whats everyone use for oil in their t56's??

 

Use only the DEX... (mine is DEXIII) recommended by GM & then leave it alone, no additives no "aftermarket brews."

 

dex3, thats it. adding anything else will just hurt it because it was designed specifically to use ATF

 

GM/Penzoil Sychromesh is very good also!

 

i've had the best luck with dex 3

 

Redline D4 atf

 

penzoil with syncro mesh. i did a 0z700 install and used that fluid and my tranny has never shifted this easy or smoothly.

 

im using the power steering oil (a4 oil).....


not very good but still not bad............

 

Dextron 3

 

Same here.

 

Right now it's got Mercon V (DexIII Ford equivalent because they had no Dex) but I'll be swapping soon to Mobil 1 ATF simply becase that's what Six Speeds Inc recommends and it's one of their transmissions. Honestly, you're gonna get a TON of mixed responses ranging from Dex III only to Mobil 1 ATF to Synchromesh, etc, etc, so weigh your options and go with whoever you trust on the site (or that you speak with).

 

I tried synchromesh and it was harder to shift than the Mobil 1 ATF.

 

I've tried the GM synchromesh, mobil 1 atf, Amsoil Synchromesh, and a couple different Redline's. On the stock tranny the synchromesh felt horrible while it was cold, I would have to double clutch a lot until it warmed up to keep it from grinding,and it takes awhile to heat up. However once it warmed up it wasn't half bad. After the rebuild I tried Mobil 1 ATF and I thought that it was way notchy (to the point that I only kept it in for a few weeks) The Redline D4 was recomended to me by my tuner and a friend of mine who can bang gears better than just about anyone else on the road and I has been the best that I have tried by far.

Just some food for thought from someone who has been through a handfull of different types.

 

Amsoil ATF here, but I'm not on a stock tranny.

 

had shifting problems with mine when < 20,000 miles and mine is a daily driver that sees little to no abuse.
the following is probably not in the correct order:
I have tried redline d4atf, no real improvement over dex3,
have tried coastal cheapo dex3 atf and that was ok, about the same or slightly better than the oem fill of dex 3,
tried royal purple, their syncromesh i think, and that was good in real cold weather but I would get zing noises when shifting easy from 1-2 or 2-3, thought I had actual syncro/trans problems till I changed out the fluid, will never use royal purple again.
ran gm synchromesh and that was good/better than dex3 but at times tough to shift in cold weather like 5-10F during winter,
tried redline mtl and was not impressed also tough in cold weather,
went back to pennzoil syncromesh and been running that for nearly 20,000 miles, car now has ~45k miles, and shifts well and acceptable for the really cold first few shifts.

the thing with trying different fluids is it takes a long time, at least a few thousand miles, for the new fluid to work it's way into all the syncros and even then there's still a decent amount of old fluid that's mixing with the new fluid, so from 1 fluid change you can't really draw a solid conclusion, you almost have to run it a few thousand miles then do a second fluid change and see how that goes.

and i'll also 2nd the syncromesh being not too good when really cold, like 20F and below cold on the first few shifts, but after driving 10-15 miles and the tranny warms up it's good and for normal weather 70F and above it's the best I have found. I also run a cyberdyne gauge with the sender off the trans drain plug and I know on cold days it easily takes 10 miles on the highway before the fluid temp gets 76F.

and a synthetic in the t56 is a total waste, the hottest I've ever gotten the fluid is 170F on a long highway drive in the summer, usually it runs 140F.