deepbluejh

I've got an 06 TL manual transmission with 141k miles on it. I've had the car for two years and have generally been happy with it. My particular car has the dreaded third gear syncro issue that has plagued these manual transmissions. Over the course of my two year ownership third gear has gotten progressively worse.

The previous owner had the transmission fluid changed at an Acura dealership 2-1/2 years ago. Since then, approximately 25k miles have been put on the car, so I figure it was time to change the fluid.

I followed the DIYs I've found both on this forum and on Youtube and drained the old fluid. To my shock, very little fluid came out. I'll be generous and say 1/2 a quart came out, but absolutely no more. I was both terrified and flabberghasted. This transmission is supposed to hold 2.3L and I drain less than 1/4 of that from mine??

I refill the transmission with the correct amount of GM syncromesh and go take the car for a drive. Third gear is immediately massively better. I won't say it's completely cured, but I'd note at least a 95% improvement. In my short drive I could not find any symptom of an issue with third gear. Most of the other gears seemed about the same (which is good), with reverse easier to engage than before.


So... two things to note.
1. GM syncromesh is amazing transmission fluid for this car
2. Why the heck was my transmission fluid so low?

My only guesses are either that the Acura dealership which last changed the fluid was terribly inept and hardly put anything in it - OR - that I have a leak somewhere. Are these transmissions prone to leaking in any way? I've noticed nothing on my driveway underneath the car, but that isn't to say it's not possible.

deepbluejh

I had an issue with my driver's side axle a few months ago. It popped out while I was driving and ultimately had to be replaced. It's been suggested that when the axle popped out of the transmission, that fluid leaked out with it. This could have possibly caused the low fluid, right?

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

I assume that the car was level when doing the job....needed to ask?
I'd certainly agree with your two reasons why the fluid was low.
If there were to be a leak, some evidence of fluid/dirt would be evident.
I've seen a few makes that have a filler and a lower check plug and most have been overfilled rather than the reversal, just because the tech doesn't realize there is another plug to check the level and fills the trans up.

deepbluejh

I had the car up on 4 jack stands when draining and it was level. I'm thinking I may have lost some fluid when the axle was swapped out a few months ago. I'm hoping that is the issue and I don't have a leaking transmission.

Adobeman

Yeah, but I'd think 2+ qts of MTF pissed out would have been pretty noticeable. How far did you go with the axle out?

And, who would replace the axle w/o draining and refilling the transmission with MTF? Service manual clearly says to drain at the start of removal section and refill at the end.

You are positive you drained via the drain plug and NOT the fill level bolt? There's three plugs, "fill" on top, "drain" on bottom and "fill level" couple inches above drain. If someone just dumped 3qts in after replacing axle and then you removed the fill level plug you'd get about the 1/2 qt you got and then have a properly filled box. But on the other hand I don't think you would have been able to get another 2.3 in the thing so it's really unlikely. Had to ask...

deepbluejh

When the axle popped out I had no forward thrust at all, so I basically drifted about 50 years before I pulled off the road. I was towed to the Acura dealership maybe 5 miles away where they replaced the axle.

There is a real chance that I leaked a bunch of fluid onto the road. I wasn't paying attention to the road after the incident, honestly. I am positive that I drained from the correct bolt though. There really was hardly any fluid in the transmission. I drove on it that way for probably a month or so. The Acura place should have refilled the transmission, but apparently didn't.

At any rate, after 4-5 days on the GM Syncromesh, it feels like I have a brand new transmission in the car, so I must not have done too much damage. I'm just glad I caught this when I did.