Originally posted by morbid:
Ok... I would guess that the darkness and smell of the MTL is ONLY from failing/failed tranny and/or differential. I've changed my MTL 2 times (about 10,000-12,000 miles apart) and each time it looked almost like new -- no smell, cherry red, and no metal flakes. I just changed out the MTL for a 3rd time about 2 weeks ago. My diff began failing yesterday and I drained it when I got home. It stank like hypoid, was dark brown/red... and was filled with metal flakes (looked like a ricer paint job). The drain plug was even gouged and scraped

I am definetly NOT blaming the MTL -- I do abuse my car. I AM saying that the nastyness that Terry has found in the trannys are most likely ONLY a result of a failed tranny/diff (probably due to extensive heat generated by the failing components -- my tranny. Why else would he be working on a tranny if it hadn't already failed?




MTL is not cherry red, are you sure? Have you been using ATF?

We just did a fluid change on an SVT this weekend, no red color at all in the MTL we drained, and definately no red color in the fresh MTL we filled it with. No red color in the MTL I filled my SVT with in May.

1999 Toreador Red SVT, DOB 4/22/99, 2005 Of 2760. "Many posted questions are answered by farm boys"