I`m finally going to change the fluid in my 06 6mt, with 7,000 miles on it. Should I go with the GM syncromesh, the Honda stuff or Red Line? I want the smoothest shift possible without doing any damage to the tranny of affecting my warranty. Thanks.

 

Anyone? I know this has been beat to death but I really would like to hear an update . I know some people did this over 3 years ago, have there been any problems with the GM fluid? Any warranty issues?

 

if anything, OEM honda MTF fluid is better then both redline, and GM syncromesh, for a OEM honda MT.

i personally use RP on my prelude with quaife LSD.. but if i had to switch i would switch to OEM honda MT Fluid.

 

I would like to know why you are changing it soo early? MT fluid does not break down as fast as motor oil. There's no combustion or gas to contaminate them. Even transmission need to break-in to have smooth shifting, given only 7k miles is still breaking in. Just stick to Honda MT fluid. I would go with other's to "aid" shifting when tranny is old and is having rough time shifting.

 

Have you not read the hundreds of posts about making the 6 mt shift smoother?

 

I dont see how it can get smooth enough, honda MTF is one of the best stuff around. Royal purple being next.. i never understood why the big bandwagon on the GM stuff.. ive used it only to not like it.

 

So you have tried the GM stuff and the new Honda stuff in the same TL? You liked the Honda stuff better?

 

Like you said, there are hundreds of posts on this subject. Didn't you get the idea that anyone who switched to GMSMF is happy with it???

This is the first person I've heard of who said they didn't like it.

I changed mine at 6K and I wished I had done it sooner.

 

yeah, ive tried the GM stuff, dont like it, and dont know why ppl rave about it. OEM honda is good stuff, its made for honda cars. RP is good too, i use that in my prelude /w quaife LSD, it puts down 450whp.. and shifts like better then brand new(105k original miles on the tranny), with no grinds between shifts like most other preludes have (common problem).

 

we must have about 234234.9 threads about this topic...

I've switched to Type S fluid, didn't do sh*t...switched to GM SynchroMesh and life is a million bucks...nothing I've had can touch this fluid.

 

I have read many of the old posts about this. I`m looking for updates on how it worked out in the long run, this is why I started a new thread.

 

rimike,
Are you experiencing any issues with shifting ? If not then leave things alone.

But, if you experience they very common and typical problems engaging 3rd gear then you may want to use the GM Friction Modified Fluid. My personal experience with my 05 is that I had difficulty (occasionally) getting the car to go into 3rd gear without an either pulling back and trying again, or just pushing (very bad to do, I know) until it "popped" in. I first changed out out the fluid for Honda OE MTF. Things got a bit better and then it started again. Then Honda/Acura came out with an "improved" MTF. I tried it and things got worse. Then I tried the GM fluid. I did the switch in late December 2006. I have not had one issue with 3rd gear, or any gear, since. It was a dramatic improvement. Seriously, not a single issue. After a few months my confidence that "3rd will be there" is completely back. I never second guess any shifts at all anymore since they are predictably smooth.

Redline MTL is supposed to be good as well but I went with the GM stuff since there are so many positive posts here and at many other Honda/Acura enthusiast sites. There are lots of miles on lots of TLs with no complaints. There is even one guy who had his GM fluid analyzed after something like 30Kmi. I don't think he found anything worrisome.

Mykizism - Are you sure you used the Friction Modified version of the GM stuff ? If so then you are the only one I have heard say they didn't like it in a 3GTL.

But it's true this has been beaten to death. The only nay sayers are usually people who haven't tried it and are convinced it will be a warranty issue or they have some "issue" with putting a GM product in their car.

 

I dont remember, i just remember the bottle saying GM syncromesh on it.. this was couple years back, and that was for my 5spd 99 prelude. When I used the GM syncromesh in the prelude, the shifting was very rough, and was not smooth at all, so I immediately drained it out.. and replaced it with royal purple gear max.
This was not for the 3GTL, my TL is auto, which is my now my daily driver.

I got tired of driving my Prelude turbo daily, its fun but not what something I want to put miles on now.

 

but overall if it works for everyone else's TL, then i say go for it.. all i know is that i hated it on my prelude, and never looked back.

I soley use royal purple and OEM honda now.

 

I started out with the new formula of the Honda fluid, and after about 10k switched and went to the GM friction modified fluid. Its Much smoother. 25k later i still love it and will do a drain fill of it again before winter

 

How about sending a sample of the used fluid to Blackstone Labs (or the lab of your choice) to see what the GM fluid looks like after ~25K miles? Below is my 50K Mile sample showing that the fluid was in use too long. I'm curious to see what a sample looks like at half the fluid change interval.

Oh, I spoke with Blackstone about their error in labeling the tranny as an automatic. They apologized and walked me through item by item ensuring me that the report was still valid. The references to the "virgin ATF" are because I also sent a sample of unused GM Synchromesh FM fluid for a baseline. Yes, they labeled that wrong too.

 

I've been following these threads for a while, and I, too, have the 3rd gear issue when the weather is cool. Only 7k miles on my trans, and I'm thinking about changing the fluid out before fall.

My one concern was that the GMSFM might be too thin. I think everyone reports that its viscosity is lower than the Honda MTF. The above report makes me worry a bit, for two reasons-

1. Reports that the wear products were high.
2. Reports that the fluid appeared to be overheated.

Both might indicate that the viscosity is too low for the tranny. I think GM uses this fluid in transmissions that see more load than ours, so it *should* be able to stand up to what the TL can throw at it.

I have reservations, though. Does anyone have lab analysis of Honda MTF at similar drain interval as above? Those wear levels may be typical for our trans, for all we know??

Todd

 

To those of you with any doubts about the GM fluid.

Stare firmly at this picture. After a minute or so it will swing from side to side, you'll be getting sleepy, very sleepy, and will fall asleep with it laminated in your brain. And when you wake up, you'll be picking up the Yellow pages to call around to local area Chevy dealers to see who has it in stock. Once you find it, you'll be in your car racing right over to that dealer to buy 3 quarts.



Nuff said !
.
.

 

also one more time, there are 2 types.......- GM syncromesh, and GM syncromesh Friction modified. use the friction modified!!

 

So I guess no one has any hard data for comparison? Too bad we can't get past fanboy info.

 

The results of using GMFM fluid in the tranny are pretty clear. It has helped to clear up 3rd gear issues for virtually everyone that has tried it in quite a few different Honda cars. It is about as close to unanimous support as you could get.

There has not been a single warranty issue reported as far as I know. There have been reports of several Honda and Acura dealers using the stuff to solve the problem. I am a little unclear why that question is repeatedly asked. Has anyone experienced warranty issues on the engine when not using Honda engine oil?

 

The anecdotal evidence is pretty clear, to be sure. Everyone reports good results with shifting smoothness, etc.

HOWEVER, when an oil analysis lab reports excessive wear on a tranny that has 50k miles, it makes me wonder what's going to happen in the next 50-100k. I don't know about you, but I typically keep my cars 10 years, and this one will be no exception. I know most owners here are "just passing through," and will likely only stick with the car for 3-5 years, but not all of us. That's why I'd like to see comparison data from the standard 6MT fluid.

 

I hear you about keeping a car for 10 years and I shared the same concerns over no "hard" data. But then I thought about it this way:

1. I had tried the new improved fluid. It made things worse
2. I was often putting more pressure than I liked on the shifter to get 3rd to engage.
3. I often had to pull back and re-engage
4. Clashing 3rd was also more common since 3rd gear was always a mystery as to if it would engage.
5. I called Redline and they said their MTL would be fine but they also had no tests to back it.
6. I thought, I'm going to own this car for 9 to 10 years. Will the 3rd gear syncros take this abuse this long?
7. Again I thought, I'm going to own this car for 9 to 10 years. Will I take this $hit for that long?

So I tried the GM Friction modified. It is as good as all the people say (anecdotally of course ). It's a calculated risk. I plan to change it every 15Km. That's only once every 2 years for me. It's cheap and easy.

The car has shifted perfectly ever since. I'm prepared for the financial risk of a gearbox failure but I'm not losing any sleep. I'm convinced that if I had kept with the OE fluid I would end up destroying 3rd in a few years or been generally a majorly grumpy SOB all the time. Perfect shifting and being happy, worth the risk.

That said, I'm always open to anything new that comes along that might perform as well and have the hard tests to back it up. So far, that's nothing Honda/Acura makes in an MTF.

 

I'm not one who normally jumps on a bandwagon. However with my 04' 6MT hitting 40k on the clock and shifting becoming more of a chore with each mile I decided it was time for a change (even though I didn't have the 3rd gear woes).

I grabbed 3 quarts of the GMSMFM and had my stealership do a change with the "customer supplied fluid".

After the "car wash guy" handed the keys over to me I was trying not have a preconceived idea that the shifting was smoother. I jumped in and drove off with skepticism.

I felt the change immediately. Trying to stay unbiased I drove home shifting for no reason other than to test up-down and down-up shifts. After 10 hours and 115 miles I can say that this has made a huge improvement it the feel and ease of shifting for my car.

The change for me was immediate and quite noticeable. The shifts are now what I wished my S2K would have felt like. Rowing gears feels like less of a chore for the synchros and my arm. Shifting just "feels right" now.

I'm sorry for the lack of detail here but I'm not sure how to explain it other than gears move more like cutting through butter than breaking a rusty bolt loose.

Enough said.

 

I dunno guyyyssss I used redline GM and honda i got 68k on mine and i do it religiously every 15k personally honda makes the better fluid for me.....and its not the oil that makes the shifts smooth.... its the end user hahaha