What is the Difference between Automatic and Manual Transmission Fluid

Whether your car has an automatic transmission or a manual one, keeping either of them maintained is highly important. Without proper maintenance, you will get poor performance and poor fuel efficiency. In fact, you need to use the right transmission fluid if you want your car to be highly reliable.

However, since automatic transmissions and manual transmissions use different transmission fluids, picking the right one can be a bit confusing. Therefore, we are here with a complete guide on the difference between automatic and manual transmission fluid, which will help you pick the right one for your car.

You will even find the basics of selecting the right transmission fluid for your vehicle. This will ensure proper performance and reliability from your car’s transmission at all times.

Introduction to Transmission Fluids

Before learning about the difference between automatic and manual transmission fluids, you should know more about transmission fluids. 

To start with the basics, transmission fluid is a lubricant added to your car’s transmission. This lubricant lowers the friction inside your transmission, which offers various benefits.

Since the friction inside your car’s transmission is lowered, you can expect less heat and wear along with optimal performance from the transmission.

However, as automatic and manual transmissions have different internals, there is also a difference between automatic and manual transmission fluid, as you will learn in this guide.

Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF)

Just per the name, an automatic transmission fluid is a transmission lubricant made specifically for automatic transmissions. 

Since an automatic transmission changes the gear for you, it has many more parts and gears on the inside. However because of the lack of user input, there is no sudden movement or high pressure inside automatic transmissions.

Thus, automatic transmission fluids are thinner and made with faster-moving gears in mind. This will play a major role in understanding the difference between automatic and manual transmission fluid.

Manual Transmission Fluid (MTF)

Moving on to manual transmission fluid, transmission fluid is obviously used inside manual transmissions specifically.

To understand the difference between automatic and manual transmission fluid, you should know that manual transmissions are much simpler. Since the user has to change the gears manually, manual transmissions are not that complex.

However, because of user input, there can be higher loads inside manual transmissions. Because of the same, manual transmission fluids are generally thicker, along with other differences that you will find later on in this guide.

Key Differences between ATF and MTF

Now that you know the basics of ATF and MTF, understanding the difference between automatic and manual transmission fluid should be much easier. In fact, there are only three primary differences between ATF and MTF:

• Viscosity: Transmission fluids’ viscosity tells you how thick or thin they are. As we have explained, automatic transmission fluids are generally thinner with a lower viscosity. In comparison, manual transmission fluids are typically thicker with a higher viscosity. 

• Additives: Because manual transmission fluids have a higher thickness or viscosity, they are able to have more additives in them easily. When compared to automatic transmission fluids, MTFs can have more anti-rust, anti-corrosion, antioxidants, and other useful additives.

• Performance Characteristics: Last but not least, because of the larger number of moving parts and high precision inside an automatic transmission, ATFs have highly specific frictional and thermal properties. On the other hand, MTFs are much simpler in terms of performance characteristics.

Selecting the Right Transmission Fluid for your Vehicle

Once you have understood the difference between automatic and manual transmission fluid, you can go ahead and get one for your car as well. In that case, you just need to these factors:

• Transmission Fluid Type: Before anything else, you need to pick the right type of transmission fluid. This simply means that if your car has an automatic transmission, then you should go with ATF. And if your car has a manual transmission, then you should go with MTF.

• Manufacturer Recommendations: Other than the transmission fluid type, you should also consider the manufacturer recommendations. For this, you simply need to refer to the user manual of your car to check which type of transmission fluid suits your car the best.

• Fluid Characteristics: As discussed earlier, you also need to consider factors like the viscosity, additives, and performance characteristics of your transmission fluid. This is because even if you are going specifically for ATF or MTF, you can find various options within that specific transmission fluid type.