I have a 6mt 2004 TL and I notice that whenever I shift quickly into 2nd, it will grind a little when going in. It happens with my friend as well. Now, it could be that I am just used to the clutch engagement on my old car, but I thought I might as well check with you guys to see if you have any thoughts. Also, I had bought the car with 10k miles on it and the previous owner (parts guy at the Acura dealership) did replace the fluid with a synthetic, so maybe it is that? Should I try out the GM Syncromesh in case it is some stuff that is maybe just too thin?
Thanks for the input!
Mike

I had the notorious 3rd gear "fighting me" but 2nd was never grinding. Draining and refilling with Honda MTF solved it. Many others swear by the GM SM Friction Modified stuff.

How many miles since you got the car ? You probably want to drain and refill with either Honda MTF or the GM so you know where you are service wise. It will take about 100 miles for the full effect of the change to "work into" the gearbox/synchros after which you can re-evaluate the situation. If still grinding and you are sure your "clutchmanship" is good then you will have to dig deeper.

interesting..... I am about to take my '05 6sp-Navi into Acura for the third
time to see if they can re-create my 3rd gear problem.

I too have a fight with 3rd gear...difficult getting through the syncros and into 3rd,
with intermittent popping out of 3rd as you let off the clutch.

Acura indicates there are no recalls (yet) and they were not able to re-create the problem. Now that it is getting cold in Chicago - the problem is more frequent.

I really do not want to drive this car. It is such a disappointment.

I would like to hear if anyone else is having 6sp trans problems.

Thanks

How bad is the grinding? Do you have to fight to get it into 2nd, or is it just a notchy feeling going from 1st to 2nd? I get a notchy feeling, but never really a grinding. As for your clutchmenship, just make sure you put the clutch all the way down when you're shifting.

I would like to point out the many and long posts here about how the
GM mtf fm eliminates the transmission problems.

All you got to do is spend under $30.00 for the fluid and change it.

Brett

Absolutely...the best money I've spent. It truly, truly is like an entirely different transmission with the new fluid. I actually enjoy shifting now.

Yes, when I first did it, the entire car DID seem different.
That sounds crazy, but that is what I felt, the shifter started inspiring
confidence, and you could shift fast and it would glide right in.
You then stopped thinking about it and could pay attention to the rest
of the car?

Funny how a change in the feel of the shifter changes the feel of the car...

Now that its been in a while, I got used to it and it seems normal, but if it was to
go back to stock, I would also likely feel a dramatic difference again.

Brett

i odn't know how different the TL gearbox is from the 00-03 prelude gearbox, but my friend swapped out his tranny fluid w/ GM Syncromesh, and he said that it was amazing at 1st, but after 2 years, the stuff actually made the shifting worse.

dman918:

I think I know exactly what you're talking about. The shifter gives awful feedback/vibration when it happens. I got this a few times when first getting the car (this is my first MT).

Here's my guess. If you slam it into 2nd very fast, you're not letting the syncros do their work. So, if you're not properly rev matching for the shift, the gears may be grinding a bit. The worse off your rev-match, the worse the feedback/grinding. Slow down the shift and practice rev-matching until you get it smooth.

Thanks for the advice. I think that is probably all it is. I have no problem when shifting slower, and even when it does happen at the quicker speed (which I have only done 3-4 times, it goes into gear easily and without any fight. I just feel and hear a small grind/vibration when this happens. I may still be used to my last car (WRX) where the clutch engagement point was much higher.

I've been having the same problems with 3rd gear. 05 6MT, sticks sometimes - but only in third. Three times to the dealer so far, unfortunately, they are useless. The cold weather does make it happen more often - perhaps their tech can finally figure it out...the Acura seems like a nice car, but their dealer quality may leave a bit to be desired.

funny i found this post...for the past few weeks, my 05 6mt with 2500 miles has been having the same problem with 3rd gear

i have the same problem they have replaced my trans but the problem is still there 05 6mt also flywheel shutter they are haveing problems we have to keep complaining

I have been having the same problem as well over the past couple of weeks. I'm going to call the Dealer tomorrow and see about taking it in. If they agree to change the fluid for free, then I'll opt for that and see if it persists. Otherwise I'm going to use the Redline MTL. This is suppose to be awesome.

I got about 600 miles on my 6MT TL now. I also noticed the 2nd gear grind from the time I picked up this car from the dealer. I thought I'd give it some time and see what happens, so here's my update and feedback...

The 2nd gear grind is more noticeable after a cold start. After driving for more than 10 minutes, the shifting gets better. The grind seems to go away and the shifting gets smoother. It is obvious then that the transmission needs to get warmed up.

Anyone feel the same way? Or do I need to start looking at changing the tranny fluid?

If you use the GM stuff, you dont have to warm the transmission up, it shifts better even when its cold. It still shifts a little better when it gets hot, but it does not shift bad when its cold....

Brettg - at what point did you change the fluid? Like I said, I only have 600 miles.

that's interesting.

i felt the GM stuff "thicker" if you know what i mean. shifting wise that is. it's like the difference between water and lotion. wonder if that's going to have any long term ill effects?

ps. i still haven't experienced any 3rd gear problems people talked about. it shifted fine with honda MTF. GMSFM is fine also. maybe it's just me. no night and day differences.

I think it at about 4000 miles, but had 3rd gear fight back when shifting fast well before that. I did not have any metal in the original lube, and I changed the GM stuff out after about 1000 miles to make sure it was not causing problems and it still looked like new, so I dont worry about using it.
If it was causing wear, the lube would have had metal in it.

It seemed to me that both the honda fluid, and the GM fluid were about the same viscosity.

Brett

I haven't noticed any issues as of late. Maybe I was just a sucky TL driver.
Thanks for all your help. I will be sure to let you all know if anything changes.