission
 

ATF in a Manual Transmission is not all that unusual.....my '94 Ford F-150 uses ATF in it's 5-speed manufactured by Mazda......

The only commonality that I have found between Ford and MB!!

SB

Ford syncromesh, lucas synthetic and ATF fluid worked great for me.

I followed my manual and used Mobil 1 10W30 last year. PO had some kind of transmission fluid (red) in it. So far so good - It reduced the notchy shift from 1-2 and the shifting feels nice and substantial now. Plus, it's really inexpen$ive :D

Next time, I may try the redline MTF. Others on here have had nice things to say about it.

It made my shifting MUCH worse. Avoid it if your tranny has any wear (grinding into 2/3).

Ditto for the either M43 or M48 (can't remember which model #) Saganaw 4 speed with Overdrive in my Volvo diesel.

I found another...the plastic clips that connect the door lock link rods to the handle/latch mechanism are the same. I had to replace one in the 300TD, and the MB parts guy tipped me off that I could just go to a McParts store and get the HELP! clips for Ford.

I just changed my gear oil to 90W, and now my gearchange is really hard in the morning and when the car is cold. I have to change pretty fast, because where I live its really cold in the winters. What oil would you suggest?

Any ATF or 5W30. 90wt oil is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too thick.

You can't put straight weight gear oil in a MB tranny, the soft metal synchros would wear out due to the EP additives. Also shifting would be too heavy. If you want to put gear oil, Chevron makes a boron based synthetic which would do well, also Mobil-I ATF would also do fine.

anyone have experience with Redline MTL? I'm considering it.