High shifting effort
 

Hey All,

I've got a 96 5spd DX Hatch. I've noticed that it's a bit difficult to get into gear (esp @ a stop and down shifting) at times and a little notchier most other times.
I'm not pushing the car hard, it's only got 80,000 miles and I changed the fluid about 2 weeks ago. It's not leaking, but could slightly low or high fluid level cause this (probably not more than +- 10%)? I'm pretty sure I was on level ground when I added the fluid, but it may have been off by a degree or 2.

Would you recommend Red Line over Honda MTF, if so, which Red Line should I get, and about how much does that stuff run.

I thought I'd open this one up to you guys, as I'm not the tranny guru...thank you.

I almost forgot, I'm experiencing this a little at start up, but mostly during normal driving...the outside temps have been between 25 and 65 F.

well if you are looking to put in an additive I would highly suggest ProLong. I don't run it in mine personally but some friends of mine live by it religiously. It to this day has a VW car running over 400 thousond miles and is only using prolong they ae sending it to him to see how ong it will last and they want to blow it up and it won't.

Redline products aren' to bad but I hven;t heard a while lot about them..I've used the Water weeter by them and that seemed to work..

Hope this might help a little....Ohh yeah you might just be trying to downshift into a gear at to high of an RPM that's why it doesnt want to go in easily. IMO...;) ;) :crazy:

I just put redline MTL in my civic. And it works great, as for your problem maybe new polyurethane bushings would help and while your at it put in a shortshifter(B&M, or Neuspeed). But I really don't know what would cause that kind of problem. Hope this helps.

I guess I should hop under the car and inspect the shift linkage bushings...they're still stock rubber. As for the too high an rpm downshifting...nah, this is just around town, nothing to prove, A to B driving.

As for Pro Long, I wouldn't mind using it, but the guy at the dealer was saying to use HONDA MTF because it had just the right amount of friction to it. Normal 10W30 yielded too much gear noise, but synthetic 10W30 didn't allow the Syncros to fully engage and do their job...hence Honda MTF was just right. It could have been the right amount of BS from the right person, cuz I bought the fluids, 4.50 a quart, bleh! Oh, my point about Pro Long...wouldn't that be like synthetic and decrease friction within the tranny too much for the syncros...or would it just improve shift feel? I'll check the site out and see what's up.

If I go to a short shifter kit, wouldn't that decrease my leverage...making shifting slightly harder for me? I agree on the Poly-U bushings, but not for the short shifter.

But thank you guys, I appreciate the answers and advice. I was beginning to think no one gave a Shite!

Good weekend to all.

Actually I have a friend that works at a Honda Dealerships and he has a 12 sec all motor civic and he uses honda synthetic motor oil in his trans. He said that the best thing to use...

honda mtf is where its at. i dont suggest anything else except redline mtf. DO NOT USE ANYTHING ELSE BUT THOSE 2 PRODUCTS.

use what you want to use. just giving so info...

using anything other than honda mtf or redline mtf isnt a good idea......really using honda mtf is your best bet. other stuff just isnt as suited for honda transmissions. read up on it. you'll find out what im talking about.

Thanks guys, but we're right back where we started, hehe...debating on which to use, Honda MTF or RedLine MTF;)

I'm not heavily opinionated toward either...it's just I've used the Honda MTF and was wondering if anyone's had miraculous success/helps shifting effort with the Redline.

I appreciate the opinions, and that's what I'm asking for, but it's still a ? of Honda or RedLine....hmmm and then there's ProLong treatment with either of the two products...whole other can o worms tho, mwuuuhahahahahaaaaa.

I've had redline MTF in my civic for about a week and honestly I can't t tell the difference between that and the honda stuff. So i'd say go with which ever of the two is cheaper.

Look man, when i had my last car (93 prelude si... BOOSTED!!!) i was having trouble downshifting to 3rd and i was constantly missing 3rd because it just didn't wanna get in gear. I thought the tranny was going out but i dealt with it. I ended up changing out my clutch for an upgraded one when i was getting ready for boost. That actually fixed my problem. The clutch was going out. Maybe it's not the same problem as you but it sounds a little like my situation. I too tried the different tranny fluid in hopes that it would be fixed. Just didn't work.

Hope this helps... Some clutches don't make it to 80,000 miles.

Thanks everyone, sounds like Honda MTF, check the shifting linkage and the clutch. The clutch wouldn't happen to be adjustable, would it?