My MY2000 has approx. 8,000 miles. I have never really been happy with the 'smothness' of the transmission.

Going into 1st and the 1st -> 2nd shift are the worst. It does not grind.

I'm going in for an oil change this week. Do you think a transmission fluid change could help? Any other suggestions on what I or the service tech could look for?

Thanks in advance.

Michael

 

If you still have your original oil, then Hell Yes it will help. There are alot of different opinions about which oil is best, but most agree that the Honda MTF is pretty good. I changed my tranny oil a couple weeks ago, and it made an immediate improvement. I have an '02 with 8000 miles.

If you take it to an oil change place, you should get the fluid from the Honda dealer first. Don't let the lube shop just throw something in there. If they will do it, have them drain the tranny oil through a large coffee filter, so you can see if there are any metal shavings in there. The tranny has a pressurized lubrication system, but it does not have a filter. I would recommend getting the tranny fluid changed at least once or twice a year, regardless of mileage.

 

I agree. When I changed my gear box oil at 7500 miles, my gearbox seemed a lot smoother. I used Honda MTF, it costs $4.50 per quart. According to the Helm manual it takes 1.56 qts for a gear box fluid change.

While your at it, you just as well get the differential fluid changed too. The differential takes 0.78 qts. After seeing what others are doing, I've settled on Mobil One synthetic GL5 75W-90 for the differential. I plan on changing both of these every other oil change. For me that will be about every 10000 miles.

Don't forget the drain and fill plug washers.

 

I changed mine also with Honda MTF, and felt an immediate difference. It won't get the notchyness out completely, but I'm sure you will feel a big difference.

 

I also have a 2000 model with around the same miles you have (~7000 miles)
I changed tranny fluid and diff. fluid 2 weeks ago. Didn't notice anything.
I used Honda MTF and Honda Diff. Fluid VTM-4 that honda dealer provides.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by RUGBY
[B]My MY2000 has approx. 8,000 miles.

 

Was your tranny shifting smoothly already.

 

No, I posted a tranny problem before. Sometimes when the car
it cold (when it just fully warm up and hit 3 bars), the tranny is not
smooth. I have to drive it around for like 30 minutes...and then
the shifting will be smoother.

I don't have 1st to 2nd grind but when shifting into 2nd, i have
this "notchy" shifting.

my tranny problem before was the gear slip out of 4th gear, it
doesn't slip out by itself, but all i have to do is push it a little it
and it will slip out the 4th gear even w/o the clutch engaged.
weird huh?

i also change my diff. fluid and did not notice any differences,
maybe i think the old diff. fluid was okay. it looks clean when
i drained it but my drian plug have some metal deposits on it
so i cleaned it. i was just changing this for a piece of mind 'cuz
i've been hearing and reading a lot of rear end problems on
s2000s.

 

You may already realize this, but the transmission is still going to be completely cold when the temp guage first reaches 3 bars. The tranny doesn't generate that much heat on its own, and the connection between the engine and the tranny is mostly just air space (clutch housing). It will definitely take the tranny a bit of driving for it to smooth out, but it shouldn't take 30 minutes.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gernby
[B]

You may already realize this, but the transmission is still going to be completely cold when the temp guage first reaches 3 bars.

 

Hey RUGBY, I also have a 2000 that occasionally is fussy getting into 2nd, and sometimes 3rd. Then I went to an SCCA SOLO event one day...there were 6 s2k's there! So, after chatting with some owners, discovered that the 2000 model year has a recall for the transmission AND the rearend (or was it the clutch). Anyway, I mentioned it at the 1000 mile checkup and they asked me if I wanted to leave it for a few days, so guess it is true. I thought I'd wear it out a little before replacing the tranny...only have 7,500 miles on it now. Anyone else hear of the recalls?