And when was that service manual published? Anyonie who recommends ATF in a manual transmission these days is clearly out of touch and not to be taken seriously. There are so many more better alternatives out there now.
ATF was the recomended fill for the A833 in most all cases. As late as 85 the 5 spd manual transaxle in my Daytona recomended ATF. The 99 Daytona with the Gatrag gear box recomend 10W-30 motor oil and my 99 Dakota 4x4 recomends ATF in the transfer case.
There may be better alternatives now but the factory recomended ATF in manual trannies for many years.
FWIW, I am running an A833OD in my Barracuda. I pulled it from an 81 pick-up and it had gear oil in it when I got it. Though I would treat it to synthetic gear oil when I put it in the car. BIG BIG mistake, syncros crashed on up shifts and down shifts and it was very hard to get it into any gear. Swapped to the recomended ATF and what a difference, smooth and quick shifting.
BTW, it's been over 30k miles on the ATF fill and I am changing it before I take the car out for the season and I am going to give the Penzoil syncromesh fluid a try.
