I took my ranger down and got the oil changed and the raditator flushed. They pulled the fill plug on my manual transmission and discovered it had 10w30 engine oil in the transmission instead of ATF. They flushed it and put ATF back in it. Can I expect any problems from the use of 10w30 instead of ATF?

It does shift better now that it doesn't have to churn friggin' peanut butter for tranny fluid.

BTW. this is a 5speed/2.3L combo.

 

well it seems odd, first off how did they know it was 10w30 oil? most likely they added 10w30 oil to it and then charged you to fix their mistake.

 

I've heard of people using motor oil in the M5OD trannies in an attempt to get them to shift *better*. This usually comes about in an effort to get them to try to shift better when going into first, second, and/or reverse. I do have to wonder how they could so readily nail down the viscosity of what they drained out of your tranny . How could they tell it was 10W30 and not 30w, 40w, 10w40, 5w20, etc? And I would love to be able to look them in the eye as they answered this question .

 

It was most likely just wore out atf. atf turns dark black and thickens in thease tranny's after about 30-40k some times less. I just changed it in my 99 that I just bought. Has 77k on it and I don't know if it was ever changed. CAme out black and thick but I could still tell it was atf by the smell.
Dan

 

I should have worded this better. They think it was 10w30. It was very plainly engine oil.. grade.. not idea. Guessing 10w30. They had a tube of it I watched them pull directly from the transmission. One of them turkey baster things. It was definitely not ATF.

 

I don't know about damage, but I'd definetly start trying to find out who changed it last.

They deserve a slap.

 

Apparently the nut I bought it from must've done it. Seeing how I've done nothing with the transmission. There were no indications of it acting funny so I'm not touching it. I tend to live by that rule, if it ain't broke don't touch it. At least, carwise I do.

 

As long as it runs fine with the ATF in place, you should be alright. I don't see a reason it shouldn't. Though if you have any further tranny trouble, you'll know where to look first for what happened...

 

There has been a hot bebate in the 4-speed Mopar world for many years.Which runs better in these trannys, ATF or 90 w gear oil. I've used both and have found no difference, but personally I perfer the ATF. My advice, --- don't worry about it.

 

I just bought som Royal Purple Syncromax for my Ranger I plan on putting it in when I change oil. It is the same viscosity as atf but has additives for manual transmissions. I hope this is an improvement over atf.

 

Thanks everybody for the advice. It does indeed shift better, less force is needed to put it into gear. It never needed excessive force, but I've always noticed that it needed to be pushed a little harder than all the other manuals I've driven. Now that it has ATF in it, it's drops into gear without having to kinda wrestle with it.

 

Well...you got something out of it it then.

 

Just to be on the safe side, I'd change it again in couple thousand miles. ATF has good cleaning properties, but it might become contaminated with whatever amount oil didn't come out with the first drain.

 

Yeah that'd flush it out real nice. After that you should definetly be good to go then. That tranny is fairly durable for that, not strength but it can take other fluids.

 

I highly doubt even if it was 10W30 that it did any damage. I've ALWAYS ran non detergent motor oil in my 91 with the 2.3 M5OD tranny, and that combo is about to kick over 312,000 miles. I've never had any problems with it. I know people who run straight 80 or 90 weight in that same tranny without any problems.