T-9 tranny oil change

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:15 pm

one of the many things i wanna do is get the transmission oil changed. i have two quarts of mobil 1 75w90 waiting to go in. i cannot find the plug.

the filler plug is easy to locate but i think filling will be a bitch.

any ideas?

Lomike7 · Post by **Lomike7** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:46 pm

All parts store sell a cheap hand pump to pump the fluid in with. It gets a little messy. I havent had the shifter boot ou of mine yet, but if its like my mustang you can remove the cover and shifter and pour it through the shifter hole. Good luck. Mike

xrian · Post by **xrian** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:24 pm

There is no drain plug on the T9. You will have to use a siphon to get the old fluid out. Also bear in mind that the T9 uses a synthetic type of ATF but you can replace it with gear oil to help it take more shock loading. Just note that the shifting will be stiff until the oil warms up.

demonfire wrote:one of the many things i wanna do is get the transmission oil changed. i have two quarts of mobil 1 75w90 waiting to go in. i cannot find the plug.

the filler plug is easy to locate but i think filling will be a bitch.

any ideas?

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:23 pm

that's what i feared. i'll do that then. i'm going to use mobil 1 75w90 (capacity is 2 or 2.6 quarts?)

the shifter is VERY sloppy. is that the nature of the beast or is there a solution?

xrian · Post by **xrian** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:43 pm

If the shifter is really sloppy, the nylon bushing on the shifter fork under the shifter is either worn or most likely broken away. If you can find someone on list that has a blown T9, maybe they have a good bushing they could get to you. I'm pretty sure the BAT short shifter kit comes with a new one. That shifter is a huge improvement to the T9. Only thing better is when you go to the T5 conversion further on.

demonfire wrote:that's what i feared. i'll do that then. i'm going to use mobil 1 75w90 (capacity is 2 or 2.6 quarts?)

the shifter is VERY sloppy. is that the nature of the beast or is there a solution?

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 7:32 am

I'll look for a freebie bushing for now then. I'm trying to troubleshoot this car before i start to modify her.

On a good note, the guibo coupler looked good when i was under the car.

On a bad note (maybe), the exhaust hanger bracket immediately in front of the cat was rotted off. The piping on the downpipe isn't bad. The rest is pretty rusted up, and i think i have a midas cheapy tailpipe. after the resonator (after the muffler) the piping steps down a size

Post by **merk23literturbo** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:15 pm

DO NOT USE GEAR OIL FOR THE T-9 TRANS. The gear oil will ruin it. It needs either the special Merkur fluid or you can use a good synthetic. I used Red Line MTL and it worked OK. The new Focus fluid is supposed to be a drop in. When I bought my manual trans car it had gear oil in it and when I drained it out it was FULL of brass shavings. That trans was pretty much shot. After putting in the Red Line MTL it at least would shift when it was cold out. It would hardly shift with the gear oil in it. The T-5 also does not use gear oil, if you do a swap.
Don

Post by **John Brennan** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:41 am

OK, the gear oil for the T9 trans may be synthetic, but it's still gear oil. The T5 uses ATF.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 7:30 am

okay, now i'm confused. i have mobil 1 full synth gear oil in 75w90.

should i use the synchro mesh stuff found in the newer cars instead?

xrian · Post by **xrian** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:41 am

No it won't! Unless the trany was ready to blow appart in the first place, you will NOT ruin a good one by using gear oil. In fact it will last longer due to being able to withstand more shock loading. YES, it will be stiffer to shift when cold but ni lack of lubrictation will occure. If you can afford it, use a synthetic gear oil that will flow easier when cold. No matter how you slice it, the T9 is a very weak trany and will not take much abuse but for those who can't afford to do a T5 swap, this is just an option for them.

merk23literturbo wrote:DO NOT USE GEAR OIL FOR THE T-9 TRANS. The gear oil will ruin it. It needs either the special Merkur fluid or you can use a good synthetic. I used Red Line MTL and it worked OK. The new Focus fluid is supposed to be a drop in. When I bought my manual trans car it had gear oil in it and when I drained it out it was FULL of brass shavings. That trans was pretty much shot. After putting in the Red Line MTL it at least would shift when it was cold out. It would hardly shift with the gear oil in it. The T-5 also does not use gear oil, if you do a swap.
Don

Post by **merk23literturbo** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 5:34 pm

The T9 that I pulled out of my car had 75-90 W gear oil in it. The oil was changed fom the factory oil at 50 K by his mechanic. I have the receipt for that. I drained it out at 112K. The previous owner drove the car gingerly and never beat the car. If the 75-90 W gear oil is OK to use then why are all the synchros gone and why does the oil look like gold metallic paint? Since there are no other forces acting inside the trans I would assume that it was caused by the wrong weight gear oil. The THICKER gear oil will not get into the very small spaces where it needs to be to lubricate the synchros. Those clearances inside the trans are too small for the 75-90 W gear oil to get into. That must be why the trans is toast. If you can explain a different reason why it happened, I am more than willing to listen. I can't think of any other reason.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 8:21 am

super. well i have (like i said) full synth mobil 1 75w90, because i think i read somewhere (last year when i bought a bunch of stuff for the car) that it was compatible.

xrian · Post by **xrian** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 11:53 am

It's called luck of the draw. I've had low mile one owner XR's where the T9 failed. Also high mile XR's where they were beat to crap and still going.
20 years+ as a mechanic and many of those working for Ford is where I'm coming from. I'm just stating from my experience and such.
To each thier own. I'm not getting into a pissing match over this.

merk23literturbo wrote:The T9 that I pulled out of my car had 75-90 W gear oil in it. The oil was changed fom the factory oil at 50 K by his mechanic. I have the receipt for that. I drained it out at 112K. The previous owner drove the car gingerly and never beat the car. If the 75-90 W gear oil is OK to use then why are all the synchros gone and why does the oil look like gold metallic paint? Since there are no other forces acting inside the trans I would assume that it was caused by the wrong weight gear oil. The THICKER gear oil will not get into the very small spaces where it needs to be to lubricate the synchros. Those clearances inside the trans are too small for the 75-90 W gear oil to get into. That must be why the trans is toast. If you can explain a different reason why it happened, I am more than willing to listen. I can't think of any other reason.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 3:07 pm

so ian, will the mobil1 75w90 work?

xrian · Post by **xrian** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 8:52 pm

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