3rd gear's a little crunchy, how is it supposed to be? Options

[VavAlephVav]

This is the third 5-speed I've owned in my time and it seems there are a few behaviors common to all of them.
1. it won't let you shift back into 1st gear until you are damn near a complete stop.
2. when you shift down into 3rd gear it gives a little crunch. not a great big noisy grind but just a little.
Maybe at some point I got the Idea that 3rd was made this way intentionally so that you could tell if you were
going into 5th or into 3rd, maybe as to avoid shifting down into 3rd when you thought you were going for 5th.
but I realize that I have no idea if it is really supposed to be like that or if I just made that up.

So how is it supposed to behave? Is it normal to make a little crunch when you shift down into 3rd or does that mean something needs to be adjusted/changed?

btw I just changed the fluid with 80-90w Casterol, and the stuff I drained out was real clean looking. no difference in the way it behaves before or after.

[Box]

It's the synchronizers going out, it's a common issue. Some people have had luck with running 2 parts 75-90W to 1 part Synchromesh.

[ILoveMySilly97]

Drain the old oil and pour in the infamous Pennzoil synchromesh. It works wonders.

[JasonTX]

Drain the old oil and pour in the infamous Pennzoil synchromesh. It works wonders.

did this in my mr2 a few years ago and later went to redline mt90 which gave me better results. both improved the transmission considerably though

[VavAlephVav]

thanks for the info,
I also found this article explaining the situation more
http://www.rsgear.com/blog/2011/5/23/under...n-failures.aspx

this guy says that there are No modern transmissions that should use the old 75-90 gear oil. and illustrates problems caused by overfill, wrong oil, and riding the clutch.
I still can not find an electronic version of the owners manual so I called the Parts counter at Toyota and asked.
He said "I Think.. it should be 80-90 and it usually takes about 2.5 quarts"
but he didn't even have some special Toyota brand stuff for it. So I figure I'll get some of the special made for MT stuff like the synchromesh real soon