Trans Fluid Question.

[Country]

I have a 97 Response. I am going to change the fluid in my transmission and was wondering if it would be better to go with a synthetic. My reason is that I run my machine in less than cool temps and I know that heat breaks down motor oil faster if there is a lot of heat involved and would have to assume that gear oil is the same. Since synthetics are less susceptible to breaking down due to heat would it hurt the transmission to run on some sort of synthetic gear oil? If so what would ya’ll recommend? I know something like this was posted a while back but I couldn’t find it so I thought I would just ask again.

[Country]

Nobody has any suggestions.

[REELLS]

tranny fluid

Country,
I can't give you an answer regarding your Argo but I can give you an idea of what happened when I put synthetic fluid in my Max T20 . I had the same idea you have regarding heat. However it didn't work the way I thought it would. My tranny became very sensitive to engagement . It would grab and jerk when turning etc. I had even used the friction modifier that they advise using. When I discussed this with a friend of mine who does GM car trannsmissions he said in his opinon that the synthectic fluid was too slippery which would cause the grabbing . When I changed this back to the Dexron fluid the tranny was smooth again. Don't really know why synthectic fluid doesn't work in this application but it doesn't.

[trebmaster]

I run Ams oil in my 05 Big foot and have not had any problems with the tranny

[Rock Doctor]

I have also run Amsoil in both my Argo's (engine and trans), No problems yet.

[Country]

Ok I just changed it and wow did it need it. It came out looking like weak chocolate milk... Yuck! Anyway my manual calls for 30 ounces. I bought a 32 ounce bottle and put a little more than half the bottle in not wanting to over fill it. I let it set for a few minutes and checked it. It showed over the notch by about a 1/4 inch. Did I do something wrong or have the wrong manual or something? I ran it for about an hour before I changed it so the oil would be hot and then pulled the plug and it drained for thrity minutes or so until there was barely a drop coming out. So what gives why is it showing over full by the dip stick?

[Roger S]

I wouldn't worry about a 1/4" overfull. I overfilled mine at least an inch, on purpose, years ago to help drown out the normal tranny whine. The first oil change was dirty and had a lot of metal on the magnet, as per what the distributor said it would be. I did a second change to synthetic.. like 7 years ago, and it's stayed clean looking. My overfill makes it weep a little around the dipstick, might be a problem if you don't wash as much as I do.