Stu E.

I am at the breaking point with the terrible shifting I am experiencing, especially to second gear in the morning.

Has anyone else here experienced second gear shifting that virtually prohibits going into second occasionally when cold? I shift very slowly in the morning waiting for the synchros to spin-down and I still have the problems. I almost get rear ended because I shift so slow into second!

The only way I can virtually gurantee a good shift is to shift at high RPM's, which I really don't want to do first thing in the morning.

I have replaced my tranny fluid with RedLine and it hasn't made any difference. I am worried that the log gterm effect of this slow/rough engagement, plus the clashing of gears I sometimes get, is going to take it's toll on this transmission. I live in So. Ca and although our mornings have been cold for us lately, they really haven't been that bad.

The funny thing is I got rid of a '04 350Z car for very similar problems. Before any of you start in with, "You must not know how to drive stick", I must say I have been driving stick for almost 15 years without any of the problems I have experienced in my last two cars. My previous cars we all either 4 or 5 speed transmisions though.

Any help/comments or suggestions are much appreciated!

Thanks,

apwalsh

Try a search, this topic has been around here a few times already and I'm sure you will find some more info there.

dysd

It has been cold here too and my MT is a little "crankY" before it has a chance to warm up. After the engine temp gauge is above the "C" it seems to work normally.

-zJM

Champcar1

It's slightly stiffer, but not difficult.

Road Rage

Asked and answered many times. Skinny? Honda boxes are a little reluctant in the first few 1-2 shifts. Even the great S2000 box has it. In extreme cases, a crunch actually occurs.

Several suggestions:
1) Double clutch the first few shifts from 1-2
2) Take it easy until the fluid warms up - this is good advice for the engine, tranny, transaxle.
3) Replace the stock Honda MTF with GM Syncromesh, Friction Modified. I posted in detail on this, so search for it. This is the best tranny fluid we have found - and we have tried ALL of them. Red Line had only marginal benefits in shift feel - its benefit is that it lasts much longer than Honda MTF. MTF is basically fortified engine oil, and subject to shear down very quickly. The used oil analysis showed that it had seriously deteriorated by only 15k miles in the high revving S2000. Pretty bad.

NBPTLBOI

Well its been pretty cold in the mornings here and I don't have any problems shifting. I doubt that the mornings in So. Ca are colder then NY so I'm not sure why it is so hard for you to shift?

terse

where can we get number 3 done?

Road Rage

R U serious? It is a simple operation for a DIY'er. Otherwise, get the lube from a GM dealer, then any good shop or even the speedy oil places will throw it in for ya.

??

JDM5lugHatch

I was just about to recommend the GM Syncromesh FM. Worked wonders in my JDM ITR tranny.

jazzpicker

So far, no problems at all...

MacTheKnight

When I test drove the TL, I had trouble shifting into 2nd. I drove two different cars and had the same problem. I thought it was me ...

SouthernBoy

Mine's fine. But I have a question for you. Does your clutch begin its engagement almost as soon as you begin to release the pedal? I found mine to engage much too close to the floor for my liking, but have adjusted my operation to it. At least when fully depressed, there is complete separation of the disk from the pressure plate and flywheel. Anyway, check this out.

SouthernBoy

To Road Rage;

Any chance some of the typical auto stores might carry GM Synchro FM? I've seen your former writings about this but forgot to check it out.

terse

haha...I just recently started getting into cars...also, GM as in General Motors, right?

JDM5lugHatch

No just go to any GM (chevy pontiac gmc) dealership. They should have it in stock. There is one off of 234 in manassas or on rt1 in woodbridge.

TLover

Mine's a little rough in the morning. Once I get off my lazy ass, I'm going to put in Red Line in my tranny.

Nicki

hasn't been cold here in manhattan- actually its very mild so far this season

A-TLvic882

What dealer answered to you?

If my TL start , I don't have any problems with my 6MT, but my third battery is dead.
Tomorrow will be dealer day.

acugirl

Upstate NY here with plenty of cold mornings and evenings and so far no problems ...

SouthernBoy

I just looked up changing the MT tranny fluid in my Service Manual and if you do it the way they say, it's a real pain in the butt.

You have to remove the battery and the rear engine cover (plastic cover around the driver's side cowl). Then you remove the fill plug on the top of the transmission and fill from there until it starts to run out of the sight hole.

On every other manual transmission I've owned, I've always refilled the oil from the sight hole until it ran out. This one is NOT a fun job.

deandorsey

i did this back when RR originaly suggested it...and i have had no problems in the cold. it was a pretty simple job...in fact ....haha i forgot i had posted this LOL


https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/valentines-day-haiku-93452/



SEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND!!!!!

SouthernBoy

To deandorsey;

Nice job with the pictures and all. But it's still a pain in the butt to do all of that removal just to change the MT fluid. Like I mentioned, with every other car I've owned, you just refill from the sight hole until it starts to run back out. Do you think this is possible with the TL?

boosteddsm

Has BG Syncroshift I (dino) and II (syn) been tried? How about Neo? These are the best that I've found for manual transmissions. Neo is some amazing stuff, but pricey, about $20 a quart but well worth it. BG is about $8 a quart and also pretty decent.

Road Rage

If you go to the links in 3G Garage to www.s2ki.com, I reveiew every fluid out there. NEO is trash, it has viscosity like sewing machine oil, way too low and wrong chemistry for the Honda tranny, and anecdotal feedback was poor as well. $20 for that? Not me.

BG; hmmmmmm - well, a while back I "debated" the claims of one of their dealers on a local blab TV show, and reports were it was embarassing how little actual knowledge the BG guy had - if someone called up with a flat tire, his response was "try a can of 44K". I was told I looked "pained and incredulous". Another person said it was "like Einstein debating a carrot" Ha ha.

Let me say this once more. Tranny fluids vary in performance from tranny to tranny. What works in one is trash in another. For example, the SVT Cobra's T-56 did not like GMSFM at all, and there were reports of trashed carbon synchros with it, and Red Line as well. Turned out Valvoline DuraBlend worked best for many of us.

We tried everything in the S2000 trannies, including the CF synchroed 2004's, and GMSFM worked best. Your results may vary. But these "recommendations" with no actual field experience are just suggestions - my advice is to stick with known commodities in everything you put in your TL - there are no miracles in a bottle - get that, BG?

Kudos to deandorsey for helping me keep my sanity at times here.

kosh2258

Having done this myself the answer it no. The check plug is only 6mm, which is quite small, and not easily accessed from above, only from below.

Contrary to what it might appear in the manual, the process isn't that bad at all. Everything comes out easily and as long as you have the security codes handy for the radio and NAVI, no problems. The biggest reason you have to remove the battery is obtain access to the aircleaner box lower mounting screw so that it can be removed. Then you can swing the air cleaner top cover out of the way and have an unobstructed access to the filler plug.

The car does need to be put up on ramps or jackstands to get underneath to remove the drain plug and check plug.

I have a set of Rhino Ramps that I used to get the front end up then used a floor jack to raise the rear end and supported it on jackstands to level the car so that all the tranny fluid would drain.

I just refilled the tranny until it started to run out the check plug, then reinstalled the check plug and top plug.

I'd certainly do the change myself again, but will do the GMSFM instead of the Red Line MTL the next time around.

The Red Line has helped the shifting, but the tranny is still a bit balky when it's cold.

DeanDorsey: Do you have the GM part number for the GMSFM handy to post? I can't quite make it out from the picture on your other thread. Never hurts to go into a dealer with P/N in hand to be sure of getting the right stuff.

Road Rage

Hey bud, told you where to find everything in the world about this stuff:
http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php...2485&st=50&hl=

page 3 has the #'s for the attention span challenged.

Or here:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ht=RR+Journals

Search "The RR Journals" sometime - just can't repeat detailed posts over and over.

kosh2258

DOH!

And not only did I find the GM number, I also found the AC-Delco part number upon a simple search...

Actually I don't always read all the threads in detail, sometime skim them and do miss these little gems. Haste do maketh waste.

SouthernBoy

Thanks kosh.

geminis2

cold is the culprit no matter ehat car that has manual tranny.

2003type-s6

Once mine gets warmed up a little bit it is smooth.

boosteddsm

Yea, I'm not familiar at all w/ Honda trannies. Just a thought since Neo works excellent in the DSM trannies and BG is pretty good too. We found the rest to be junk. Will steer those products clear of the TL

Stu E.

I appreciate all of the comments here and I knew I would get some useful comments back from R.R.

I will try the GM fluid, but I just worry that there may be something else at play as well. I can pretty much shift easily into any other gear except for 2nd when the car is cold. 6th gives me a little resistance, but nothing to be alarmed about. The unfortunate thing is that I must shift into 2nd 12 times or more before I ever reach the tollroad I take to work. I wonder if some people that don't experience a really obvious problem are really close to their freeway-type roads so that they rarely touch 2nd again before they arrive at their destination.

I just can't understand why 2nd gear is so bad and the others aren't. I literally have to try to get into 2nd multiple times when the car is cold. Sometimes the shifter won't budge at all. Double-clutching is usually the only way to get around this.

The reason for this post was to see if I could get other suggestions for tranny fluid to try, as well as see if any newer owners were having the same issue. It just worries me that this issue may be more than just a "fluid issue"

Thanks again for all of the comments,

Sublimecreature

I have this problem a lot... either warm up the car, or try double clutching, this has worked extremely well for me