tommypenguin

To those of you who have made the switch from Honda MTF to GM syncrhomesh friction modified fluid on your manual tranny how have your transmissions held up over time and mileage? Any reported synchro, bearing, gear set or other component of the manual tranny failure from owners running GMSFM? If so, what was your action did you pursue warranty? Were you denied?

Just curious I bought my 2010 Accord v6 6 speed brand new with 16 miles on it and had issues putting transmission into gear particularly when it was cold noticeably a couple hundred miles after purchasing. I’ve been driving manuals for years and knew this was not a driver issue. I’m also a DIYer and am very much against anyone wrenching on my car given many past issues with others labor given past vehicles. Because of being burned in the past by negligent labor I learned how to work on my car myself. My mentality now is no one will ever love my car like I will and take the caution I will. If at all possible if I can do a mod or service on my car I should and will.

In light that mentality and my issues with my tranny on my brand new car I didn’t want to pursue the dealer doing a major intrusive repair such as replace one or more gear sets or the whole transmission. I had read of several members getting a repair to address their grinding and introducing a slew of new issues from negligent work in addition to not correcting the current issue. I also read of many people on this forum and the Accord forums putting in GMSFM fluid in their manuals and correcting their issues, figured I would do the same. I put in GMSFM at 2,XXX miles on the car. Car has 22,000 miles on it and still no issues at all, nothing but praise of how the tranny feels. I plan on keeping my car for the long haul; it will likely be my daily driver for the next 6 to 8 years and estimated 125k to go before it becomes the ‘beater’.

There are many with the train of thought who feel the GM fluid is a bandaid fix and that by putting in the fluid you are just postponing the inevitable. In addition to postponing the inevitable with the GM Fluid you will likely increase wear to other components of the tranny, I figured I would inquire to those who have been running the GM fluid and find out if ultimately they ended up needing to repair their tranny due to poor design from Honda/Acura or if there are members with 100k plus running GMSFM without issues. My mentality is that if the grinding ever came back, I would do a flush with honda fluid, drive for a week or so and then do one more flush with honda fluid and pursue a warranty fix. Knock on wood, I don’t believe it will come to that, but perhaps others could enlighten me with that assumption being correct or incorrect based on their experience. Thanks for your replies.

vill0169

iTrader: (4)

I swapped out my year old fluid before my last event in April and the fluid was still very clean looking and performing well. Car has something like 118k miles on it now and you'd never know these transmissions have issues. Couple that fluid with a short shifter, bushings, new shift cables and a nicely weighted knob and you've got the feel and confidence of a tranny you'd never think to find in a TL.

just my :twocents

thisaznboi88

iTrader: (7)

I have most of the mod as vill0169. The car really is a new beast with them. My car stop popping out.

KN_TL

iTrader: (3)

3yrs but only 20k miles

Still smooth as butter

I will be pulling my tranny to change the clutch so we'll see what it looks like then.

nfnsquared

Do a search and then read the other 50 threads on this subject. You'll be busy for days...

tommypenguin

I did a search earlier and didn't find a lot of data regarding members posting longevity of manual running gm fluid. To what I've seen I have some of the most mileage running the fluid on a manual.

Just did a couple of advanced searchs and found a large thread that hadn't been posted in for over 3 years where there are many members in it that were running the gm fluid. I'm most interested in finding out how those that have ran the gm fluid for the 50k, 75k, or possibly a 100k have held up. I bumped that thread, hopefully some of those members still own their tl's and more importantly never needed a tranny rebuild while running gm fluid. I'm not losing sleep over this at all, just curious to know if I will be a pioneer with this fluid and testing how long my tranny will last with it as I pile up daily driven miles on it for the next several years.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

I've used it since the beginning of '07.

100% success rate. This goes for me and everyone else that's tried it and done the whole 3x3.

SouthernBoy

I just posted this in another thread on this forum this morning;


I did my first drain and fill for my '04 manual TL at 15,500 miles. I used GMSFM fluid not because I was having problems, because I was not, but because I wanted to use a better quality product for my transmission. My '04 just went past 85,000 miles and there are absolutely no problems. Nothing. Never has been and I suspect never will be. I also attribute this to my operating techniques (those who know me on this site are well aware of how I operate a manual transmission as I have written much on the topic).

So no, my transmission has no problems whatsoever and is performing as I would expect.

tommypenguin

Thanks for the intel guys, appreciate the intel.

stvtec

iTrader: (2)

Ever since the 3 quarts of GM fluid have been sitting on my nightstand, my dreams have been SMOOOOOOOOOOOOTH as FAWK!

leedogg

Its a shame that a majority of Acura's tranny issues seem to be related to the poor fluids they've chosen.

SilverJ

Lotta posts in this thread with very little info on what the OP(and myself) are actually looking for. People who own a MT TL who were having issues shifting into 3rd gear and used the GM fluid. We all know that for the short term it works really really well. But how many miles have you accumulated since putting the fluid in ?
I dont think theres any question that putting it in a tranny that has no problems to begin with(southern boy) will certainly improve performance. But what about the trannys that DID have the 3rd gear issue ? I'm sure theres some members that put 20k a year on their car...lets hear from them !

Yakuza17

I changed out the Honda fluid out at about 5,000 miles with GMSFM and it's been perfect ever since. I just went over 66,000 miles on my '05 TL.

Adobeman

The reason you don't see it hear is because we all have raw fingers from typing it in numerous other posts in this forum. Many, many, members had the 3rd gear issue and have had GM SMFM in their cars for 6 to 7 years. In fact, I'd say the majority of folks using it had the problem or they would not have switched int he first place. Between the 3GTL and S2000 drivers there's tons of miles on Honda/Acura cars.

You may find this interesting http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=620194 post #2 50Kmi and a lab test

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

^ werd.

jpgayan

First, thanks to Adobeman for providing the charts. It's good to see that just because it works great at fixing our 3rd gear issues doesn't mean it's going to last forever. As to the "many members" comment, everyone knows the search function is terrible. Even using Google it's next to impossible to find info on how the trans holds up long term (>100k miles) once using synchromesh FM. Yes, plenty has been written about how great it works and I'm grateful for the info, as I've been a happy GMSMFM user for the last four months. Comments on how the trans holds up past 100k are non-existent. The OP, Silver J, myself and I'm sure plenty of other members are eager to see people with 100k plus miles on their GM fluid (changed at normal intervals) and how their third gear is holding up. "It's been great for the last 20k miles" is better than nothing but does little to comfort those of us who buy our cars when they're 3-4 years old and then keep them for 6-8 years. This thread seems like a valid attempt at adding something useful and relatively unique to the 500 other "Synchromesh FM works great" threads. Hopefully we'll hear more from the 2004 era 6MT owners with more than 100k on their cars to see if there's ever any reappearance of the third gear issue.

SouthernBoy

This is not the primary subject of the OP's original post. He wanted to hear what others have experience over the long haul. A very valid question in my opinion as he is concerned with the longevity of his transmission.

Before I did my first drain and fill, I was experiencing absolutely no problems at all. Nothing which would give me cause or concern in any way. The reason I went with the GMSFM fluid was simply because it was a better product. Had I not gone this route, I rather doubt I would have encountered problems but then again, that's something I will never know for sure. And after installing the GMSFM fluid, I noticed almost no difference in my transmission's performance and operation which is most likely due to the fact that there were no problems to begin with, along with the techniques I employ when operating a manual transmission.

ABP_04TL

iTrader: (2)

Never Did GM on my 04 always did Amsoil and no issues

con5tant

iTrader: (4)

i plan on doing amsoil MTF soon (already got my bottles just waiting for blackstones oil kit to come in)
how is it?

jpgayan

How many miles do you have on your 04 TL?

ABP_04TL

iTrader: (2)

Do it i have no complaints at all

Im going to 77k on my 04

SilverJ

I appreciate the replies but like jpgayan said, there isnt really a thread for exactly what the OP, myself and jpgayan are looking for. Adobe man thanks for the link and the charts, they are helpful and its good to see a couple of folks having semi long term success with the fluid.
but I would still hope we can get the following from Acura TL owners who have had their cars for awhile now.
Did you experience shifiting issues prior to using synchromesh ?
How many miles do you have now ?
Im not questioning whether or not I should use it(as I already have), I am questioning how it performs long term from owners of MT TL's that have had the 3rd gear issue prior to putting the fluid in.

ABP_04TL

iTrader: (2)

Silverj i understand completly where u comin from. In my case ive owned my TL for 4 years now and ive never had issues with the 3rd poppin out... bought the car & didnt swap the tranny fluid till my clutch died last year which had around 68k.

After i replaced all the parts then started Amsoil, let me tell u Amsoil FTW! no issues at all

tommypenguin

Thanks again for any information pertaining to longevity and running GM fluid on our 6 speeds. I've spent hours researching using advanced search and just haven't come accross more than a hand full of results for people running the gm fluid in their tranny more than 20k miles. Luckily I have yet to see someone who posted having a tranny failure after gm fluid change, not saying it hasn't happened, just haven't read of a member it occurred to. Adobe thanks for posting those results, interesting find and at most I was planning on doing fluid changes every 30k.

Since fluid is cheap, I'm planning on replacing my fluid this week and will continue to do so every 20k, hopefully without issues. I have had none whatsoever since changing fluid and this thread isn't to contest whether gm fluid corrects at least in the short term issues putting tranny into gear/ pop out issues. If you're here in this thread you should know that by now. The big question is will your tranny hold up to a respectable amount of mileage which in my opinion would be at least 100k before needing a rebuild other than clutch depending on abuse. I plan on continuing to update this thread each 10k or if their are issues prior for others to learn from my experience. Hopefully others will do the same as they hit significant milestone markers running that fluid with their mileage.

To elaborate a little more on my setup for more analysis on the subject, I'm running slightly more power than stock with all available bolt ons for my accord. I likely am running 30-40whp more than stock. Mods are ported runners, tb spacer, aem cai, rv6 j pipe, magnaflow cbe, ur stock crank. PCDs will be on next month as soon as they are available.

jimmyl

Fine......

lowchef

its been a week and im finally in smooth shifting heaven!

Pat04TL

50,000 miles on GMSFM fluid. Didn't use it until after warranty was up. Tranny doing fine.

fsttyms1

I have about 120k on my 2g cl man trans with the GMsfm and its still butter smooth. (changing every 25k or so)

tommypenguin

Just remembered this thread, its been over 2 years since my last update, i'm currently at 52k, transmission still shifts silky smooth. Going to do a fluid change next month and then wait another 30k to do the next one. Everyone else's tranny been operating well since the switch.

blueracer17

I have about 40,000 miles on the GMsm with no complaints. I did change it after 30,000 miles just to be safe.

AdAstra

Thanks for reviving your thread tommy; I plan on doing the switch this weekend. I too needed some reassurance that there won't be long term issues.

nj2pa2nc

Happy to write that my 06 has Honda MTF with no problems.

stvtec

iTrader: (2)

Over 10,000 miles now with the GM fluid. I could still kick myself for waiting so long to swap it in. It's amazing.

subinf

Can't remember the exact mileage when I did the transmission fluid switch but I'm over 200k now and everything is as it should be. I'm guessing probably 170-180k on the GM fluid.

Jakes_tl

I'm surprised Honda doesn't make / use manual Transmission fluid similar to GM Syncromesh friction modified. Sure sounds like this is a lifesaver fluid for Honda's and Acura's.

TacoBello

Honda has switched the Manual transmission fluid recipe they rely on. apparently it's better then the previous formula, but I haven't tried it yet.

I myself am using GMSFM, however, I think it's really just a bandaid fix for a bad design. It will definitely extend the life of the transmission, but I don't think it is a guaranteed fix by any means.

Oh well, if I have to rebuild my transmission every 200,000 miles, I'm ok with that

DMZ

Been using it since the car had 7000 miles on it.
213,000 miles now and still hummin along!

Wouldn't even chance using anything else.
.
.

Brake_L8

This is really good to hear as far as longevity is concerned. The BF's car has Honda MTF in it now (whatever the dealership puts in) and the 2-3 shift is not great about half the time I drive it. I was thinking new fluid would help out, discovered all the GM hoopla, and glad to know it's a good idea.

The car has 125k on it now, I guess every ~30k would be a good idea to change it out?

TacoBello

I'm probably going to get into the habit of changing it once a year. It's easy and cheap to do and there's nothing wrong with fresh fluid!

Brake_L8

That'll work too. He drives about 20k a year anyway so probably a good idea.