akertulis

just changed my tranny fluid about a week ago with GM syncromesh and it def took away the rough feel in my 3rd gear and i dont remember the shift into 5th gear being rough but i am certainly noticing now. Any suggestions?

SouthernBoy

Can you be a little more specific with the problem; details regarding how and under what conditions you're noticing this? For you information, gears one through four use multi-cone synchronizers whereas fifth and sixth gears do not (yes they are synchronized but not with multi-cone units).

akertulis

when shifting 1-4 it shifts great but when i go to shift into 5th its just a little rough and feels kinda like a grind when engaging and it does it just driving normal and just started really noticing the past few days. i dont really know how more specific to get so hope that works

SouthernBoy

Ok, that's better... thanks.

You said that your problem with fifth gear just began recently and you just did a drain and fill recently with GMSFM fluid. You also mentioned that you don't recall having any problems with fifth gear before this which would seem to indicate the fifth gear problem started to manifest itself after the introduction of the GMSFM fluid... right? Also, what about sixth gear? Are you seeing similar problems with this gear as well?

GMSFM fluid contains friction modifiers that increase friction between gear set synchronizers. This causes better and quicker shaft speed matching in the transmission and therefore reduces or eliminates dog teeth grinding, popping out, and failure to insert. This is why it has been so successful with Honda transmissions.

Your problem with fifth gear sounds like a former owner(s) quick shifted a lot into fifth gear or skip shifted a lot without waiting for engine and shaft speeds to match up. This creates a lot of stress and wear on the gear set synchronizers and since those of the fifth and sixth gears are not as robust as the ones in gears one through four, they are more prone to earlier wear.

This is just a suggestion but one you might want to consider. Do another drain and fill using Amsoil's manual transmission fluid and see if that makes a difference. If not, Honda's "new and improved" fluid might help.

akertulis

well last nite and this morning it was pouring down rain and i was paying attention to my gears while shifting and it didnt seem to be doing it in 5th gear. i dont know if my shift point has anything to do with it or the weather with it being cold or hot out mite change anything. but ill def look into doing another fill and drain it just sucks because i just spent 40 bucks on that fluid but if thats whats needed then thats what im gonna do. if you think of anything else that mite work let me know what ya think.

SouthernBoy

This is the reason I had asked initially, "Can you be a little more specific with the problem; details regarding how and under what conditions you're noticing this?". A cold transmission can affect the effort needed to complete a shift in the higher gears (once again, the difference in the gear set synchros). Since you have seen that there are times when this doesn't happen, I would suggest holding off on doing another drain and fill and instead, see if the problem occurs when the transmission has thoroughly warmed up and you wait to make sure engine speed has fallen enough to where it matches wheel speed. See if this helps. Give it a chance and try watching your technique to see if the problem still takes place. It's possible that you might be doing something that can be improved upon.

akertulis

sounds good to me yea i just noticed it lastnite its been warm here for the past couple days and starting two days ago its been colder and thats when i started noticing the difference in the shift into 5th so ill just keep watching for it, hopefully dont have to do another refill

akertulis

just curious but i have a short shifter im getting ready to install and would putting that one make any difference in the shift possible along with the shifter bushings ill be putting in?

SouthernBoy

I suppose it could. I still have my stock shifter in my '04 manual and like it very much. On the one car where I have installed a shorter throw shifter, it definitely increased effort. But then again, that was a long time ago.

You might want to do a search or pose this question in another thread so that other members who have done this mod can weigh in and help answer your question.

akertulis

ive always enjoyed the short shifters in my other hondas and ive read good stuff about putting one in the TL so im def going to try it out, hopefully other members will read this and can put some insight on it

SouthernBoy

Good move. And please report back about your findings with your transmission. What you experience might be helpful to someone else.

akertulis

ill keep the updates coming untill figured out