Now I've done it!

[Andres629]

So, my M5OD in my dd has been giving me the gears lately. I checked the fluid level yesterday actually, thinking that might be the problem. Stuck my finger in the fill hole (har har, yes I get it) and it was RIGHT there. Took it out... oh wait, this fluid ain't red. *sniff sniff* UGH! GEAR OIL?!? FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

The douches that owned it before me have been running gear oil in it for I don't know how long. I've been driving it for about 2000km (about 1300 miles or so) with that in there. Now I'm faced with trying to clean out all the gear oil and replace it with ATF. Maybe that's why it was sticky and hard to shift in the cold...

So, what I'm asking of you kind folks here, is what is the best way to clean out the tranny after dumping all the gear oil, without removing the transmission? It still works awesome, no grinding of gears and no abnormal noises, was just hard to shift when cold. So that leads me to believe all the internals are fine, and I don't really want to take it out 'til I have a catastrophic fail and I HAVE to take it out. Thanks in advance!

 

[exbass94]

Switch to ATF, and change it again in another couple hundred miles. Repeat 1 or 2 more times.

 

[D.J.]

DO NOT DO THIS UNTILL THE DEBATE IS OVER! What about putting diesel fuel or kerosene in it just to wash out the GL and then draining it out and installing the ATF? Just a suggestion. But like I said wait untill the debate that follows here before attempting this!

 

[Andres629]

My original thought was run a little diesel in there too. Just back it down the driveway, then back up the driveway (approx. 20 feet) and then repeat, then fill with ATF. Any thoughts? AllanD, if you're out there... haha!

 

[Captain Ledd]

you could just let it sit in neutral and let it spin itself around.

I'd drain it and fill it with ATF, let sit in neutral for 10 minutes, drain. Let it sit overnight. While I don't think a little diesel would necessarily hurt it, I don't think I'd put any in.

Fill with fresh ATF the next day, and likely change it after a few hundred miles.

After that it should pretty much be devoid of gear oil except for a little bit, enough that it really won't make that much of a difference.

 

[spdcrazy]

what bout marvel's mystery oil? not sure if its intended or would help. but i'm sure someone can chime in and vote yes or no

 

[heptofite]

A high quality gear oil shouldn't make too much of a difference, if it's not giving you trouble, and rather than waste a LOT of ATF getting it cleaned out, why not just drain it and switch to a lighter synthetic gear oil?