jc-tl

>>There are some good DIYs in the garage that show you everything

where is a 'master list' of DIY's? I thought it would be simple to find the procedure to change the fluid for the TL MT 6SPD... still looking!

jtd55

Can someone help me with the location of the 6 MT drain plug for my 2004 Acura?

I have a Haines Manual and does not show this location.

I believe the fill plug is just to the left and forward of the + battery terminal.

Thanks,
JTD

jtd55

Could you tell me the location of the 6 MT drain plug for my 04 TL?

Thanks!

JTD

nfnsquared

jtd55, welcome to Azine! You can find a lot of your answers in the 3G Garage. The link to the Garage is in a sticky post at the top of this forum (about the 5th or 6th post). Here's the direct link:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/3g-tl-garage-faq-3g-tl-newbies-553554/

Scroll down to C-13. There are 4 threads on this subject. The drain plug is on the driver's side of the MT case. There are two bolts, the lower one is the drain bolt. The upper bolt is the fill indicator hole.

The fill bolt is tough to loosen. You might need a pry bar and a swivel, you will need an extension, and when it finally breaks loose you'll think you've broken a socket. You don't need to remove the battery or air cleaner unit if you use an extension with a swivel.

SouthernBoy

Make sure you use a torque wrench for this procedure. Also, I recommend not removing the check plug, which is the upper (smaller) bolt in the transaxle case. The reason is this bolt has a low torque rating (8.7 ft/lbs) and several people have wrenched the head off of the threaded section. Not a good thing. Make sure the transaxle is level then for your fill, use 2.3 quarts (that's 2 quarts, 10 ounces rounded). This is a very simple and clean procedure which should cause you no worries or problems as long as you have the correct tools, take your time, and do things right.

Franchise1124

Just reserved a few bottles at my local Chevy dealer and I'll be doing this on Friday. I'm looking forward to sorting out that 3rd gear issue.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Get 7 bottles, and completely clean out the crankcase. Each drain/fill uses 2.3 qts, and you need to do this 3x.

Franchise1124

I thought the 3x3 deal was only for the AT models?

robocam

That's not necessary. All you need to do is drain the old fluid and put new fluid in. 3 bottles does the trick.

SouthernBoy

Trust me on this. You do NOT want to put manual transmission fluid in your crankcase. Bad. Very, very bad.

Jcaron9gt4

Just had this done at a local shop a few hours ago and have been driving around the city ever since with zero 3rd gear issues. Took them 30 minutes, I supplied the GM stuff, very happy. Although they were telling me I should just take it to Acura and have them tear apart my tranny. No thank you.

2Morrow

Out here in Cali, the use of non Acura fluids for the trans will void the factory warranty.
My boy works for a GM dealer, I was gonna do the same to eliminate the "notchiness" that the 6MT has. The service writer stated that I could do that, but dont come back for any warranty work.

robocam

LOL. Does putting a quart of ATF into your crankcase shortly before an oil change help? I recall someone recomending such a thing.

SouthernBoy

Never heard that one and I wouldn't want to try it. Be interesting to find out what his reasons were or if he was just repeating something he had heard - like an "old wife's tale" or such.

ImagePree

The way I see it, personally, is if you put in GM Syncromesh, you may not need warranty work. But if you don't, you might need the warranty from Acura. Seems like a catch22, doesn't it?

Luckily for me, my car is well passed the warranty mileage when I got it so the 1st thing I did was change the tranny fluid to the GM stuff.

nfnsquared

Well, if he's going to be like that, you may just have to stay away from that dealer, may be not. I know there have been a couple of Acura dealers who agreed to put in GM fluid, so there apparently is not corporate agreement on use of non-Acura MT fluid. You could tell the service manager that you want to speak to his boss for the district and see what he/she has to say. Or you could just put it in and probably not have to ever worry about transmission problems again....

robocam

I did a search on "ATF crankcase" at Yahoo, and I think you're right about it being an old wives' tale. It was probably something about ATF having more detergents in it, so people used it to clean their engines out.

But anyway, they tell people not to use ATF and to use cleaners designed for the purpose. Someone said that synthetic oil leaves the crankcase very clean already.

angelzhope720

wow changing the fluid is a lot different than a 350z

Franchise1124

I just did the drain and refill with the GM Friction-modified fluid and the shifter feels much better. The notchiness in 3rd gear is gone and I haven't experienced any pop-outs yet.

BurbankDude2008

Not only did the GMSMFM get rid of the notchiness, it also eliminated creaky and knock sounds coming from my suspension when the tranny was cold and while turning slowly out of a driveway (it would go away after a few miles. Also, eliminated a creaky sounding clutch as well. Ok, I know I waited way too long to change the MTF (about 50k miles) but it's always nice to have a simple mod have multiple benefits. I was thinking a had a broken bushing somewhere with some of those noises.

As far as the folks worried about their warranties and the manufacturers fear mongering, it's just oil. Change it out every 35k and the car will drive nicely a long time! The honda MTF is good (for my accord) but for our TL's we need something higher performance and GMSMFM works wonders with the 3rd gear notchiness that our trannies have. It's expensive but worth it. I took it to a local shop and for $20 he drained and filled.

duggan419

Reason #1,004,037 why to hate dealerships: The cost of my fill and drain washers from their parts department...almost $4.00.

I wanted to ask the parts guy if he enjoys bending his customers over....jeez

jpgayan

Why bother with replacing the washers? I've changed my own fluids for 15 years and have NEVER replaced a crush washer and have NEVER had a leak. Even if I did, the car is up on the stands every few months for an oil change and gets a quick "once over". Even if anything was leaking it would only be a few drops a month. Remember, oil pan and trans both operate at atmospheric pressure so the plugs really aren't having to hold much back.

Mkrok1

Should I have any concern about putting GMSFM into a tranny that has 90k on it? I've been told that putting a synthetic or semi-synthetic oil into an engine with that many miles would be a bad idea. Does the same apply to the transmission?

ez12a

The bottom washer is just any regular crush washer. I replaced it, since I wouldnt be touching the bolt for hopefully quite some time.

Top washer I didnt bother unless somehow transmission oil defied gravity and leaked out of the fill hole. Plus it's a larger than normal crush washer.

If using regular fluid hasnt given you a problem at this point, I say there's no reason to switch over.

nfnsquared

Your were told wrong.

On an MT, I highly doubt it.