Thank you for the update, Phil.

Interesting. OEM DF (differential) or aftermarket one???

I know fair amount of owners in US used 'cocktail' mix for the MT oil when they experienced difficulty in gear shifting.
For me, this is just hiding the issue and not a fix because for street driving, one should not have any shifting problem with the Honda MTF3.

Some even reported new issue on DF by using the cocktail method despite the significant improvement on the shifting difficulty.


The earlier spec DF has multiple CL disks with embedded friction material and soaked in the MTF.
It's pre-loaded and constant locking force regardless of the input force difference between the R & L shaft.
The spring washer/plate sets the friction force and the locking won't start slipping/break out until after exceeding the pre-loaded torque.

So, using different MT oil will change the characteristic of the locking/slip behaviour.
For the clarification, this doesn't mean good or bad on the DF friction disks.

Would be interesting to hear the update in longer term as I know some owners in Japan are using customised RP fluid in their MT box.


Kaz