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Ford Honey Dosent like the cold.

T

Tourige

CEG's Resident Jackass
Joined
May 25, 2004
Messages
3,484
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Last winter i ran RP Synchromax(i think thats what it was) and the tranny was pretty cold in the mornings, but it was still easy to move the gears.

This summer i put in Ford Honey stuff and it was kickass all year long, now that its starting to get cold out its turning to sludge in the mornings.. once it warms up its good, but when its cold.. NOOOOO. Anyone else have this problem(was i supposed to add something to it???)
 
You may benefit from adding 2 oz (half a bottle) of Ford Friction Modifier (XL3). It is also possible that you will not get full improvement unless you replace the shift forks with the roller bearing ones.
 
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I have been running the Ford Honey with the 2oz of FM for at least a year now and to tell you the truth I am not that happy with it! I found almost no improvement. Cold mornings are not fun. I am thinking about trying the R/P, I just hate to throw $50 down the tubes. If R/P doesnt help any, I need new shift forks!
 
mart_svt - Florida
Tourige - Canada

both complain about cold weather shifting :shrug: how does that work ... I didn't think Florida got cold like Canada ...


but on that note I can say that I have had the current fluid in my dd for about a year and though last winter the feel was great even when it was cold out, but now as it is starting to get under freezing at night it doesn't feel as good until warmed up in the mornings ...
 
BrApple said:
mart_svt - Florida
Tourige - Canada

both complain about cold weather shifting :shrug: how does that work ... I didn't think Florida got cold like Canada ...
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It got down to 30 degrees last Jan. where I am from. Thats warm compared to Canada, :laugh:. Point being, I noticed a difference when it was cold. It did shift better when warm. I cant imagine how it would feel in the negatives?

That is all...
 
Regardless of what anyone has once or currently says using RWD LSD additive is assinine. It only promotes premature MTX failure!
 
That's funny. It was once in the Ford Contour Shop Manual.

Gee, 220,000 miles on my SVT. 180,000 with fluids with more friction modifier than the original. I wonder when my trans is going to fail?
 
i think i just have normal old mercon in mine. shifting is normally fine, but have been having issues with getting into second gear when trans is cold. it goes in, but doesnt when i release clutch. seems to pop out, but it doesnt. it just doesnt go in. then theres my problem with reverse, GOOD LORD!!!! never feels good going in reverse.

so i know ive got some trans issues, but how much of a difference did the synchromax make? ive run royal purple oil and atf in my saturn and was absolutely thrilled with it. never expected just oil to make a difference in feel.

also anybody know the weight of the honey? ive also run mobil 1 syn 75w90 in my saturn, and was great during the summer, but winter i had to let the car warm to operating temp before moving. learned that after one day coasting to a stop from my drive, pulled into the street and had no gears.
 
Big Jim said:
That's funny. It was once in the Ford Contour Shop Manual.

Gee, 220,000 miles on my SVT. 180,000 with fluids with more friction modifier than the original. I wonder when my trans is going to fail?
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Well, I too have used the friction modifier in the recommended amounts and I'll tell you it was definitely NO GOOD with my Torsen LSD. High rate of material wear and such. As you know I changed the fluid out and it smelled like a refinery after just a short time, maybe a little under a month. Then I used regular fluids like Redline MTL with good luck, the Royal Purple, Redline MT90, Finally went back to Torco when I had my diff serviced, which was the fluid I ran on my transmission when it was totally stock for the longest time.

I ended up sending my differential back into Torsen and they put in new gears and were unable to explain why they had the excess wear, when I talked about the noises it made ever since I used the ATF+friction modifier it looks like the issues with it started when I used that particular fluid. So nothing concrete, but I will tell you dont' use it and especially with the LSD.

Just like the Redline MTL scare. I argued against it and for more proof, but since I couldn't disprove anything then for everyone's safety I agree that it is just smarter to use a different fluid and save the headache or risk.
 
I agree that it is best to leave the chemisty to the oil chemists. It would be best to use a fluid that comes with the correct balance of additives to function properly with a manual transmission. Torco is one of the brands I have said should work well. I'm still interested in Specialty Formulations. I wish their shipping charges were a little more reasonable.
 
Ok, So I have been a member of CEG for over a year now and I would have to say that I am very confused on what oil to run in the MTX75... I searched and I bought and serviced my SVT's tranny with Fords honey w/ about 2 oz's of xl-7 friction mod. THat combo cost me 60 bucks! Is that the best fluid or is the Royal purple better? From what I searched and found... THe RP was an alternative to the "expensive" ford honey with added friction mod. I would really like to know if I should keep what I have or eat the 60 bucks and spend 18 bucks on three quarts on rp Syncromax? It does seem that the honey does not like the cold... What is the difference between the xl-7 and xl-3 friction mod? Is one dino based and the other (xl-7) is synthetic? Also, are they both safe to use?
 
Daves95Contour said:
Ok, So I have been a member of CEG for over a year now and I would have to say that I am very confused on what oil to run in the MTX75... I searched and I bought and serviced my SVT's tranny with Fords honey w/ about 2 oz's of xl-7 friction mod. THat combo cost me 60 bucks! Is that the best fluid or is the Royal purple better? From what I searched and found... THe RP was an alternative to the "expensive" ford honey with added friction mod. I would really like to know if I should keep what I have or eat the 60 bucks and spend 18 bucks on three quarts on rp Syncromax? It does seem that the honey does not like the cold... What is the difference between the xl-7 and xl-3 friction mod? Is one dino based and the other (xl-7) is synthetic? Also, are they both safe to use?
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xl-7 has been discontinued. From what I understand it was made especially for adding to synthetic fluids. xl-3 works fine with Ford honey though. That's what I have in my car at the moment.

As to what else you can use, that's a highly charged topic. About a year ago there was an everlasting thread titled "watch out" that described the problems some have had with RedLine MTL in this transmission. This fluid should be avoided unless or until RedLine does something to imporve their product. It sludged up badly in those cases outlined in that thread, blocking flow of lubricant to the differential spider gear shafts causing them to wear badly.

Since then Royal Purple has been tried by many and found to work well. They are also good reports on Torco.

If you really want more detail, look for that old thread and read through it.
 
Shifting has not changed in the cold weather in MI with Royal Purple. Take it for what it's worth. The Honey is the best fluid but might not perform as well in cold climates. It's also double the price. Just my $.02
 
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