Hey guys. I just got done changing my tranny fluid. I have an 03 s2000. I used Redline MT90 and followed the write up in the FAQ's of the Technical Forum. With the MT90 bottle it was a pain in the ass to squeeze the fluid through the tube into the fill hole of the transmission so i transferred the remaining fluid that i couldn't get out of the redline bottle into an empty (smaller) water bottle. This made the fluid transfer through the tube into the tranny easier. My question is: The empty water bottle still had a teeny tiny bit of moisture clinging onto the interior walls of it and I couldn't get it all out and didn't have time to wait for it to be bone dry because my car was in the garage and my mother would've been home from work soon. There was very little moisture inside of the empty water bottle so is this a danger to the tranny fluid? If so, I can just flush that tranny fluid out and put new fluid in. My thinking is that the water will seperate from the oil due to the differing densities of the fluids and the water will just evaporate due to the high heat in the transmission. What do the experts here think? Thanks. And please don't flame, I'm a newbie

 

Ever hear that water and oil don't mix? It's true.

Water doesn't lubricate gears/bearings/synchros real well either.

with such a small amount of water, I'd expect some difficulty making sure you get it out of the trans. You can leave the drain plug out for days and still have it drip.

I'd drain and refill. With the oil bottle inverted and the hose in the trans, try making a small hole in the bottom of the bottle. (gotta keep it inverted though) This will let air in, making it run out faster.


Moving to UTH, we try and keep this kind of question out in the main forum.

 

Ok. I'll get the Honda place on monday to refill it with Honda MTF since I don't have any more redline left.

 

I think you should be fine if its just condensation or what not. That is such a small fraction of water compared to the amount of oil you have.

 

Yeah it was just very little condensation clinging onto the interior walls of the bottle. Also, I followed the instructions from the write-up and lowered the car after I got as much of the 2 qts. into the tranny as I could. I saw the "excess" fluid drain out of the fill hole after lowering the car and waited for it to stop. Then I jacked up the car and put the fill plug back in. Now I'm reading that it is better to overfill. Should I just get the Honda shop to flush and refill my tranny fluid on monday?

 

I presume that this tiny amount of water will evaporate as the transmission fluid warms during use. I don't think a small amount of condensate will cause a problem.

 

Should be OK if the amount is as small as you stated, but one of the downsides of Red Line is that esters are susceptible to hydrolysis.

If you haven't already done so, be sure to examine the fluid if you drain it. If you see any caramel colored oil, or white smears in the normally red/amber RL, that is not good.

I did not find any of the RL tranny oils to perform that well in the S2000, which is why i went another route (see sig).

 

Ok. I'll just flush the fluid since the water will probably decompose the chemical compounds in the oil (maybe it wont but i'm an anal person). I put the redline in there because I was about to head out to my first track day, but I've been spending so much money lately on this car, I'll just get the Honda place to put Honda MTF in it and I'll wait for the next track day. Road Rage, when you say "If you see any caramel colored oil, or white smears in the normally red/amber RL, that is not good.", do you mean it is not good for the transmission, or I should immediately change the fluid? The fluid has only been in there since 5pm yesterday (saturday, august 13, 2005), and I'm switching it to Honda MTF tomorrow because I'm a paranoid person (comes with being an engineering student it seems). I'll just switch my tranny fluid when I go to the next track event (I'll be purchasing a tool that is specifically designed for inserting fluids into hard to reach fill holes this time ). Thanks guys.

 

I mean that there was enough water and it reacted to form the glop one sees in engine oil when there is a major coolant into oil problem.
Just swap out the fluid and things will be fine.

 

^
i didn't like redline mt90 in my tranny either.

the gm syncromesh FM worked well for 2 months and 2 track events...then it went to shit and i was grinding in second gear at least once a day.

so after 2 months of gm syncromesh FM i switched back to Honda OEM. feels good right now, but all tranny fluid felt good when new.