I just do a drain and fill of the ATF every 15,000 miles on my CR-V. I get exactly 3 quarts out exactly and I just replaced it with that much. This is a quote from a CR-V forum, and is why I choose to do them at 15,000 miles:
Quote:
Black Pearl: "I consulted my engineering buddy at work about the 1 X every 15 K or 4 X at 60K ATF change question. I explained the deal with the 1/3 oil volume being changed, and sent him the link to Honda’s procedure.
First off I was wrong, my buddy is a Certified Lubrication Specialist and is a member of the Society of Tribologists and Lubricating Engineers.
STLE
Here is the question I posed to my Spiritual Adviser in Tribological Affairs:
“Here is the problem. Owner A. Runs his car for 60,000 miles and then performs the 4X transmission oil change per Honda’s procedure. So that at 60001 miles, he has 81% new oil and 19% old oil.
Owner B says. Hmmm. I would like to refresh the transmission juice more often. I will do a 1 X change every 15000 miles. So at the 60001 miles both cars have had 10 to 12 quarts of new transmission oil put into them. However owner B has doled his out over four 15,000 mile segments. So theoretically he would have still have the 19% original oil but 33% new oil and the remaining at various ages in between.
So the question is which is better for the vehicle. Owner A or owner B?”
And here is his answer:
For me this is a no-brainer. The periodic 1X method is by far the best.
There are two major factors at play….. wear particle generation and additive depletion.
With the 4X method you are running at 40K and 50K and 60K with ever increasing levels of wear particles. The factor is not linear. The more particles present, the greater will be the particle generation rate. With the 1X method you will be constantly flushing out some portion of the particles and should have experienced less particle generated wear when you reach the 60K mark.
Likewise with the additive consideration. With the 1X method you will never dip as low in additives as you will at 59K with the 4X method.
One caveat is that if you use the 1X method you cannot change over to the 4X method during the 60-120K period.***
Also, I really don’t like the thought of the power flush. I salute Honda for recommending against it. (I once tried it on a Corsica transmission at the advice of my mechanic.
Very shortly thereafter a valve became clogged. Fortunately it was easy access for the transmission shop so the bill was minimal. My local transmission shop does not advise the power flush and does not offer it.)”
***I questioned what he meant by not changing over to the 4 X method. What he meant was that one can not use the 1 X at 15K method at 60K then decide to do the 4 X at 120 K with no additional 1 X changes. If you decide to go to the 4 X method with no further 1 X methods, then you should do the 4 X method at the beginning of the 4 X interval period.
Therefore if one did the 1X method up to 45 K, did a 4 X at 60 and a 4 X at 120, that would be acceptable.
Doing a 1 X up to and including 60 and a 4 X at 120 K is not acceptable.
The only exception I would take on this is that if you have an extended warranty that is valid for longer than 60K, I would use Honda’s procedure to keep your warranty in effect.
My hats off to Badgerland…the honorary tribologist of the month!"
Black Pearl is an excellent DIY guy on the CR-V forum. Very informational.
