How about draining some oil out and comparing it to other oils by putting samples in your freezer?
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Thank you for all your replies… would you trust Jiffy Lube to change man trans gear oil? I want to try the synthetic gear oil .
I wouldn’t even trust them–or any of the other quick lube joints–to give me accurate highway directions. Find an independent mechanic’s shop that is recommended by friends, relatives, neighbors, or co-workers.
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Many years ago I had Jiffy Lube change the transmission oil as regular maintenance on my 5 speed manual Toyota Corona sedan and 6 months later the transmission was shot.
No I wouldn’t trust them
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If Jiffy Lube can’t be trusted to change something as simple as an air filter (they’re known for showing customers dirty filters off of someone else’s car), how can they be trusted to do anything else?
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On several occasions, we have heard reports in this forum of Jerky Lube filling someone’s crankcase, but draining the transmission instead of the crankcase, thus leading to an overfilled engine and a dry transmission.
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OP , hope you will keep us informed once your shop determines the cause of the sluggish shifting problem.
As far as that particular vendor for a gear oil change, I’m a diy’er. For for easy jobs like that,do it myself. I’ve never used that vendor. But a friend of mine has used that vendor for engine oil and filter changes, never had any problems. Good idea any time after shop work is done , owner should check the pertinent fluid levels themselves before driving away. Easy enough for engine oil, but checking manual transmission fluid level might be problematic, if car configured so access to level-check trans fluid requires car be lifted. Possible on my Corolla without lifting, but don’t know about 92 Laser. If lifting required, you’d have no other choice than to drive away from shop slowly, w/caution & immediately stop if you hear any weird, unusual noises. Good idea to also check for leaks under car before leaving shop. Mid-70’s, a good friend purchased a new Chevy Blazer, intended to drive from east coast to west coast. Before leaving east coast he had a shop check all the fluid levels. Shop forgot to re-install rear differential fill plug and vehicle came to grinding halt in Kansas City.
I’d shut off car with shifter in reverse. Then whe you start it, you are ready to backup.
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Could just be the shiftier mechanics.
One more thing not mentioned here and I have had this happen to me once. If this is a top shifter, there is a chance that water has gotten into the shift linkage box at the top of the transmission and is turning to ice. This was caused in my case by a rotted rubber seal.
If the Laser is FWD, there still might be a box just below the shift lever where the lever attaches to the cables that could ice up.