syn fluid/ feeler gauges for alignmnt

well ive been going round and round with this tranny guy since march. i took my tranny to him the first part of april and he wasnt done until july. i installed the tranny myself. i used synthetic fluid for the tranny. however the thing has not been right since day one and i have made them aware of the situation. so i took the boat up there today and they sent me to boat mechanic. the boat mechanic says that feeler gauges arent supposed to be used for shaft alignment and that synthetic oil isnt supposed to be used b/c it doesnt contain the proper detergents. anyone ever heard this before. basically they are trying to say blame me for the problems of the tranny.

Synthetic is a much cleaner oil then fossile oil. Synthetic oil is used as a cleaner and will leave less deposits on your internals compared to regular oil. I used synethetic on everything I own "redline" and I have noticed a improvement in everything. I have not seen a synthetic automatic tranny fluid though is it ATF + that your using or dextron three? hope this helps. But bottom line synthetic oil will not cause damage to anything unless it is not the correct oil.
nate

Well I guess in this case your mechanic was wrong(see other post).my owners manual reeds to use a feeler gage to check/adjust the direct drive transmission.In this case who knows more about the boat?. the builder or the mechanic?.I guess I need to eat crow and change my statement in the other post to not always trust your mechanic.get a second opinion....m.

Nate said, "unless it is not the correct oil". Doh, I just did the 30K service on our Sequoia and swapped the OEM tranny fluid with (of course) Mobil 1 ATF. Come to find out, this is The Wrong Fluid. More like Warranty Voiding Fluid. So, after spending a morning and five $5 quarts, I'm gonna have to redo it with the correct stuff.

I just don't usually respect when manufacturers say, "so and so recommends only genuine _______ fluid". In the case of the Sequoia, I guess I shoulda.

What are you supposed to use to measure? If not a feeler guage, then what? A business card, a fingernail, a special guage that the boat manufacturer makes and charges 100 bucks for? I had my mechanic check my tranny in the spring and what did he use.... A FEELER GUAGE!!!. Not to sure about the tranny fluid because in huge yellow letters on my tranny is states exactly what fluid to use. Dextron Mercon something or another and that is what I put in.

synthetic may be to slick for the clutch pack and foam up. i would not use it.

if you are going to align your motor and you want it done right, i would recommend doing it yourself. it's not rocket science, but it needs to be done with the boat in the water. you can align everything and still get a vibration if you have runout in the shaft or flange. mark at marine gears has a procedure for this or it is posted on inboardtalk.com

This is the first I've heard of doing the alignment in the water - makes sense though since the hull (and stringers and mounts) have to flew under load. Thanks for the link.

Derek, What does the Sequoia require? Mobil 1 meets/exceeds DexronIII/Mercon. Who/how did you find out it was wrong?

Alan, runout is best/easiest measured using a dial indicator. Beg, borrow, or steal one, then you will know exactly.

The '03 and better Sequoia requires some fluid call T-IV or something. It's labeled on the dipstick, in the owner's manual, and described by the tech docs at Tundra Solutions dot com. NOT Dextron III as I assumed. It's dino fluid but with some secret recipe addititves.

Derek, that's a new one on me.

They have some friction modifyiers out that you add to dextron 3 to acheave the new standards of oil for transmissions. ATP is one company that does you can get it at my autoparts stores.