komet

(For the uninitiated, GM / Penzoil makes a manual transmission fluid which many TL / Honda owners have found to be vastly superior to Honda's MT fluid. It has even been reported to fix the TL gearbox's infamous gear popout issue.)

I was just curious how what everyone's experience has been so far with GM Synchromesh Friction Modified trans. fluid has been.

Reason being that I was doing some reading regarding Honda owners using this fluid and I'm beginning to notice a trend. According to this school of thought, the friction modifiers used in this fluid heat up and cause the fluid to break down over a short period of time (within a few thousand miles). The reported symptoms of this are basically the same as what happens with the regular Honda MT fluid (i.e, notchy shifting, grinds, bad shift quality).

My personal experience so far with the fluid after ~12,000 miles of use in my TL is that the shift quality is still excellent. Occasionally I might feel a notchy shift, but I think that is just me being paranoid. In our S2000 after about ~2,000 of use, the shift quality has stayed equally excellent. It has even cured the 2nd gear popout issue.

So, here are my questions:

1. How long have you been running the GM SMFM transmission fluid?

2. What kind of driving do you do most often? (For example, mostly city, highway, spirited, etc.)

3. What is your driving style? (Shift slowly and carefully, shift fast, moneyshift (lol), etc.)

4. What has your experience with the GM fluid been like in general? Has it improved shifting at all? Or has it gotten worse over time?

5. Have you replaced the fluid with another batch of GM? What was the quality of the removed fluid? (Did it smell "burnt", have lots of metallic pieces in it, or did it look brand new, etc.)

6. Do you plan on running the fluid for the rest of your ownership? Or are you switching to another fluid?

7. What is your current mileage? What is your current mileage running the GM fluid?

(Optional) 8. Have you found a better alternative to the GM fluid? What are your reasons for running a different fluid than GM's or Honda's?

Hopefully we can get some good information out of this.

(PS, sorry for any spelling / grammar mistakes. I was in a rush to post this thread.)

TrustinHFDJ

I think there is a thread on this some where in here; you should search the forum

blueracer17

1. 30,000 miles
2. Combination of city/hwy driving
3. I shift according to the situation, I double clutch on downshifts to save the syncros
4. My GM SM fluid experience has been great, I have zero 3rd gear issues and no other issues to note
5. I just replaced my GM SM 500 miles ago and my original SM was perfectly fine by site, smell etc. There was no metal flakes in it. Almost 30,000 miles on the fluid
6. I plan on running it for the duration of my ownership
7. My current mileage is 73,000 miles, changed to GM SM at 40,000 miles. I bought my 04' TL with 30,000 miles on it. The shifting was not great with the OEM fluid
8. No.

Adobeman

The poor dead horse. It just can't stop being beaten

komet

I'm sure there are threads on this subject. However, I would like more up to date information on what people's experiences with the fluid has been so far.

That's good to hear the GM fluid has worked well for you. It's especially good that the old fluid looked OK. Short of a tear down of the transmission, this is probably the best indicator of this fluid as an alternative to Honda's.

Thank you for posting blueracer.

If this topic is so "beaten to death" as you say it is, I'm not sure why you even bothered replying to my thread. I know it's a common question: "Should I run GM fluid, or not?" However, this is not what I'm asking here.

All I am looking for is some up to date information on owners' experiences with the fluid throughout a (hopefully somewhat) long term application - not self validation.

Thanks for posting anyways.

Hi speed

iTrader: (3)

I have been running the GM fluid for about 80k miles and have had nothing but luck with it. I shift pretty gently and the the fluid has looked good on each drain. My drain intervolt is 30k miles. I drive mostly freeway and the car shifts perfectly, I started running it at 10-15k, but never had and problems with the tranny before I changed to the GM fluid. I changed to it because of other members luck with it.

sauceja

iTrader: (2)

It fixed my 3rd gear pop out that I was starting to experience IMMEDIATELY.

I will not switch to anything else. I ran this in my 92 hatch with Y21 tranny also.

powerflow

I'm about 60-65K on 2 intervals, about to do the third. Not one issue at all. My third gear grind/pop out was very intermittent though. My 3G seemed to be on the lesser side of the third gear issue.