1992 Honda Accord DX 5-Speed Oil

[spinfire]

I have recently purchased a 1992 Accord DX 5-Speed with 145k miles. The car and engine are in good shape, though second gear engagement is occaisionally a bit rough, especially when the vehicle is cold. As far as I know, the maintenance records do not indicate the transmission oil ever being changed. It looks like the manual recommends 5w-30 engine oil for transmission oil? This seems a bit weird.

What are your opinions regarding whether or not it is worth it to drain and replace the MT lube? I was looking at Redline MTL which seems to be the right viscosity and good for this particular vehicle. I'm in NH, so it does get cold and cold weather performance is important. But, it also does get hot during the summer too and obviously year round performance is important.

If there are other lubes which would be good choices, including any synthetics, please feel free to enlighten me

Thanks.

 

[unDummy]

Redline MTL, SpecialtyFormulations MTL-P, and Amsoil MTF are good choices.

Another option is to use a 0w30 motor oils like Castrol Syntec or Esso XD3.

 

[harry j]

Amsoil MTF and add a magnetic drain plug.

 

[Pablo]

Give this a try: Amsoil MTF

Work great in Hondas!

 

[spinfire]

Quote:

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Amsoil MTF and add a magnetic drain plug.

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Any recommendations on where to find a magnetic MT drain plug for this particular vehicle?

 

[spinfire]

I just wanted to come back to this thread and add:

I ended up buying the Amsoil MTF.. The old fluid seemed to be in relatively good condition with no visible metal particles or anything. I do find the transmission shifts much, much nicer now, especially in the cold. I think the viscosity of the old MTF was off.

The shifting action is still occasionally stiff and not butter smooth like it is on our Golf TDI. But, I still feel it is quite good and a huge improvement.

+1 for the Amsoil MTF in the Honda 5-speeds, I think it was totally worth it.

 

[ctrcbob]

I had a 1990 Accord EX with the 5-Speed purchased new. Had the same problems as you. The owners manual called for
10W-30 engine oil in the transmission. Was always stiff when cold. My wife always had trouble getting it into first gear. Would always grind when shifting into second. (Could not make a smooth shift into second). Complaints fell on deaf ears at both the dealer level and at Mother Honda. This was before I ever heard of MTF, back in those days. I did improve performance a bit by changing to a Motorcycle Oil called Golden Spectro 10W-40, but still was not good.

BTW, that Honda was made on a Monday or Friday, in Marysville OH, as it was the very worse car I have owned in the modern era. The poor shifting was just one of many many problems I had with the car. The worse problem was with clutch chatter, and Mother Honda changed it once they designed an improved clutch, (telling me that they had many problems with the clutch) and after two dealers kept telling me that "I was the only one to ever report such a problem" and "Sorry but we can't reproduce the problem". Ended up trading it in for a 1992 Toyota Camry, that was Made in Japan, (not Kentucky) and put 92k miles on it without it ever seeing the inside of a dealership. Great car.

Speaking of Manual Transmissions, the very best shifting manual transmissions I've seen have been on the two (are you ready for this???) Renault Laguna's that I leased (I lease, not rent) on my last two trips to France. They were like shifting through butter. Yes they were that good. (Don't believe all the bad things you hear about Renaults as I've been leasing them since 1989, six times, and never had any problems with any of them, none, nada, zilch).