So, I just recently got my S2000. It's a 2005, with about 44k miles now. Bought it from Original owner. He did his own maintenance, which had it's good and bad points. Namely, he changed the motor oil always on time with good quality stuff. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to pay attention to the tranny and diff fluids, so he never changed those. I did as soon as I bought the car. On the plus side, mechanic said both looked perfectly normal. This is a mechanic in San Ramon that people on this site recommended


Anyway, I went to Redline MTL with the hopes of smoothing out the transmission. It's fairly notchy, especially when it's cold. Even when it's warm it's sometimes notchy. If I don't shift JUUUUUUST right, I feel a notch in the shifter as I go from 1st->2nd, and from 2nd->3rd.

Redline made it better, but not as smooth and magical as I hear the s2k tranny should be.

For flame protection, when buying the car, I wasn't aware it needed more frequent tranny fluid changes as my previous car, bmw e36, didn't need it changed that often. I've learned me lesson so please just help me get a sense of:

1) Is it possible that the transmission is pretty beat up because of the lack of changing tranny fluid?
2) How bad could the damage to the transmission be?
3) Cost for a rebuild for like-new?
4) Does it do more damage to keep driving it as is, even if it smooths out pretty satisfyingly when warm?

Lastly, FWIW, the previous owner was a very gentle driver. I got to know him pretty well over our purchasing time, and he was even shy to admit he sometimes redlines the car. He's never dared peel out. So I doubt it's abuse. I'm mostly wondering whether neglecting to change the fluids, and perhaps non-ideal driving technique, may have caused some damage to the tranny so that it's not as wonderful as the s2k tranny is reputed to be.

Any input, advice, comments, etc. appreciated!! If someone with a great conditions s2k in the bay area would let me drive theirs to compare, that might be wonderful too.

Either way, I must say, this is one AMAZING car and I'm sooooo happy I have it Glad to join the ranks, fellas!

Peace!

M

 

At the heart of it you have a tranny that gives you a lot of feedback. There are no cables/links to numb the feel. So you feel everything.

If your tranny is toast, which I don't believe it is, you'd drive it until it fails anyway. Then replace with a lightly used.

I suspect it's simply a difference in feel and it's new to you, so you're concerned. Now I just shift slowly when it's cold.

Change your fluid regularly and enjoy.

If memory serves me the honda book says change the fluid for the first time at 60K. Then every 30K there after.

 

I noticed more "notch" in my shifting and re greased my shifter assembly with urea and shin-etsu greases - it is much much better now, so I'd start with that simple fix. With 5 years on the car its probably due.

The notch was present whether the car was running or not however. I previously bled my clutch and changed trans. fluid as well before regreasing.

 

before you go to any great lengths, find someone with an S near you and ask for a drive

the shifter is not very smooth, it is however, direct and accurate and quick and generally awesome.

 

44k isnt a long time to go w/o changing the trans fluid its pushing the limit but its not overdue IMO. Mines knotchy too when its cold dont worry its normal on most manual trans car I've driven in cold climates, once it warms up its fine.

 

Our gearbox has a very mechanical feel to it... you should just get used to it.

 

Try the new Honda MTF, I've been using it for almost 2 years and its been great....

 

It could be that I'm just used to the dead, yacht control like feel of the long throws of my old e36 it wasn't even an ///m car so it was probably even more soft than the ///m sport version, hehehe. The clutch, especially, is a looooot sharper on the s2k, I love it!!

So the mechanical feel is normal, that's good to hear. This shifter definitely is ultra sharp and accurate compared to anything I've ever had before! So if that's all, thanks guys, I'm feeling more at ease

I like the way Zoomie put it... not very smooth, but direct, accurate, quick, and generally awesome! FTMFW

 

your story isn't too different than mine. I got the car 4 weeks ago with 55k on it, MY02. Previous owner was good keeping the fluids changed often but he used Redline MTL in the tranny. As soon as I got the car I thought the tranny was notchy, I did some work on it (all myself) and the tranny now feels as good as a new one might feel, it's a huge difference and I love the shift quality it has now. Here's my prescription for what it's worth:

Changed the Redline MTL for new Honda MTF fluid. After about 2 weeks I dumped the still fresh Honda MTF and refilled with new Honda MTF. With one fluid dump you still get remnants of the old fluid in there, thus a second fluid dumpa and fill gets you a homogeneous fluid mix in the tranny. When I dumped the first Honda MTF it still had a reddish tinge in it from the Redline MTL, thus substantiating my need to dump and fill the second time. Shift quality improved at each dump and fill with Honda MTF, it's a great fluid that should be changed once a year, I'll be doing it every 6 months, but I'm anal about this stuff. Cheap and easy maintenance IMO.

I then adjusted the length of the clutch rod, extending it a bit from where it was when I got the car. This causes the clutch to disengage quicker and engage a bit later, gives the tranny a bit more time to adjust during the clutch/shift process which can make the tranny less notchy at times. I got the clutch exactly where I wanted it for my shifting style.

Lastly, removed, cleaned and lubed the shifter as per the TSB on it. Once I did this the feel of the shifter was amazingly smooth, made a huge difference, the first shift I did I wasn't expecting the shift knob to pull back so fast with such little effort, caught me by surprise.

Right now I can't imagine the tranny feeling any smoother than it is. Highly recommend this to anyone who is having issues. It might not fix any mechanical problem with a problem tranny, but it can help maximize the potential of your tranny if it is in good working condition.

 

New clutch fluid might give you a better shifting feel too. I'm going to replace mine with Valvoline synthetic DOT 3 and 4.