My colleague Jason Torchinsky is in a bind. His Nissan Pao is deeply, deeply ruined because Jason failed to do the very first thing I do when I take ownership of a car. Here’s what I mean.
“I really need a new five-speed manual transmission, I think, because … I made a mistake, and I know that makes me a bad person” Jason just said, sulking right next to me here at Monterey Car Week, more specifically at the Maserati House. This place:
But poor Jason isn’t a bad person; he’s being a bit dramatic, and maybe just a bit sad. Because his Nissan Pao’s transmission is toast after Jason forgot to change its transmission fluid.
“I feel like I was taking good care of the car, but I never thought to change the transmission oil,” Jason — whose Scion xB’s transmission input shaft bearing failed after he never changed it’s transmission oil — told me.
Look at this cute little Pao whose transmission began failing by popping out of gear, then started whining, and now will not shift at all.
So this brings me to the very first thing I do when I buy a new car: I change its oils. All of its oils. In fact, when I bought Jason a 1989 Ford F-150 a few years ago, IÂ made him change the gearbox oil before he drove the truck back home. If you don’t believe me, here’s a quote from Jason’s article about his F-150’s inaugural journey:
The first thing David demanded I do was to change the gear oil in that old tractor-like T18 four-speed transmission, and since he’s the man who coughed up the money for the truck, I have to listen, so Otto and I found an empty industrial facility’s parking lot and crept into a corner where I could perform the oil change.
The fact is, with manual transmission oil, you can’t easily inspect the quality or quantity of the fluid (since there’s no dipstick), which is critical to the longevity of the system. If your transmission fluid is low or dirty, you could find yourself with the huge pain in the ass job of trying to replace a Japan-built five-speed. It’s just not worth it.
I feel the same way about any automotive component that has bearings in it. The differentials, the engine, the wheel bearings and tie rod ends/ball joints — all should get new oil or grease as soon as possible after you buy a car. If the car is working well when you buy it, and isn’t making any strange noises, the single best way to keep it that way is to just change all the oils and grease all the joints. It can be a pain in the ass, sure, but it’s just not worth foregoing. Those fluids are just too important to the longevity of your engine/transmission/differential/transfer case/suspension pieces.
Spend the afternoon with a bunch of oil and grease, a drain pan, a pump, and a bunch of papertowels and hand-cleaner. The satisfaction you’ll feel afterwards knowing that your vehicle likely has another five years without a major mechanical failure will be worth it.
I also like to inspect my coolant and brake fluid, check my rubber hoses and belts and tires, and just generally look over the machine. But, more than anything, my top priority when it comes to the maintenance of a vehicle I just bought is: Get fresh fluids in it. Just do it.
“Change the damn oil in your damn manual transmission,” Jason just told me here at the Maserati House. “Don’t be like me, kids. Don’t make the mistakes I’ve made. It hurts.”
Profound.
Oof, that’s a rough one. I don’t think there were any cars in the US that had an interchangable transmission, and it doesn’t seem like your typical place that buys containers worth of low milage used parts to resell generally gets Pao parts. Maybe while you’re in CA you should try running south of the border and see if you can get one for a Micra?
They sold Micras in Canada, he might get lucky on that front.
The average sales price of a Pao has risen to $8995. I really think they’re cool cars. I’d love to have one, but none exist around my area.
Fluids and lubricants are an overlooked signal when shopping for a used car. I was looking at a 30 year old Mercedes the other day, pulled a spark plug, and was surprised to find the threads nicely coated with anti-seize.
The only mechanic or DIYer that will do that is the one who’s thinking ahead to his/her next encounter with the car. And that’s someone who is less likely to defer maintenance.
I learned this lesson from my old VW mechanic “Chuck”. Any part you want to have a better chance of removing in the future… the bolts got anti-sieze applied. Daily drivers are now Toyotas, though still a good practice.
Every time I get a new ride, the first thing I do is get under the hood and check out the lubrication situation.
Good dating tip as well.
Solid. That an interior detail. Also, huge fan of red LEDs in the maplights, for night driving.
Pretty much a fluid and wiper check. Even if bought new or used at a dealer. A few bucks can save major money down the road
Another reason to do it is to make sure it has the right stuff in it. Someone had filled the gearbox of my MG (which does have a check/fill tube and a dipstick, by the way, accessible through the passenger’s side footwell, of all places) with GL-4. The stick felt like it was moving through molasses, and the synchros crunched. I drained it, filled it with 20W-50 engine oil (what it’s supposed to have), drove it a bit, drained it, and filled it again. Shifts like buttah now.
I change the fluids on each purchase, though not always immediately. I will verify the fluid levels immediately, but since I can’t leave anything alone, I immediately start plotting improvements and consider the fluid replacements into them. Stuff like replacing brake fluid when I replace the brake lines or upgrade the calipers, or changing the transmission fluid when I add an external cooler, or changing the differential fluid when I replace the open diff with a locker.
Bought a Silverado from a friend, came with a light saying change oil, and a case of new oil in the backseat that looked like it had been sitting there for a year or two….
The only gearbox oil I’ve ever changed was in my MX5 when I took the gearbox out to change the seals.
Even my 250,000 mile E30 325i didn’t get new gear oil.
The only people I know who have changed transmission oil have had automatic gearboxes.
I’ve had arguments with dealerships on my obsession on changing the transmission oil with my cars (which I buy new but keep for 10 years) My cars get fresh transmission fluid in their first year. Initial break-in, and any machining debris/cutting fluids, are flushed out and I feel much better about it. The dealer’s arguments are primarily that they’ve never heard of anyone changing the oil in a manual transmission, or that their maintenance manuals either suggest “sealed for life” or some really high mileage (like >160k that I’d never see in the time I’d own the car).
It’s cheap insurance.
But at the cost of some modern CVT/DSG oils out there: you’d think they’re made by grinding bricks of platinum and gold into oil.
I just go to Jiffy Lube and do whatever they recommend after their inspection. $1,973.52 later, I have my trusty old engine air filter back in after having the loose debris smacked out against the side of the building, an old N95 mask for a cabin filter, whatever thicker fluid was at the bottom of the collection tank for the differential, some mix of leftover automatic transmission fluid they had on hand for my manual that doesn’t spec ATF, and recycled oil from a car owned by an old lady who gets it changed every 3k on the nose because “it’s still good”.
Man, if they didn’t round off your drain plug and put the new filter on too tight you need to find a new shop. They sound thorough but these are basics!
I believe, sir, that the oil pan is vented through that small hole at the bottom. It’s what is called a transmission cooler.
The 710 cap, however, is discarded once the first oil is changed. Just purely decorative for the showroom floor when the car is new.
No no no, what you really need is for them to accidentally drain the trans fluid, and then add 5 more quarts of oil to the engine. That way you can ruin both with minimal expense and effort.
I barely trust my local jiffy lube to air up my tires properly.
I blame it on the deers he keeps hitting
Oh Deer…
…thats what you get for trying to save a Buck.
Doen’t you start that….
Stop fawning over the demise of the glorious Pao.
I used to drive Mitsubishis, which LOVE to eat transmissions, so I got really good about changing the trans oil but I still had one fail on me. Strange japanese import or not, a transmission is a transmission, except when it’s a transaxle, but even that is still a transmission of sorts. So I bet some local shop in NC would tear it apart and rebuild it without worrying about shipping a whole new transmission from Japan.
I like the self changing oil systems in old cars, where you just pour something in one place and it slowly runs out of other places.
At least the Pao doesn’t have the joy killing slow 3 speed auto of the Figaro. Yes it works AND it has a dipstick down there under the air filter, but I would love to mate that turbo engine with a five speed manual!
You have an old series Land Rover too!
Yes, it seems to some kind of english patent..
As I remember, it was licensed by Fiat and Alfa Romeo too 😉
They don’t leak, they just mark their territory. I once saw a series 2a with no leaks, sadly the chassis was completely shot. One of my sillier cars has a total loss oil system, it was designed that way in 1904and has a bucket bracket for use when parked!
I especially like the mk2 of the self changing oil system, where the “exit points” are strategicly placed close to moving parts, so the fluids gets slushed around under the vehicle, rustproofing it at the same time.
I don’t understand why innovative technology like that isn’t more used today.
The engine must have been missing since that’s the only way there were no leaks…ha ha
Shit…I still need to change the gear oil in my 1972 Super Beetle. I think it might still be the original oil from the factory.
100% agree on changing all the fluids. I bought my BRZ last winter with only 17k on it but it’s 7/8 years old so o still changed all the fluids. Except the coolant, haven’t gotten around to it yet…
So…. ship the Pao to LA, rip the guts out of the Leaf and electrify the Pao with a new battery set?
Sounds like your Nissan is on Paotrol for a new gearbox.
Apparently on my little econobox, the transmission gets hot. A lot. Every other oil change, I drain and fill the ATF. Overkill? Probably. But it always comes out black and gross.
Might be worth considering adding a cooler…
Great suggestion!! Transmission coolers are cheap, easy to install and really bring temps down.
This goes double for automatics. I recently considered a car for my kid, and the oil and coolant both looked great- definitely been changed, many times.
Then, I pulled the trans dipstick and I almost puked. Black, brown, smelled like bacon overcooked on a PTFE frying pan. It’s condition appeared to match the mileage on the car, which was almost 200k. Probably never been changed, ever.
Obviously, we moved on.
We bought a used car a few years ago. Checked all the fluids before. Oil was a little dark and low, so got oil change done. Transmission fluid was nice and clean, just a little low. I added more and the level stayed good and looked good. 50000 miles later, transmission stopped working. After the shop took it apart to diagnose, they found that something had slipped enough to block the fluild flowing. So the fluid actually in the transmission got burned up to a sludge and didn’t cool or help anymore. What was hitting the dipstick was still looking good every time I checked it, but not circulating like it should have been. Just doing a transmission flush/change would have caught the issue and or corrected it. lesson learned for me.
That’s a weird one. What kind of transmission was it? On my GM the stick is visible when you drop the pan.
99 Camry with the V6. I hadn’t ever seen anything like it either in any cars I have owned. Never had a lift or done any transmission work, so I am not sure where the dipstick goes in that one.
It’s a good note here. Really sets the tone and provides solid background. I was surprised that he’s had a previous car fail because he never changed its transmission oil. I thought Jason learned lessons better than that.
He’s still accepting vehicles from DT, so I’d say slow learner.
That Siena doesn’t need a new transmission, though.
It will if he never checks the fluids. (Just assuming David did while prepping it).
Eventually, sure, just as eventually the Sienna will have the outline of a deer carcass imprinted onto its grille and hood if Torch ever manages to sneak the keys out of Sally’s handbag.
+1, but a corollary to the rule: know what you’re putting in. In particular, older cars that were built in an era of lower-tech standards now have a bewildering array of lubricants made to much higher spec, and not all necessarily beneficial.
++1, when I was researching bike oil a couple months ago I learned about how API specifications advance. They have major generations where they say “this is likely the most modern oil you want to use in cars up to 1964/1976/what have you.” It’s essentially release date plus a decade-ish, as the standards get reviewed and revised to generally be more stringent.
Yes, definitely. You need to be especially careful with fluids used in manual transmissions. Some manual transmissions are specified for a GL-5 gear oil, but in a manual transmission it’s usually best to avoid the NS type oil. The catch is that your typical parts store carries mostly NS type GL-5 oils, because you can use them in a differential either with or without a limited-slip. If you use an NS type GL-5 oil in a manual trans, though, it can affect synchronizer operation and degrade shift quality. Some manual transmissions are specified for something more like an engine oil – do NOT use GL-5 in those! Some manual trans are specified for ATF; if so, use that. Don’t use gear oil in a manual transmission unless the unit is specified for it!
You can use ATF in manual transmissions that ask for it, but my experience is that it is too thin and does not make for good shifting.
Just about every old manual transmission asks for gear oil, and that’s what you should probably run in it. Just get lower sulfur yellow metal safe GL4 rather than the new GL5. GL4 is not easy to find.
20w50 motor oil works rather nicely in many manual transmissions. That’s what I have in my Mazda manual transmission right now and it shifts 3x better than when it had the specified ATF.
I really feel for Jason and the lovable but accident prone Pao.
but also whenever it gets brought up, in my head I go “Pao, Pao, Pao-wer Wheels” and it makes me smile.
Now that’s in my head. Thanks so much…
glad to be of service!
I used to have a 2006 A3 6MT that I bought with 20k miles, and sold with 190k miles, and never touched the transmission/differential. No new fluids, clutch, nothing. Other than the 3rd gear synchro being a tad rough from countless 6-3 downshifts, it felt more or less the same when I sold as when I bought it. I wonder if newer transmissions and fluids are so much better that maintenance isn’t needed (as much), or was I just lucky?
You got lucky.
I think more than anything Jason keeps getting unlucky. Most MT’s are pretty tough. Still a good idea to change the fluid, though
They’re tough sure, but that fluid could be 30 years old. They’re not that tough.
An Audi that makes it to 190k implies some pretty serious luck, never mind fluid changes.
I expected it to start falling apart after 100k, and certainly had some things beyond standard maintenance like CV boots that tore, but it just kept going. I think the manual transmission and base model, no factory options certainly helped. I wasn’t easy on it either, including offroading it later on with occasional tires off the ground, smoking the clutch, etc. The maintenance schedule ended at 125k, so seems Audi didn’t expect it to last that long either, but it was generally quite solid.
The change is so slow and subtle that you’ll rarely notice until you do the fluid change and it’s suddenly way smoother than it was. I recently did the trans fluid change on a friend’s 2015 335i 6MT with about 150k miles on it because I recommended it. He’d had no complaints before but was thrilled with how much better it felt after.