zeroptzero

I got my car about 4 weeks ago and it was shifting kind of rough, not griding but just real notchy in different situations. Over the last few weeks I've been able to get it pretty much perfect with a 100% improvement, perhaps this will help others that may have the same situation.

The car came with Redline MTL in the tranny, and the fluid wasn't that old.
I changed the fluid to Honda MTF immediately when I got the car home. Shifting improved right away, I'd say about 60% improvement. Drove it for a couple weeks and then drained the tranny fluid a second time an installed new Honda MTF. If you are using a different fluid it takes a couple drains to get the fluid homgeneous, on the second drain the fluid still had a reddish tinge to it from the residual Redline MTF that was in the tranny housing. After the second drain and refill I'd say there was a further 15% improvement. This week I removed the shifter and lubricated it as per the TSB info that is on this site. I cleaned out the old dry/metallic looking stuff on the shifter and it's contact surfaces I drowned the shifter parts in Honda Urea Hi temp grease, and a bit of Shin Itsu Silicon grease (two different greases in different areas of the shifter. Got her put back in and she feels brand new, it shifts so slick now, absolutety no issues remaining. The shifter slides back so fast on a shift it surprises you the first time you take the car out. The right fluids, grease and procedures make a huge difference.

I was starting to wonder if the synchros were going bad, but there is no hint of anything after these changes were made. It's a night and day difference.

Nyther

Any link to the TSB?

Wanting to try that since i already have done 4 tranny fluid changes in 3 years...

SgtB

It's a short lived fix. New transmission fluid always does that. The S2000 has pretty notchy rings. If it's not grinding them, it's probably ok. good idea regreasing the shifter. i need to do that myself.

zeroptzero

here is the link to the shifter lube TSB https://www.s2ki.com/stor/library/TSB/A02-046/index.htm

One sign that you need to do it is if you are having some difficulty engaging reverse. After doing this reverse is really easy to engage, and all other shifts are slick.

Honda MTF shears easily, manual trannies will shear down all fluid due to the meshing aciton of the gears, but Honda MTF shears easily. I might be inclined to swap it every 6 months as I don't mind the extra effort or expense, but at least once a year would be decent. Everyone has their own opinion on this.

Thanks for the info on the rings, that helps explain things with this car.

jeffbrig

I've been wanting to do that shifter lube for a while, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

SgtB

Remember too that the transmission in this car is designed to go from gear to gear as fast as possible. The byproduct of that is notchyness. I'm running the Abrams shift knob, and feel it makes the shifting much smoother. 1st to 4th are done with my fingertips. Yeah, I shear my fluid a little faster than some probably. I beat it and drive over 700 miles a week.

Jwslick

Will the dealership o this service for you?

zeroptzero

yes I would think so, if you ask for it specifically. Hopefully they use enough of the required greases - Hi temp Urea and Shin Itsu. I'd hate to see what they would charge though, as this is simple enough to do yourself.

badboy00z

I kind of did the TSB. I used molly bearing grease and didn't do the part that requires me going under the car. Getting into reverse is better than before but not 100% perfect. I wonder if using the urea grease will be better??

billiardboy904

All my grease came in and I performed the shifter TSB myslef. I used over half of the UREA grease and some Shin'itsu on other parts. changed out my fluids and the difference was amazing. Still, on cold days, I get the infamous notchiness but it should go away after the tranny warms up.
I still have some notchy while shifting and that is most likely due to syncros going bad. Hard fact to sit on but I will have to deal this that until I decide to redo the internals or tranny swap.

Either way, the TSB is a great improvement in shifter feel and should be performed by everyone with an AP1 or AP2 with higher mileage.

I too cleaned up all of the old metallic grease but I also notcied some watery substance down at the bottoom where the shifter sits. I dried it up and threw in some Urea as well.