Pennzoil Synchromesh Manual Transmission Fluid

[WA1DH]

I had posted earlier about an issue I was having with grinding second gear for the first few miles while my car was cold, or blocking me out of second completely. I know my second synchro isn't that great, but I was hoping for a 'cheap fix'. I read great things about Pennzoil Synchromesh, so I decided to give it a try.

I've been driving about 2 weeks now with Synchromesh. My second gear engages much better than before while cold (it didn't want to engage at all before). It still requires a little more effort than while warm, but it goes into gear without grinding. It will only grind if I literally SLAM it into second.

All my other gears seem to shift 'quicker' as well. By quicker I mean I pull the shifter down into the gate, hold it as the synchro does its job, and it slides into gear. Now that all happens a little faster. This took a little while to get used to, as I was slightly botching up my shifts since I was used to letting the clutch out as soon as it slid into gear. Now I have to wait a split second longer for the RPM to drop after it goes into gear. Overall, it shifts about the same as it did before while warm, only a little faster.

For ~$7 a quart, I think Synchromesh can be a cheap fix for those who have synchro problems that haven't reached the 'fatal' stage yet. It cost me about $30 total and so far has worked very well.

[LHOswald]

i've still yet to change my tranny fluid. will check out

[comingbackdown]

Believe it or not, Pennzoil Synchromesh was the closest thing to spec that Ricerzone had for my old Cavalier. Still didn't shift great, but it was an epic improvement over the previous.

Never changed fluid? Bad.

My Cavalier was a '94. Afaik, it was never changed before I got to it. Instead of coming out like you'd expect (i.e. oily) the old oil came out as a slimy, foamy, blue/gray watery sludge. That completely explained why the shifter was so damned notchy.

[LHOswald]

well mine is a 92 and the shifter is so touchy it doesn't even like to be SC'd!

[FDSpirit]

Get some new MTF in there mang! Anyway, I had heard good stuff about the Syncromesh as well. Glad to see it helped you out.