Wiscon_Mark
04-14-2012, 07:41 PM
This isn't so much a question as a review about the product (Subaru GL-5 Extra-S gear oil).
Like many 5MT Subaru owners, during the extreme cold in wintertime, I experienced the hard shifts & poor synchro engagement until the gearbox warmed up. So before last winter, I decided to change my gear oil myself. Looking not to spend a fortune, I opted to skip Extra-S in favor of a full Synthetic gear oil that was made for the Hypoid gears that Subaru transmissions have. I ended up ordering from Lucas's website directly, getting 5 quarts (4 qts for the transmission & front diff and one qt for the rear diff) for around 50 bucks with shipping.
So I happily changed my gear oil, and noticed an immediate improvement over the old gear oil (whatever it was). However, when I took it on a long trip, I noticed shifts getting "crunchy" and synchro engagement was not a quick process. So I decided to drain a quart of the oil out and drop some Synchromesh in to help out the Synchros. It helped, but whenever the car would get driven for a longer period of time, the shift to 3rd gear would make some noise unless I used extreme caution. Needless to say, I wasn't happy about this as I'd just dropped 60 bucks on oil that was potentially ruining my transmission.
I decided to pony up the 90 bucks (60 for the 4quarts of gear oil and 30 for shipping from Fred Bean's. edit: They've since lowered their shipping to 15 dollars) and order the Extra-S. After all, the reviews were excellent, and even though it was as expensive as Motul & Redline, I figured this was a pretty sure bet. It absolutely was. All I can say is that Extra-S is a miracle for the transmission. At first shifting felt a little stiff after I changed it out, but once I drove it about 100 miles, it was amazing. I can practically slam through the gears with no complaint from the synchros and shifting is butter smooth. Even when it got a little chilly (it was in the 20s a couple of times last week) I noticed absolutely no difference in shifting performance. Extra-S is the only gear oil you should use. Seriously. I can't wait to see how it does this winter.
And this is what I cleaned off my magnetic drain plug after less than 5 months using the Lucas Full Synthetic & Synchromesh solution I came up with:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/04/2KJA4-1.jpg
Like many 5MT Subaru owners, during the extreme cold in wintertime, I experienced the hard shifts & poor synchro engagement until the gearbox warmed up. So before last winter, I decided to change my gear oil myself. Looking not to spend a fortune, I opted to skip Extra-S in favor of a full Synthetic gear oil that was made for the Hypoid gears that Subaru transmissions have. I ended up ordering from Lucas's website directly, getting 5 quarts (4 qts for the transmission & front diff and one qt for the rear diff) for around 50 bucks with shipping.
So I happily changed my gear oil, and noticed an immediate improvement over the old gear oil (whatever it was). However, when I took it on a long trip, I noticed shifts getting "crunchy" and synchro engagement was not a quick process. So I decided to drain a quart of the oil out and drop some Synchromesh in to help out the Synchros. It helped, but whenever the car would get driven for a longer period of time, the shift to 3rd gear would make some noise unless I used extreme caution. Needless to say, I wasn't happy about this as I'd just dropped 60 bucks on oil that was potentially ruining my transmission.
I decided to pony up the 90 bucks (60 for the 4quarts of gear oil and 30 for shipping from Fred Bean's. edit: They've since lowered their shipping to 15 dollars) and order the Extra-S. After all, the reviews were excellent, and even though it was as expensive as Motul & Redline, I figured this was a pretty sure bet. It absolutely was. All I can say is that Extra-S is a miracle for the transmission. At first shifting felt a little stiff after I changed it out, but once I drove it about 100 miles, it was amazing. I can practically slam through the gears with no complaint from the synchros and shifting is butter smooth. Even when it got a little chilly (it was in the 20s a couple of times last week) I noticed absolutely no difference in shifting performance. Extra-S is the only gear oil you should use. Seriously. I can't wait to see how it does this winter.
And this is what I cleaned off my magnetic drain plug after less than 5 months using the Lucas Full Synthetic & Synchromesh solution I came up with:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/04/2KJA4-1.jpg