Noob Q, metal shavings in gear oil
 

i've never done my own gear oil so it's all new to me. i just drained the gear oil on a 99 5 speed and it was VERY black, there what gray sludge on the tip of the drain bolt and metal shavings on the magnet. i bot the car few months ago and there didn't seem to be nothing wrong, car shifted fine and all that normal feeling you get driving a car with 128k on the clock.

so is some shavings normal on a old ass tranny, and i don't mean the kind of old tranny hustler is into.

Sounds typical to me

Typical manual transmission. As you drive the normal wear of the transmission internals are going to produce a small amount of metal shavings. Over time its going to accumulate in the gear oil. One of the reasons for the magnet on most drain plugs is to keep that from continuing to circulate in the gear oil helping to create more wear. I do my trans services on my cars every 15000 miles to help prolong the life of the trans.

If you found anything bigger than a metal filing then you have an issue. If your fluid looks like it has glitter in it, dont worry about it.

As long as it isn't a HUGE amount of metal flakes, your fine. They can look pretty bad, but still shift fine for years to come

Yeah, thats normal, and also the purpose of the metal drain plug, If that metal remained mixed with your oil, imagine the havok.

I've cleaned the magnet off of quite a few Honda transaxles. Can be a little disconcerting sometimes, but like was stated above, if they shavings are small like glitter that's normal.