Please help.

83 Ford Ranger, 2.0 litre, 4 spd manual transmission. I believe that this is the Toyo Kogyo brand transmission. I'm changing the fluid, but do not know what type to put in.

The Chilton Manual states:

"Use Standard Transmission Lube SAE 80 in the 4-speed or Mitsubishi 5-speed manual transmission. The Mazda (Toyo Kogyo) 5-speed transmission uses Mercron automatic transmission fluid."

So I'm a little confused. I bought the SAE 80, but I want to be sure before I mess up my transmission. SAE 80 or Mercron?

Thanks.

 

The easiest way to tell what kind of gear lube is in your manual trans is to drain a little [or all if you're going to replace it anyway] and see what color & viscosity it is. ATF [i.e., Mercon] will look reddish brown, have the consistency of lite weight motor oil -- no matter how long it's been in your trans & smell like typical auto trans fluid. Gear oil [80W, 90W, etc.] will look dark brown & perhaps even muddy, is of very heavy viscosity & smells like gear oil or grease -- much different than auto trans fluid...

Once you've inspected what you have you should replace it in-kind!

 

Thanks Zooom.

I did drain the fluid already. Fluid was pretty dark, but scared me because it ran out so thin. But I think that's because I drove the truck for about 10 minutes first. So the fluid was pretty warm.

Just went out and got some on my finger. Definitely thicker and darker than ATF. And smells like gear oil.

I'm going with the 80W.

 

The four speed gets gear oil, the five speed mitsu 5speed gets gear oil, the Mazda five speed gets atf is what the manual sounds like. You're covered in that, gear oil is the right thing for yours.
I wouldn't just make an assumption that what comes out must go in, though. I can't tell you how many transmissions and transfer cases I have drained gear oil out of that were supposed to have atf in them, or 50wt motor oil in the old 4speeds, or 30wt motor oil in the Jeep Q-Trac transfer cases. It is good to be aware and verify the right lube.

 

All good advice. Thanks.

I put the SAE 80W gear oil in it. Like Chilton says.

The strange thing is that the 4-speed is a Toyo Kogyo (Mazda) that takes Gear Oil.

But the 5-speed Toyo Kogyo (Mazda) takes Mercron.

If anyone believes I messed up, please say something before my trans is ruined.