Manual gearbox oil for 1998 1.5 Ford Festiva

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dirtydannyd

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Hi, I've done a search for what gearbox oil to use in a 5 speed manual 1.5L 1998 Ford Festiva.

Some oil websites (castrol) have suggested a Dextron III auto tranny oil?!?!?!?

Another oil website (penrite) suggested a Dextron II auto tranny oil...

Does anyone have any experience with the Ford Festiva (I believe it's manufactured by Kia)?

Any suggestions are wecome.
 
That's not too surprising, that it would spec dex atf. And you should be able to find dex 3 atf, but probably not 2 since that was replaced by 3.

Make sure you open the fill bolt before you even try the drain bolt!!!

I was thinking Fiesta, which Ford sold here, but this was sold as the Ford Aspire here.

For your motor oil question, I'd bet a lot of money it was specd with xw-30 here.
 
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I've used Mercon/Dex in my Festiva's over the years with no problems. I wouldn't use gear oils as you might not have a transmission in a few k.
 
The original 121 (which I had for SCCA racing back in the mid-90s, Japanese Mazda site calls for 75W80 GL-4/GL-5, which I ended up using 75W90 full syn MT gear oil.

Ford here in NA calls for using dexron in these festiva gearboxes which I protested back then but nobody seemed to cared.

For all Mazda M/T gearboxes in their cars in their 90s, either 75W80 to 75W90 should be proper. Anything else would lead to shifting problems or develop whine as the gear box wear.
 
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The factory fill on Festiva/Aspire is gear oil. Never had a problem shifting with Mercon compared to the gear oil and no whine. One half dozen of the other I guess.
 
Originally Posted By: dirtydannyd
Hi, I've done a search for what gearbox oil to use in a 5 speed manual 1.5L 1998 Ford Festiva.

Some oil websites (castrol) have suggested a Dextron III auto tranny oil?!?!?!?

Another oil website (penrite) suggested a Dextron II auto tranny oil...

Does anyone have any experience with the Ford Festiva (I believe it's manufactured by Kia)?

Any suggestions are wecome.


if D-III is correct i would get some valvoline dx-3 from big W and try that.

mobil recommends mobil mulitpurpose ATF so i guess you are good to go.
 
Originally Posted By: Eric Smith
The factory fill on Festiva/Aspire is gear oil. Never had a problem shifting with Mercon compared to the gear oil and no whine. One half dozen of the other I guess.


My 95 Aspire was spec'd for Mercon ATF (I got the manual right here). I also used Redline MTL and it worked great. For your argument, I got the car with 150k and if I remember correctly it stunk like gear oil when I drained it.
 
Did they fill it with gear oil at the factory but recommended ATF for maintenance?

Not that the engine can stress the tranny, but its probably not too big of a tranny to begin with.

I'd use a full synth manual fluid like Amsoil MTF, Redline MTL, BG SyncroshiftII, RoyalPurple Synchromax......

Was the Mercon a Ford recommendation to squeeze out every last cockroach out of the engine, or MPG attempt?
 
A real manual trans lube like the Redline MTL or Amsoil MTF would be superior and ATF.
These are a bit thicker than ATF, but are better for wear and are designed for better syncronizer
'grab' for shifting ..
 
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Yeah, I was wondering about what they factory filled it with too. Why fill with MTF and recomend ATF for replacement? Could it have something to do with gearbox wear?
 
Just like the Mazda "renesis" engine having issues here in North America (Ford wants Mazda service center in NA to go with their schemes of Semi-syn 5W20, which caused exhaust port and apex troubles due to improper lubricant used); Ford wants their say on what's being used (in Mazda vehicles, remember Ford owned over 40% of Mazda's stock since early 90s, until recently where they sold almost all of their stocks back to Mazda during subprime mortgage crisis) and they forced all Mazda service rep/center to go with ATF.

Whenever in doubt, always check against Japanese Mazda site for proper lubricant used for a particular Mazda product. You can never go wrong with what the Japanese OE used.

Q.
 
Cheers. Good idea checking what Mazda site. However there are so many different trannies I can't decipher it.
I did take the fill screw off and it smelt like the stuff I put into the diff of my previous ford falcon ie. diff oil. I believe that it's the same as manual transmission oil? Definately didn't smell like ATF in the gearbox.
I might try some gearbox oil and see how it goes. Guess I could always drain it and replace with DX-III if it feels bad...
 
If you're looking for a lube in ATF weights, why not try this one, at least for the winter:

http://www.penriteoil.com.au/pis_pdfs/PI_Manual Gear Oil 70.pdf

Whoops, I fogot, you OZ "down-under" guys are coming into spring and summer shortly.
lol.gif
 
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Well, I drained the old oil and **** it was grey and milky and putrid!
Put the Penrite manual gear oil 75 (75W-80) in. Manual states 2.5 litres and the bottle was 2.5 litres so chucked it all in.

Haven't really noticed any difference in driving.

Cheers,

Dan
 
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