DIY Manual Transmission Fluid Change and Are They Different By Model Year?

[James3spearchucker]

Hi All. Did anyone who did this swap find that their shifter feeling got worse after the swap? I recently swapped in 2.3L of Amsoil MTF into my Type R, and while shifting initially felt a little smoother, within a few days the shifter began to feel like it had more friction. My odd-numbered gears now have a similar crunch to the even-numbered ones when shifting at anything other than low RPM's - this was not the case on the Honda MTF.

I used Motul 75/90 and felt even between my fingers that this was a heavier oil and with use I could feel where the shifter is. It was vague before. It takes longer to make shifts but we are talking milliseconds and each shift feels protected and secure. I prefer it this way. I had miss-shifted before because my Civic HB Sport has very vague feel and it is better now but I still need to swap in SI, Type R, or Acuity parts seeing that Honda sells a Sport model Civic with base model shifter and differential.

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[Alex_hockey69]

What tool and size is this exactly to use to remove the drain plug and fill plug ?

 

[Bunhyung]

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[vleal12]

My car shifts well, but after reading the rave reviews about AMSOIL Synthetic Manual Synchromesh Transmission Fluid posted by AMIRZA786 in his excellent thread Changed MTF to Amsoil Synchromesh, I am Happy! I thought I would give it a try. While this isn't a difficult DIY job, I'm posting the instructions for two reasons: 1. Help others learn their way around under the hood. 2. Are these MT's different? In AMIRZA786's post, he mentions needing two sizes of crush washer. A 20mm Washer, Drain Plug and a 6mm Washer, Sealing.
When I changed my MTF, I didn't find a need for the 6mm washer. The fill cap on the top of the transmission and the drain plug on the bottom are identical in size and the drain plug on the bottom uses the 20mm washer.
Did anyone that did this themselves need the 6mm washer? I'm just curious if there are variations in the 10th Gen MTs.

Tools used: (Not shown in this picture are the oil drip pan and long neck funnel)

Instructions:
1. Loosen the fill plug in the top of the transmission (its to the left of the airbox) using a 3/8" square drive. I used 15" of extensions and a breaker bar.

2. Say hello to your gears! (The MT is not full of oil, 2 quarts is all that's required. I drained exactly 2 quarts from mine).

3. Put the car on ramps/lift/jack it up to get underneath.

4. Remove belly pan. There are 10 fasteners.

5. Position drip pan. I put some boards under mine to raise it up so there would be less of a mess from splashing.

6. Remove the drain plug. Located just to the right of the rear motor mount. Used breaker bar with 3 inch 3/8" square drive. Its identical to the fill plug removed from the top.

7. Let the MTF drain fully.

8. Put a new 20mm washer on the drain plug. In the picture below, the top plug is the fill plug (no washer) and the bottom one is the drain plug with washer.

9. Replace the drain plug with washer and tighten. If anyone has the spec torque value, please post.

10. Fill the MT with 2 quarts of MTF.

11. Replace the fill plug and tighten. If anyone has the spec torque value please post.

12. Done! Clean up and enjoy the smooth shifting!

Can you tell me if you had to remove the air box to get to the full plug, as I had a look and can’t seem to find the full plug visually?

 

[Maximum6]

Can you tell me if you had to remove the air box to get to the full plug, as I had a look and can’t seem to find the full plug visually?

After doing some research, it seems for SI owners you don't need to remove the air box. For Type R owners, you do.

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