So i m rather shocked to be hearing this. I ve always been told use Honda MTF on my old civic. I now find out that its been remade, maybe 10years ago? and probably not optimal to use in the older manuals trannies??

how true is this? wtf...

so 10-30 > honda mtf?

 

its oil... you will have everyone and their mother give opinions and no real facts or studies. some have used the old stuff with good results. same with new stuff. i have used 10w30 for along time. no issues...still.

 

^^^ X2 But my preference is MTF. If you have some 10w30 laying around I'd just use that. But if you dont and you'd need some transmission oil i'd recommend MTF. Its just a better piece of mind.

 

Motor oil has lots of additives that are not of much use inside your manual gearbox. Therefore Honda sells an oil with additives specifically for your gearbox to help the synchro's work while maintaining good fuel economy. Honda MTF is actually a 75w80 gear oil (as printed on bottles in other countries) which is equivalent to about a 10w30 engine oil.

 

I just bought some MTF at my local dealership and it doesn't say 10W/30 or 75W-80 on it or any other kind of grade for that matter.

 

I just did my 95 civic manual tranny today and I'm going a totally different direction.

I've used 1.8-1.9 liters of GM Synchromesh Friction Modified and half a tube of Molyslip Manual Transmission Supplement (Molybdenum Disulfide).

And I'm telling you I have never had such smooth shifting on a 20+ year old transmission. This includes when I used current Honda MTF.

The key is you have to get the Friction Modified Synchromesh, the Pennzoil crap doesn't cut it, ask me how I know.

As for current Honda MTF, Aquafina is the tranny guru that knows about the metallurgy and the oils etc and he's the one who has made it clear that 10w30 conventional motor oil works better than the current version of MTF. And Torco MTF works better than 10w30. Torco is more in line with the old Honda MTF from everything I understand.

But really, it's your car so do as you like. Just the one thing I would avoid is synthetic and semi-synthetic motor oil. It under performs even current Honda MTF.

I'm now a firm believer of the GM Synchromesh Friction Modified and Molyslip. I'll see how it does this winter.

Cheers.

Addendum: GM Synchromesh Friction Modified is for GM NV1500 manual Transmission which is an aluminum housing tranny with steel gears and brass synchros. The same materials used in our old Honda Manual Transmissions.

 

I'm guessing those other countries (like the ones pictured above from New Zealand) have a legal requirement to print the weights on the bottles. Definitely not the case here in the US.

I've used GMSMFM as a band-aid for transmissions with poorly assembled synchros that grind. It works fantastic. I'm not sure if it's better or worse in a properly functioning trans that already shifts smooth. I'm interested to try the Torco stuff now.

 

my 294k dd uses 10/30. its been ~ 100k since its been changed, no problems.

 

My bad, I understood what you posted as labeled 75W-80 in other countries while it's labeled as 10W-30 in the US.

 

DO not use any current Honda MTF in any D/B/H/F tranny. its **** water compared to the old formula.

Ive had success with Mobil 5000 10w-30 or 10w-40 (pending on shelf stock). Hell, put 250k on the same transmission with mobil 5000 10w-40 in summer and 10w-30 in winter. But then I changed my tranny fluid every other oil change. Like you should if you beat the crap out of your car