I did the exact same thing this Saturday - switched from Honda MTF to GM Synchromesh FM in my '02 S2000. The difference so far has been night and day. When cold, both can be notchy and crunchy on the 1-->2 shift, but the Honda MTF is much, much more so. The GM Synchromesh FM has been superior overall. to GM! Now I just hope this holds up over time.

 

Woah....everybody's changing tranny fluids

So I put in the GM Synthetic MTF(not the synchromesh) in this last weekend. Initial impressions are positive, but I'm reserving final judgement on it until I get more miles on it and more cold shifts. Hopefully after the drive to MegaMeet this weekend I can give a better analysis. Looks like I should have enough left to send off for a VOA. I'm curious to see the results.

 

RR- how do you like the GM-FM so far? Anyone else running FM in their '04?

I have MT90 in it now and it' s doing well. More notchy into a slow second when cold than I'd like but that seems to be the trend with all.

 

I have about 200 miles on it, and it has actually gotten better than the very good start it got. I think it takes a while for the fluids to be exchanged from the 2004's carbon synchronizers, which are porous.

I still go easy on the intital 1-2 shift, double-clutching, but the other day, after a long workday full of frustrations, when I finally left work, with the top dropped, the sun setting, and me heading west out of Richmond (flood city - God bless I was not in Shockhoe Bottom at one of favorite brewski purveyors that day - 12 feet of water!), and after a good warmup period of 5 minutes, I got on it like a bat out of hell - blowing by people like they were standing still, redline shifts, heel and toe downshifts, the GMS FM really delivered.

Note that it is not so much the slickness, but the CONSISTENCY OF FEEL that I find so attractive by this stuff - I want a gear, I grab it - no 2nd guessing of whether it will engage or will I catch the right gear?

So far, it is da bomb (Gernby's S-Bomb). Very highly recommended. And stealthy too - looks just lihe the Honda crap.

 

This stuff is AMAZING! It completely eliminated that nasty notchiness in 2nd gear. I made the switch over last night after reading a little info from Gernby's thread.

Now it shifts like butter and feels how Honda would have wanted it to. I am no lubrication expert and it certainly boggles me how 2 different fluids can be so night and day.

I picked up 2 Qts from a local Buick/Pontiac/Chevy dealer here in Beaverton, OR and the look on there faces was priceless when I pulled in to the lot. I bought it for $8.50/qt under an account of a friends shop.

 

I just changed out my Redline for the GMSMFM and so far my first impressions are consistent with most out there - very positive.
The Redline MTL had only about 100 miles before switching over to SMFM which gave a good comparison point.
There's a big difference in the consistency of shifts. For the first time - smooth and consistent shifts. 1-2 felt like 2-3, 3-4,

 

The part number that it came under was GM #12377916. It comes in the rectangular style (black) bottle with a blue (artwork background) label. It has "Synchromesh Transmission Fluid - Friction Modified" on the front.

 

I just put it in Saturday morning. I had about 5,200 miles on my original factory fluid. This stuff feels nice. No more 1 > 2 notchy / grind. Even reverse is a bit smoother. I've put about 150 miles on since I put it in, and no complaints so far. I plan to keep it in for 15,000 if possible. Since this is my daily driver and gets a decent amount of highway miles, hopefully it'll be OK for that long.

- Jeremy (jnn4v)

 

Hopefully you didn't put this in your differential, since this is MTF fluid...

- Jeremy (jnn4v)

 

What leads you to believe I would do that?? My statement was that I don't understand how Honda's MTF can be so different in it's characteristics than GMSFM.

Not sure what you meant or misunderstood...