and they didn't have any. The parts guy at Crown Acura in Richmond said they use regular 10w30 and not the MTF! Holy -ish! He claimed that manual trannies don't need it. With all of the recent discussions on transmission whine how can they possibly ignore what Honda recommends? Makes you wonder. I then went down the street to West Broad Honda and proceeded to buy some MTF. I told the parts guy there and his jaw dropped. I've always used Honda MTF and have had no problems. Are dealerships this stupid? Oh well.

 

5w30 or 10w30 works just fine. But MTF works better.

But for a dealer not to stock MTF, that is lame.

 

Steven, Still planning on a dyno day at Rosen's?

 

I was told the same thing. By Hopkins Acura, Pleasanton Acura, and Stevens Creek Acura that the Honda MTF is just a motor oil with a few drops of additives which are useful for older manual trannies. When I was going to get my 30k service from them, they were going to use Honda Motor Oil to fill my manual tranny. It was only the later years Acura/Honda models that suggests the use of Honda MTF but the manual on my old 93 Accord states use 10w30 or 10w40 motor oil. Honda MTF is most likely just marketing hype and for them to squeeze a few extra $$$ out of our pockets. Since most of us are hella paranoid on what we put in our cars, we spend the few extra $$$ just to be sure and that is what Honda is counting on.

 

Gear oil and motor oil are two different animals. You want motor oil to be thinner and flow faster, but you want gear oil to be thicker and flow slower. Yes, the difference is a few additivies, but those additives change the viscocity from 10W-30 to 75W-90 or something like that. I changed the MTF on my R. It came out a lot thicker than any motor oil I've used. And that includes 20W-50.

 

Honda MTF is MUCH thinner compared to the gear oil i've seen. Almost the
viscosity of motor oil.

 

too many different replies from HT members but the replies from Honda Acura dealers have been ALL consistent so far and they are the ones selling this stuff.

 

No, there's something you apparently don't understand. Gear oil viscosity is rated using a different scale from motor oil viscosity. For example, Redline MTL is a gear oil that is rated at 70W80. However, this fluid is the same viscosity as a motor oil that's between 5W30 and 10W30. So even though the numbers make it sound like the viscosity is different, it's not.

(Same thing for Redline's MT-90, which is a gear oil rated at 75W90 and is the same viscosity as a motor oil that's between 10W40 and 15W40.)



[Modified by nsxtcjr, 3:12 PM 10/12/2001]

 

So what do we use????? Honda MTF or motor oiL?????

 

either one.. i generally use 10w30 and i've never had any problems..

 

If you need to get some in richmond, go to wallace honda acura on broad, next to ambassador travel, or wallace honda acura on research road, they always have it in stock. tell him john tatum sent you.

 

If i didn't remember wrong, in the service maunal for the integra it recommends you to use 10W-30. But i think if you modify something in your tranny, like LSD or gear. You should use 75W-90. But so far i haven't heard of a guy use 10W-30 has a problem

 

I remember speaking to Honda TechLine not too long ago and they mentioned that there were certain benefits in particular by using MTF rather than 10w30.
I just put in a feedback request so they may send me the information or tell me which bulletin to go under. That way I can relay the info to this board once I find out.

I'll keep you guys updated.