Changed my manual transmission oil yesterday, and I was shocked at the color of the old oil that came out; looked like river mud, sort of dark greenish brown in color.

Caught some in a clear glass jar and held it up to the sun and could not even see any light through it. Is this what other people are seeing when they change theirs?

Only 12.8K miles on the original oil.

Man, I think I need to change mine pronto then.

your tranny oil is good for 100k. Dont worry about it

^ Maybe so, but I noticed big improvements after changing the tranny oil; smoother shifting, squeaking noise when shifting 1st to 2nd went away, overall the gear box is quieter.

Did mine 2 weeks ago and it didn't come close to what you described your tranny oil to look like.

I have 75k miles on my car before I changed it. Looked darker but normal looking if you know what I mean.

Good thing you changed it

Have your tranny cooler pressure tested; you may be getting some antifreeze mixing with it. That is if your manual tranny has a tranny cooler?

The squeaking does not come from the gear box. It's under the hood, and it should be back.

I didn't notice any difference with new trans oil per say MT-90 for normal driving especially in squeaking noise or shifts. Only when I pushed the Celica hard and I mean hard for long period of say over at least 5 mins. that I noticed a difference and not with noises or a sh*ty shifter. Also, how many people that drive Celicas have a transmission cooler? I would love to install one and an oil cooler and Prodrive pump with a baffled oil pan.

All autos have them, don't the manuals?

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, but odly enough the noise is gone, maybe when my funnel hose setup leaked oil everywhere I got some on the linkage, who knows, I'm just glad the noise is gone.

So to anyone else who has changed their manual trans fluid; what color was it, and could you see through it?