M6 Fluid change
 

So after 19643 miles of pavement pounding I finally decided to change the Trans fluid. It’s been talked about a dozen times in this forum but here is my brief experience.

After researching the corvette forums I read a lot about how much guys loved the Amsoil Torque drive in their TR6060. It is DEX III compatible as that is what the rep for TREMEC told me was required. I originally bought Amsoil Synchromesh but after realizing it was indeed an MTF, I exchanged it for the Torque Drive.

After getting Sheila up on the 4 post lift I inspected the tranny and planned how I was going to get to the full plug and the drain plug. Both require 3/8 square drive and you most definitely will need a wobble/flex head attachment.

I then decided that in order to avoid a mess of ATF all over my garage, I would remove the Transmission temp sensor (22mm open end) in order to drain most of the fluid. You still need to remove the drain plug after as it sits lower than the sensor but this way avoided a larger mess. After the fluid was done dripping from the sensor bung, I re-installed the sensor and harness and then removed the drain plug. Very little mess on the transmission brace.

Using a transfer pump, I pumped the Amsoil until it began to leak from the fill bung and let it leak the excess out.

Side note: make sure you tuck the sensor harness up out of the line of fire of Fluid pouring out.

I will say that after almost 20k miles, my fluid was surprisingly clean. No sparking debris at all. Also neither the full or drain plugs are magnetic which I thought was kinda lame so maybe I’ll look for one that is?

The fluid feels great and my M6 shifts like butter. I only drove about 50miles after so I’ll see how it feel in the cold morning.

Also feel like the rare notchiness I felt downshifting to 2nd was a result of lazy shifting.

Again I know this has been discussed multiple times but I just wanted to share my experience and hope I’m some way this helps someone else down the road.

if you didnt remove 8oz (1/8" below fill plug) after you filled it to the fill plug you are over filed. The temp sensor is were GM says to drain it because whats left in there doesnt matter when your putting regular oem fluid in it. what you can do is put a jack stand under the tranny and remove tranny brace. same goes for the diff 1/8" under fill plug. Just GMs way of saying we dont want you to do your own service and pay us $150 for 15min labor and $20 in fluid.

Yea I read that on the diff also. I called TREMEC and asked the rep what he thought and he told me that being overfilled in a MANUAL transmission by filling it to the fill plug (8oz) as you said is not really a problem. Manual transmission don’t make a ton of pressure internally as apposed to an Automatic transmission, in which case it WOULD indeed be an issue. Same goes for the differential. 8oz is the grand scheme of things is very little. A quart would indeed be a problem. Just as being overfilled with engine oil by a few ounces would not be an issue as apposed to Putin in 11 quarts instead of 10. I’m sure I’ve been under or overfilled on my Explorer by a few ounces and it’s been running for 300k (somehow...) But... when I get back under the car in the next few weeks for the header install I’ll probably drain a little fluid anyway.

***** Not Putin lol. Putting*

so gms way of screwing with you. thanks for checking with Tremec.

Yea I figured better to check with the part manufacture than GM. I know for warranty issues we all get concerned but most of us have long forgone the warranty route.

+1 on not sweating the extra 8oz. I changed mine to the same level as yourself and after 10K miles have had no adverse effect. I have had a few drops of overflow manual tranny fluid when I've pulled in the garage hot, but nothing bad enuff to crawl under there and drain some.

I do promise to do it right the next time :bonk:.

I just changed my manual transmission fluid at a little over 4,000 miles. It was shifting horrible, even when the car was warmed up. Dealer says it’s “normal”, I say BS! There was a noticeable amount of metal in the fluid. I think I’m going to send a sample off to have it analyzed.

I refilled with about 3.5 qts of Royal Purple Synchromax - holy cow, what a difference! No more grinding, nibbling or notchiness. I can now shift with two fingers, instead of forcing the whole stick. Say what you want, but that crappy performance is NOT normal. Eventually, the gearbox will grind itself out of tolerance & become junk.

I couldn’t find Royal Purple anywhere in store but I did find a Amsoil dealer in the South Bay (Cali) I’m running the Amsoil Torque Drive and it feels a lot better than the stock stuff. Although as I said when I changed my fluid at 19k it was still clean... maybe I got lucky. Glad to hear some of you guys are able to remedy your shifting issues.

Again I calculate that 8oz as such
TREMEC calls for APPROXIMATELY 3.45L
3.45L is equal to 117oz.
8oz is about 6% more fluid.
I don’t know what TREMEC considers tolerance @ APPROXIMATELY 3.45L
But being 6% above capacity in engine oil 10.04q w/f would be .6quarts too much. BUT I’m positive that being overfilled with engine oil would have far more serious effects than a manual gearbox that is NOT under the type of case pressure as an engine.

That said. I wouldn’t worry too much on the 8oz. I’ll take my chances

O’Reilly’s didn’t have the Royal Purple Synchromax on the shelf, they had it in the back, for some unknown reason...

What a bunch of scumbags. Hiding the good stuff lol

that dripping is probably the only thing that will happen if overfilled.

I just changed to Royal Purple Synchromax. It definitely helps A LOT!!!

There are still a few crunch/notchy shifts here and there, but not nearly as often as before and most shifts just "click" into the gates now. SOOO much improved.

I had the dealer do it for me.

What dealer do you go to? I think I saw you parked at the 711 off shoreline some months back. Tell you don’t go to Boardwalk that place is terrible.