InterHat

In April, I bought a 2000 Silverstone with ~23k miles on it, and I think I've put maybe 600-800 miles on it since I've owned it. The shifter was a little notchy a few days after I bought the car. So about a month ago I had the transmission fluid, diff fluid, and oil changed by a local Honda dealership. I checked the part numbers and it looked like all the fluids they put in were correct.

The new fluid fixed everything and the car was shifting beautifully. I've run it out a few times, but I generally don't drive the car hard for any sustained period of time. On Saturday of this past weekend, I took the car out for a drive and then parked it for the night. The car sat on Sunday and I went to go to work Monday and hit a big notchy spot going into third gear. It felt like someone whacked the shift linkage with a wrench from the underside while I was shifting into gear.

Over the past few days I've been babying it double clutching and rev matching. That helps but it's really bothering me. I don't like double clutching to drive a syncho'd transmission. I'm not a big rig driver. It gets "better" as it's warming up, but it doesn't feel anything like what it did last week. Third gear is still consistently notchy. I've started to notice 2nd gear is now a bit notchy and 4th and 5th don't feel as smooth. I feel like I have more trouble getting into 1st but that could be my imagination. My drive to work is only about 12 miles so in the 20 minutes it takes me to get there, the car isn't totally warmed up.

Any ideas on this? I'm going to try the clutch fluid thing Billman posted to syringe it out of the reservoir and cleaning it out. I shouldn't have to change the MTF every month, right?

Tjs S2k

usually s2000 transmissions are notchy... and hopefully honda didnt change your diff fluid with theres. it sucks!

InterHat

I know the transmission is a little notchy. It's certainly not going to feel like a sloppy volvo shifter or something lol, but this is a lot more notchy than normal and that big notch going into third just feels wrong. It's like something's in the way of me going into third that I'm knocking into while going into gear.

They used Mobil 1 or Castrol 75w90 in the diff. I can't remember which. I'll check when I get home, but I made sure all the fluids were correct after they did it.

s2kobsession

What does shifting problems have anything do do with differential fluid?

NOTHING

honda does have correct MTF for our cars. It does break down quickly but should last a lot longer than a few weeks. not sure what your problem is though

Did you crunch anything? or did someone take your car out for a spin on Sunday and crunch anything?

Tjs S2k

i was giving him future refrence. I let honda do mine first and it klunked like crazy, then I changed it and it was fine

InterHat

No one drives my car except me, and I haven't crunched anything. I went into 4th instead of 6th one time when I first got the car but all that did was make me feel like an idiot. It was in traffic at like 3000 rpms. I've only done a few non-revmatched downshifts and it was at low rpms in traffic coming down one gear or making sure I double clutched.

I'm going to park the car in a different position in my driveway (driveway is not level). I've had it on the left side towards the top which is not normally where I park it. I'm wondering if it could have something to do with fluid levelling or gunk moving around in there. I'll also try the clutch fluid thing as soon as I can get a plastic syringe.

Part of the problem may be that I'm shifting slower and more deliberately after that major notch into third. I may be feeling more now that I'm not just driving the car. I'll keep an eye on it and try to just drive it again. I hope I don't have to get it rebuilt. That'd be my exhaust money right out the window

InterHat

I'm going to update this as I diagnose and fix the problem. I've done some more research and heard that people have had Honda MTF get notchy in as little as a few hundred miles.

I took a drive at lunch today and once the transmission was warmed up, it seemed to shift ok but still not quite as smooth as before. For some reason, this fluid has an extremely short life in my transmission, and went from perfect to dead instantly.

I've ordered some Amsoil MTF and will update once I put that in. I'm hoping it fixes the issue for my transmission. It's drivable now, but it's certainly not much fun and I'm getting sick of double clutching when the car is cold. I may try the 70%/30% Amsoil/Honda mix if Amsoil isn't quite as smooth.

InterHat

Not having a good couple of weeks here. Amsoil did not help, tried GMSMFM and that didn't help... now I'm back to Honda MTF. Car has always been filled on a lift so trans was level and fluid level correct. It's a little better again, but it's still not as good as that first fill. I put in a magnetic drain plug and my mechanic showed me a few tiny bits of metal on the plug after 1k miles on the GMSMFM. The same thing happened with the Amsoil. He said it might just be normal wear or it could be from a bearing or something.

I got the clutch/brake fluid bled and refilled with ATE Super Blue. I had the reservoir cleaned out too. The only remaining thing I can do is try adjusting the clutch pedal, but there's not really that much free play. I'm also not shifting too fast, and I've yet to actually GRIND the transmission. I'm shifting MUCH slower and more gingerly than I've ever had to shift even with my truck-trans W58 in my old 3rd gen Supra. It is not shifting habits as I've had at least 3 other people drive the car. This is a distinct change from one day to the next and I've tried altering everything about my driving style to rectify it from shift angle to timing to clutch initial attack etc.

Here are the symptoms now that are different from that first fill with the Honda MTF:
1. Going into first is now distinctly mechanical feeling with 2 resistance points
2. First to second is notchy... less than second to third but more than any of the others.
3. Second to third is VERY notchy and I have to pause or run the piss out of it to shift smoothly
4. Second to third elicits a "click" or maybe slight "crunch" but no grind. Mechanic says it sounds like synchro
5. Third to Fourth is notchy and was EXTREMELY smooth before
6. Forth to Fifth is now notchy on occasion and was also very smooth
7. Reverse is now much more difficult to get into

I've had the car for 3k miles and at least 1k of them were highway with little to no shifting. I'm pretty sure I didn't do this as I've only been driving back and forth to work for the most part. I properly rev-match on downshift. One thing that's interesting is that downshifting is still pretty smooth... it's just upshifting that's notchy.

I've got a pretty early 00... production # is in the 3000's so there's a TSB out for the grind and I still have the clutch buzz. Guessing I'm gonna need to be a used AP2 trans :\ Rebuilding the AP1 trans doesn't seem to be worth it.

90crvtec

I have just about those same symptoms on my '03 with 25k miles. I've had the car since it had 7000 miles on it. I started noticing the shifting into third getting notchy at 10k miles. If I shift at high RPMs (or redline) the shifts are smooth and crisp, its only at the "daily driven" speeds that I notice notchiness.

I don't track the car and it isn't my first manual transmission, I drive the car well. I've tried GMSMFM, regular synchromesh, and the new Honda MTF. Of those three the new MTF has been the best fluid so far.

For the AP1s I think the notchiness is fairly normal. I've driven every model year S2000 except for the '08s, I noticed a "notchiness" in the '00-'03s, '04+ cars felt different to me but they have different synchronizers so that's likely why.

2007 Zx-10

I'm confident the Honda MTF fluid shears quickly (evidenced in several BITOG threads) and leads to premature wear of the synchros...use a premium gear oil which is much more resistant to shear and you likely won't have any issues...try Motul Gear 300!

people need to break out of the "honda is god, they don't make mistakes" mentality here...like any Japanese manufacturer, they do cut corners