What kind of MTF should I use?

[bk7794]

I am not sure where this belongs, Maintenance or this forum.

I want to change the MTF on my 91 civic dx 1.5. I keep getting many different answers and I was wondering what I should use. The manual says to use straight up oil 10w-30/40 weight. The graph is a bit deceiving because it has a straight arrow that goes through all temps and on one side it says to use the 30 (cold) and on the hot side it says to use 40.
Some people then have said to just use the honda MTF.

What should I use? Also there is 70k on the oil, should I bother replacing it or did I go way to far over?

Also I am having a problem with shifting, the car does this when the engine is both on and off so it is not a clutch problem. Only when the car is at a stand still I have a problem running the shifter through all the gears. It is like I hit a wall. Sometimes I can engage the gears by giving it another attempt and other times I have to move the car to engage them. Will the oil solve this or is it more likely a linkage problem. Possibly due to a mount or something.

Thanks for reading this all.

Topic

[college man]

10w-30 should work just fine.;)

[EricTheCarGuy]

I do not recommend running motor oil in the transmission of that car. Honda puts that in as more of a recommendation than what should be used. There are only 2 things that I’ve seen work in a Honda manual trans, the first is the factory Honda fluid and I recommend that’s what you use. You can also use GM Syncromesh as I’ve had success with that as well.

[bk7794]

even in that old of a transmission? I am worried that it may be too thin. What about the amsoil MTF? Just for the sake of putting that out there.

Also what about the shifting problem?

[dreamer2355]

I would use as suggested by Eric seeing as he is a Honda tech and has been for a long number of years.

Using incorrect fluids will change the shifting characteristics of a manual transmission.

[bk7794]

Right the only thing I am concerned about is that I read somewhere that it could be too thin. I might give it a try. If the shifting sucks then I will just change it again.

The capacity is 1.8 qts, I buy two right?

[dreamer2355]

Always best to buy too much than too little 😉

I would buy 3 qts to be on the safe side.

[EricTheCarGuy]

It’s not too thin. The same people that designed the transmission designed the Honda fluid I think they knew what they were doing. Without fail when I find Honda transmissions with problems such as noise or shifting problems many times I find that something other than Honda fluid was used.

[bk7794]

Of course, but I mean too thin for this application. The transmission was developed after this transmission. I will try to give it a shot.

Also what are symptoms of the fluid being too thin?

[EricTheCarGuy]

It seems I can’t sway you. Do what you like and report back what you find. I’m always willing to learn new things.

[bk7794]

Well I am going to give the honda MTF a shot. I have seen many people use it and you recommend it. You have used this kind of fluid in this old of a car right?

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”bk7794″ post=34298]Well I am going to give the honda MTF a shot. I have seen many people use it and you recommend it. You have used this kind of fluid in this old of a car right?[/quote]

Seriously? I’m an Acura Master Tech who’s worked on and owned Hondas for more than 15 years.B)

[bk7794]

Thanks a lot! Didn’t mean to sound rude if I was. That is why I come to you.

Keep doing what your doing. You have given me so much knowledge on auto repair. Thanks so much!

[EricTheCarGuy]

I didn’t mean to come off rude either, in fact I was laughing as I typed it. Keep us posted on what you find, I wasn’t kidding when I said that there’s always room to learn something new.

[Author]

Replies