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Cold weather and tranny oil

cabledawg

cabledawg

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I've got two trucks here in Minot, one with a Muncie and running the standard 80w-90w gear oil and the other truck has a NV3500 with unknown oil, but pretty sure it is also standard gear oil. The muncie doesnt seem to even notice the cold weather and only slightly slows the engine rpms when cold for the first minute or so. The NV3500, however, will stall the engine immediatly even in neutral. The stick is extremely hard to move and has to be held in gear and slip the clutch to move the truck. If I let the clutch all the way out, it'll stall the engine. I cant seem to warm the truck up enough to get it moving the way it should. It worked fine in Kansas before the cold weather set in.

Do you think there is some different oil that isnt liking the cold or is this normal for those trannies? I'm going to go searching for a pan heater tomorrow and see if that helps.

Also, is there a way to keep the PS fluid from freezing (I'm thinking pan heater again)? I have an inline cooler, but I feel in the sub-zero temps, its just freezing up and now I have leaks in the system causing me to fill it up ever other day.
 
I'm pretty sure my little truck (2003 S10) has a NV3500 and it uses Synchromesh fluid. If I recall correctly, it is lighter than 30W motor oil and heavier than auto trans fluid. If it had 80W/90 gear oil in it, it would function in cold weather as you described. Do you have the owner's manual? It would specify the trans oil to use.

You could pull out the fill plug and put your finger into the fluid. Give it a sniff. Nothing else stinks like 80W/90 gear oil. :doah:

What model truck is it?
 
If the truck in question came from further south than you, it may have a thicker fluid to deal with higher temps. Also the fluid can be very dirty, like the fluid in the 465 in my Jimmy. It would act like yours does, but it would take 10 miles or so before it acted normal. I changed the fluid with 80-90, and it worked great, even when it managed to go below 0, which doesn't really happen here.
 
It's a 92 GMC C1500 w/5speed. Because it is the half ton, it doesnt have the NV4500, and the NV3550 was in Jeeps or something. So it should be the 3500 trans. The guy I bought it from had spare bottles of 80-90 in the back, but I dont know what from since nothing leaks in this truck (except the heater core, yeah).

The problem is I cant drive the truck, even to warm it up. The trans fluid is soooo thick that the truck wont stay running if I let the clutch out. I can slip the clutch and get it to move, but do that too many times and there wont be much of a clutch left:(
 
The nv3500 is supposed to have the GM Synchromesh fluid in it, my neighbor had to go to dealership to get it at around $9-11 dollars a bottle.
 
Well I didnt find out what oil it has, but did go buy an oil pan heater and stick it on the tranny. By the next morning Iwas able to get the truck started and actually let the clutch out without killing the engine. Amazingly enough the engine doesnt even act like it needs a block heater, but the trans sure does.

And now that I fixed that, can anyone tell me how to change out the heater core?:crazy: The a/f is pretty much just running out the bottom now as opposd to the annoying drip it was two weeks ago:eek1:
 
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