I tried all sorts of atf in my 2007 impala 4t65e working on a 3-4 shift flare. Really they all worked well and not much difference to be had with any of them and I drove the wheels off that thing in the years I had it. To list them
Maxlife (including cvt compatible versions
Castrol universal...
I have used 5 pairs of 1a auto trq struts and been happy with all of them. First set has 50k on them at 4 years old going strong. While i have been disappointed with the surrounding mevotech parts, the monroes on my accord are fine 2 years on.
1: no if you are sticking with the well established brands
2: no but the synthetic ones typically state that they are
3: Very few if anyone outside the field know have any real insight, talking to our amsoil and HPL reps could serve you well.
Personal opinion is any dex vi (factory approved...
It's substantially undersized for the state that we find them in on the used market. I have had success taking a punch and giving it a vigorous tap. I also had success using a large screw extractor and if all else fails i have taken a cutoff wheel (or recip saw) and making a notch in the plug to...
Our 2002 got it's first atf change at around 175k and a succession of aisin-dw1 cured some torque converter shudder. Make sure the fluid in it isn't torched already and go with whichever compatible fluid you like.
I second this. I pulled a filter off our 2002 crv that would budge after screwdriver impalement using this filter wrench. Cant imagine a better bargain for 11 bucks.
It's not that bad to get it to temp and use the level plug. If you were wanting to measure and refill with the same amount I would at least do the full leveling procedure once beforehand.