Get the car up on jack stands, or over a maintenance pit if you have access to one and crawl on under. You'll find a drain plug on the bottom and a fill plug on the left side of the tranny. Remove the fill plug, then the drain plug and let it empty itself.

Once it's through dripping, replace the drain plug and refill the tranny through the fill plug until it overflows through the fill plug. Replace the fill plug, wipe up any spillage and your done. The hard part is finding a way to pump the the oil into the hole. You can get an appropriate pump at your local auto parts store. I used a 30cc syringe. It was slow going but easy to do and resulted in a minimum amount of spillage.

Yes, it needs to be done eventually! Check your owners manual for recommended service intervals.

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

Thanks for the suggestion- I actually really do trust the place I am taking the car, I need to get a state inspection + oil change + tranny fluid change + snow tires put on haha so I was just going to get it done in one swoop. The reason I asked about them possibly questioning me is that I am a girl, and sadly a lot of times when I go into a shop I get treated like an idiot- I know what my car needs and does not, but sometimes when I tell a mechanic they give me that "yeah right stupid girl" look that realllly irks me. This place has been great so far, so hopefully none of that will happen haha.

 

I understand, Akalei! I used to work in service and parts "many" years ago and I've seen what you're referring to. Unfortunately, many of the customers, both men and women, really don't have a clue and it's amazing what some of them come up with.

That only makes it more frustrating for people like yourself when the service personnel make assumptions about you, based on their experiences with other people. I'm not saying it's right, just how it is sometimes, human nature being what it is.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes!

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

how often should you change your transmission fluid?

 

I've been running GM Synchromesh FM in my '05 for the last 1,400 miles until today. I went back to the Honda MTF and immediately preferred it over the GM Synchromesh FM. The key will be how it feels after some mileage, but I just never really liked the GM Synchromesh FM and have been wanting to go back to Honda MTF for quite some time. I experienced more notchiness and grinding with the 1-2 shift with the GMSFM.

 

Yeah, what's up with that 2nd gear cold shift grinding? At first I thought I was the only one, but now I can see it's not just me. Is it a manufacturers defect, or just something that happens to most manual transmisions?

btw, my S2k was the first MT I had (or driven) so don't flame, and don't tell me to user the search function cause it's not as easy as you think. Plus i'm just too lazy

 

No, it's not you! The second gear grind, especially when cold, seems to just be a trait of the car. It is definitely "not" common in manual transmissions as a whole either. Many will call it a manufacturers defect and I can't really argue that. At the very least, you'd think this is something that Honda would have corrected by now, whether it's a "defect" or not.

The only thing I can tell you, based on my experience, is that this is something that will generally improve with mileage. An early transmission oil change doesn't seem to hurt either. A lot of us, me included, really like the GMSFM oil but that opinion isn't universal as evidenced by JawKnee's post above.

One thing I've found is that if you get a little sloppy with your clutch work, the second gear grind is a lot worse. I sometimes have a lazy clutch leg that doesn't get the clutch "all the way to the floor" during shifts and the transmission synchronizers definitely let me know about it when that happens.

For you, as a newcomer to the world of manual transmissions, this might be something you'll want to pay special attention to until it becomes second nature.

Best of luck & Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

I change it every year.