what trans fluid

[jason-1995fbody]

hey me again 91 dx 1.5 5spd what type of trans fluid should be in this thing my dad said his 88 had atf in it alldata says sae30w oil but mine has 80-90 or simmilar stinky stuff so what should i use

[turtlecrxsi]

If it's a manual use 10w30 or 5w30... I'd imagine A/T would just use ATF. I noticed most ATF bottles these days have for what vehicle they work best for right on them. But that doesn't answer your question. Sorry.

[viper-blue]

Definately don't use ATF it stands for Automatic Transmission Fluid. Like turtle said you can use 10w30 as thats whats recommended for it in the manual. I use GM syncromesh, its cheaper than honda manual trans fluid and I will swear up and down to anyone who has not yet heard this: the shit works, at 215,000kms my sychros were loud as hell...now with a rebuilt z6 and 325,000 original kms on my SI tranny I have yet to hear those synchros as long as the synchromesh is in her...go to your local GM and ask for 2 liters of synchromesh

[jason-1995fbody]

yeah i knew what atf stands for that dosent mean that it wont work in a 5spd my metro required atf so u say 10w30 so engine oil or they make gear oil that thin

[viper-blue]

I hear you about the atf thing, lol..was just making sure cause some people get some really crazy ideas...GM syncromesh, Honda MTF, Penzoil synchromesh are all fluids you can use. I have only used engine oil and GM synchromesh...the synchromesh is all synthetic and is actually thinner than engine oil....it works wonders though..I was a little concerned when I saw how thin it was but the shifting got smoother almost immediately and the synchros quieted right down

[FrodoGT]

I will now vouch for GM synchromesh for life... I used engine oil once and within a few months my tranny developed a 3rd gear grind that would happen 1-3 times a day..I switched to the gm stuff and it took about a day or two for it to do anything..but my god, it never shifted smoother before then, the grind never returned and it drove so damn smooth..till a small leak ran it dry on a 70 mi trip and I lost the 2nd gear synchro :P

[viper-blue]

Originally Posted by FrodoGT

I will now vouch for GM synchromesh for life... I used engine oil once and within a few months my tranny developed a 3rd gear grind that would happen 1-3 times a day..I switched to the gm stuff and it took about a day or two for it to do anything..but my god, it never shifted smoother before then, the grind never returned and it drove so damn smooth..till a small leak ran it dry on a 70 mi trip and I lost the 2nd gear synchro :P

Definately..a leak would not be a good thing since synchromesh is so much thinner...I didn't even need a day or two to notice the difference...I swear the first time I put that stuff in I started the car and almost broke the damn shifter off cause it slipped into gear so sweet..I'm probably just a lucky guy that way...its just amazing what that stuff does...the guy I get it from at the stealership says people with older manual trannies buy it up by the gallon and always ask him what is in the shit cause they love what it does

[Christ]

I've used GM syncromesh in a '32 Ford T-bucket with transmission from a 1968 ford something or other, 4-speed, never rebuilt... it didn't quiet down, it didn't slip into gear any easier, it wasn't any smoother... but 4th gear started engaging again... when for 20 years previous to that (according to my dad, whom I got the tranny from, original owner) it wouldn't slip into 4th gear AT ALL... not to mention that it sat in the barn with no oil in it for however long... I ran some kerosene through it, then put syncromesh in it, and I'll be damned, it goes into 4th gear now!

[Tony]

Manual trannies take all different types of fluid, just depends what make of car. I have seen them take ATF, motor oil and rearend grease. Honda recommends 10w30, and as you can tell, Honda enthusiast recommend GM Synchromesh. I have tried the synchromesh yet, but haven't had a problem out of Castrol 10w30 and I race mine. Haven't had a grind out of it, other than the normal Reverse every once in awhile(every car does it...atleast to me). Ive seen alot of people loose 2nd or 3rd gear out at the track(main gears used), but I still haven't had a problem out of it.

[Christ]

Tony, the reverse gear grinding thing is b/c there is no sychro for reverse... if your engine is higher than idle, or your clutch hasn't spun down all the way, it will grind.. usually, the case here is that you just need to slightly adjust your clutch.. or you could just not worry about it, b/c it's not like reverse is going to drop on you b/c you grind it a lil bit.

Just so you know, in case you didn't before, it's also not the "teeth" on the gears that are grinding... it's the lil "dog ears" that engage in the SIDE of the gear... the "teeth" on the gears are actually constantly engaged in a transmission, the synchro's just act to line up the dogears with the holes that correspond in the side of the gear... good place for research on this is http://auto.howstuffworks.com. Search "manual transmission"

[Tony]

Yea, I knew it was because there was no synchro's for reverse. I know most of the time if you just release the clutch and press it again it usually works fine. I've never worried about it, I get some weird looks sometimes because people are paranoid on a little grind.