Topic: hard to shift to 1st and 2nd

[zach0786]

I have an 89 Toyota 4runner 22re 5speed efi.  Just bought  don't know  history.  But 3 out of 5 times it won't go into 1st and sometimes 2nd. I bleed clutch.  Checked shift seat and bushing. Now im thinking of draining trans and put royal purple max gear in hoping it will help. Any advice. I also have to push clutch threw the floor

[84_yota_4wd]

Check the cluch pedal Adjustment. Try 1 half turn at a time. How does it go into reverse?

[blackdiamond]

Don't waste money on fancy oil for this issue. It sounds beyond anything that oil could remedy. Redline MT90 is the best oil for Toyota transmissions based on general consensus so once everything is working you may consider going that route.

If you double clutch it when shifting does it help?  Letting out the clutch between gears helps spin the synchros to match the gears. If this makes a significant difference there is a chance that someone put the wrong oil in the transmission causing the synchros to not work properly. In this case, find the cheapest GL-4  rated  gear oil and swap it out.

[84Flatbed]

I recently changed my trans fluid, this was the cheapest and one of the only true gl4 gear oils I could find http://crcindustries.com/auto/mobile-product.php?s=SL24229 Napa also sells the same oil rebranded with their name. All the other gear oils I found on the shelves, beside red line and that sta-lube that said gl4 were only rated gl4 for differentials not manual transmissions.

[blackdiamond]

I think there is only one GL-4 specification. I would attribute the rest to be marketing.

[84Flatbed]

I think there is only one GL-4 specification. I would attribute the rest to be marketing.

I think your right about the gl4 rating but some of the gear oil that say they are gl4 and gl5 rated, valvoline for example, is not designed for synchro transmissions regardless of its gl4 rating. Maybe thats because of the extra additives that give it the gl5 rating.

[zach0786 [OP]]

Well i ended up putting royal purple max gear in tranny. Old oil was a little dirty.  And i also adjusted clutch up under dash. Shifting seems to be better. I have to push clutch all the way to floor and almost stand on it shift fine as long as i do that.  Lol. I believe the oil change was unnessicary. But o well. 

[84_yota_4wd]

Glad to help. hope it works out for you

[blackdiamond]

Ironically, the Max-Gear is a GL-4/GL-5 spec oil so it might be expected to get better results from a straight GL-4 which is why Redline MT-90 is so popular.

I recently put MT-90 in mine and it now downshifts easily into first and second.  For some reason it also improved the 4th to 5th shift.  I previously would play around with double shifting when downshifting into 2nd or 1st, but now it's so smooth there would be no point.

Hopefully, the pedal adjustment works out for you.