Ben,

Bentley says 3.2 quarts.  Maybe you are confusing the 4 speed with the 5
speed version/syncro trans.  I have used and sell the MT 90 and it is
awesome in the manual gear box.  Helps shifting be way easier and
smoother especially in the cold climates.  With dino oil sometimes when
it is cold I'll get a little grind going into first in the morning.
With MT 90 this never happens.  I have this in stock.  Buy a pump to
fill the transmission with from NAPA.  It screws onto the bottle and
only costs a couple of dollars.  Then you just pump the fluid out of the
bottle and through a hose into the transmission.  I have tried many
other ways to fill a manual trans in place and this is by far the
easiest and best.  As you have said you don't want to fill it to the
top.  What I do is stick my finger in the hole when I know I am getting
close.  If my first digit goes through the hold and the tip touches
fluid then I stop.  Don't really know how you would exactly measure it
but this "rule of finger" seems to work well for me.

Hope this helps,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vangain.com

Ben Cichowski wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm finding conflicting information on the oil capacity of a manual
> transmission (88 Vanagon). I thought Bentley says 3.2 Quarts, but I have
> seen several posts stating 4.5 quarts. Is this just a difference between
> filling it to  9/16" below the plug vs. filling all the way up to the plug?
>
> Just wanting to know how many quarts I need to buy - 4 or 5.
>
> Also, are we mostly agreed that Redline MT-90 is the way to go...or am I
> opening up another "tire-esque" thread?
>
> Cheers,
> -Ben (in tropical Montana...its nearly 50 F today???)
>
>