So the history on my element is at 35k I changed the atf once with z1. When I wiped off the magnant there was quite a bit of gunk on it. at 50k I changed with amsoil atf. On the magnant there was almost no gunk. At 60k I changed again with amsoil atf. There was a ton of gunk on the magnant. So now at 66k I want to do one more drain and fill with amsoil. Do you guys think that there will be a bunch of gunk? If there is I'll be kind of mad. The first time after I used amsoil I just wrote it off to "cleaning up" the stuff in there but if the magnant is really dirtly this time dont you guys think it would be because I'm getting more wear? I'm going to do it later this week. So any guesses??
2005 honda element sludge on drain plug
- Thread starter ryland
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If you are just draining and refilling - the cleaning will go on for awhile. All AT's shed ferrous material.
What is the reputation of the Element tranny? Is it one of Honda's infamous AT's?
What is the reputation of the Element tranny? Is it one of Honda's infamous AT's?
no its suppose to be the best one on any of the honda suv's.
Had this issue on a 99 TL. YEah the ones with the [censored] tansmissions. Flushed with Amsoil ATF and added a magnefine inline filter. Hardly any build up whatsoever. Get a filter on that thing.
"best one on any of the honda SUV's" LOL thats not saying much considering hondas track record of building lackluster transmissions. Sorry, I had to being an ex honda owner.
"best one on any of the honda SUV's" LOL thats not saying much considering hondas track record of building lackluster transmissions. Sorry, I had to being an ex honda owner.
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Agreed Honda trannys are second rate, but I don't hear many problems with the Element (or any of the K24 powered 4/5speed trannys) so I think he'll be ok.
Every automatic tranny will have magnets at the bottom of the pan, because every auto tranny will shed ferrous metal during normal use. No fluid will stop this. And if you aren't getting any on the plug, that doesn't mean it isn't happening.
You can add a Magnefine if it helps you sleep at night. The magnet won't do squat, but there is a decent paper filter with a bypass.
My advice would be to leave well enough alone. Draining and refilling on your schedule will be fine. I don't put any stock in your drain bolt sludge findings. I wouldn't like to see it either, but I guarantee your magnets are full of it no matter what.
Every automatic tranny will have magnets at the bottom of the pan, because every auto tranny will shed ferrous metal during normal use. No fluid will stop this. And if you aren't getting any on the plug, that doesn't mean it isn't happening.
You can add a Magnefine if it helps you sleep at night. The magnet won't do squat, but there is a decent paper filter with a bypass.
My advice would be to leave well enough alone. Draining and refilling on your schedule will be fine. I don't put any stock in your drain bolt sludge findings. I wouldn't like to see it either, but I guarantee your magnets are full of it no matter what.
im only changing amsoil one more time just to get 90% amsoil in there. After this time I'll leave it for a while maybe 60k
unless you all think that its fine with the two changes of amsoil thats in it now. One of the changes was the old amsoil and one was the new. Pablo what do you think? One more to get to 90% or just leave it at 75%?
JTK
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That little bit of black paste on the drain plug magnet is nothing. Lots of metal bits would be bad. As long as you have clutch material left, your gonna get a 'lil paste on the plug.
Joel
Joel
I realize that but I wonder if I'm getting more than I did with z1.
i know this opens a can of soup , but you should not be doing a drain and fill. Get some b-g trans cleaner and a can of conditioner and have you or your local shop do a fluid exchange the right way from the cooler fill and return lines.. that way the trans is cleaned and all the old gunk is gone.after you are done ,put the conditioner in and call it a day for the next 60000 miles. drain and fills are never going to give you the results you are desiring..
Those are not sludge, it is a paste of iron on the magnet.
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Those are not sludge, it is a paste of iron on the magnet.
Yes I know that, sorry I called it sludge. This is normal but all I was saying is that I got a lot more of it the first time I drained the amsoil. Is it accelerated wear or is it just cleaning it out better????? I'm going to drain it, and look at the magnant. If there is a lot on there then I think it would indicate acclerated wear with the amsoil and I'll go buy castrol import or go back to z1. If it looks clean I'll throw the last change of amsoil in there.
Those are not sludge, it is a paste of iron on the magnet.
Yes I know that, sorry I called it sludge. This is normal but all I was saying is that I got a lot more of it the first time I drained the amsoil. Is it accelerated wear or is it just cleaning it out better????? I'm going to drain it, and look at the magnant. If there is a lot on there then I think it would indicate acclerated wear with the amsoil and I'll go buy castrol import or go back to z1. If it looks clean I'll throw the last change of amsoil in there.
Originally Posted By: ryland
I realize that but I wonder if I'm getting more than I did with z1.
Obviously yes you are...I would go back to the Z-1. When I flushed my 02 CRV (a Honda flush is 3 drain fills with a mile or 2 of driving in between) I got some paste on the magnet when I started. Afterwards, no more gunk on the magnet. And that was with the Z-1
I realize that but I wonder if I'm getting more than I did with z1.
Obviously yes you are...I would go back to the Z-1. When I flushed my 02 CRV (a Honda flush is 3 drain fills with a mile or 2 of driving in between) I got some paste on the magnet when I started. Afterwards, no more gunk on the magnet. And that was with the Z-1
Originally Posted By: chad8
i know this opens a can of soup , but you should not be doing a drain and fill. Get some b-g trans cleaner and a can of conditioner and have you or your local shop do a fluid exchange the right way from the cooler fill and return lines.. that way the trans is cleaned and all the old gunk is gone.after you are done ,put the conditioner in and call it a day for the next 60000 miles. drain and fills are never going to give you the results you are desiring..
Honda says everywhere in all of there publications DO NOT use flush machines on their transmissions. Honda says to drain fill 3 times in a row to flush the trans. It was in my service manual.
i know this opens a can of soup , but you should not be doing a drain and fill. Get some b-g trans cleaner and a can of conditioner and have you or your local shop do a fluid exchange the right way from the cooler fill and return lines.. that way the trans is cleaned and all the old gunk is gone.after you are done ,put the conditioner in and call it a day for the next 60000 miles. drain and fills are never going to give you the results you are desiring..
Honda says everywhere in all of there publications DO NOT use flush machines on their transmissions. Honda says to drain fill 3 times in a row to flush the trans. It was in my service manual.
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Stick to Z1.....
I'm at 117k miles in my CR-V. I haven't used Z1 since about 30k. First I went to Maxlife then to Castrol HM. The Castrol HM is great stuff. The paste is a normal byproduct in these trannies. Thus the reason for the magnetic plug. Smart, eh? Regularly changing the dual pump fluid is a much bigger concern than the ATF (assuming you have awd).
Originally Posted By: ryland
So the history on my element is at 35k I changed the atf once with z1. When I wiped off the magnant there was quite a bit of gunk on it. at 50k I changed with amsoil atf. On the magnant there was almost no gunk. At 60k I changed again with amsoil atf. There was a ton of gunk on the magnant. So now at 66k I want to do one more drain and fill with amsoil. Do you guys think that there will be a bunch of gunk? If there is I'll be kind of mad. The first time after I used amsoil I just wrote it off to "cleaning up" the stuff in there but if the magnant is really dirtly this time dont you guys think it would be because I'm getting more wear? I'm going to do it later this week. So any guesses??
My wife and I currently drive two Honda's, a 2006 Pilot and a 2007 Civic LX. We purchased both of these vehicles new. Prior to the Pilot, my wife drove a 1998 CR-V that we also bought new. Long story short, I have changed the ATF on all three of these vehicles.
I notice that you waited until 35K miles to perform the 1st drain/fill. Unless something has changed, doesn't Honda recommend ATF replacement every 30K miles? I bet the factory fill was dark at the 1st drain/fill. Honda states that dark Z1 does not equate to ATF breakdown or AT damage, but I never felt comfortable using it for more than 20K miles between drain/fills. As others have stated, a glob of metallic "sludge" on the drain plug's magnet is normal though.
As you know, one drain/fill replaces about 50% of the ATF in the system. The infusion of new Z1 ATF at 35K miles, and subsequent 15K mile drain interval, resulted in less "sludge" at 50K miles. This seems to validate (Subjective) my belief that Z1 should be used for no more than 20K miles.
After the 50K mile drain/fill, the ATF was essentially a 50/50 mix of Z1 and Amsoil ATF. I believe that the 50/50 mix of Amsoil & Z1 ATF cleaned some material that 100% Z1 ATF could not remove. This may explain the large accumulation of "sludge" during the short drain/fill interval between 50K and 60K miles.
My guess is that you will continue to see a lot of "sludge" until the residual Z1 ATF has been purged from the system. At that point, I believe the quantity of "sludge" will drop off, then equalize as the Amsoil ATF begins to maintain system cleanliness instead of removing accumulated deposits.
I use Amsoil ATF in both of my Honda vehicles and went through a very similar process. My recommendation is to utilize a 10K mile drain/fill interval on the current ATF. If there is a marked decrease in "sludge" at the next drain/fill (70K miles on vehicle), then I would increase the drain interval by 5K to 10K miles each subsequent drain interval. If there is still a lot of "sludge" at 70K miles, I would perform another drain/fill at 80K miles and contact Amsoil if the situation has not improved by then.
So the history on my element is at 35k I changed the atf once with z1. When I wiped off the magnant there was quite a bit of gunk on it. at 50k I changed with amsoil atf. On the magnant there was almost no gunk. At 60k I changed again with amsoil atf. There was a ton of gunk on the magnant. So now at 66k I want to do one more drain and fill with amsoil. Do you guys think that there will be a bunch of gunk? If there is I'll be kind of mad. The first time after I used amsoil I just wrote it off to "cleaning up" the stuff in there but if the magnant is really dirtly this time dont you guys think it would be because I'm getting more wear? I'm going to do it later this week. So any guesses??
My wife and I currently drive two Honda's, a 2006 Pilot and a 2007 Civic LX. We purchased both of these vehicles new. Prior to the Pilot, my wife drove a 1998 CR-V that we also bought new. Long story short, I have changed the ATF on all three of these vehicles.
I notice that you waited until 35K miles to perform the 1st drain/fill. Unless something has changed, doesn't Honda recommend ATF replacement every 30K miles? I bet the factory fill was dark at the 1st drain/fill. Honda states that dark Z1 does not equate to ATF breakdown or AT damage, but I never felt comfortable using it for more than 20K miles between drain/fills. As others have stated, a glob of metallic "sludge" on the drain plug's magnet is normal though.
As you know, one drain/fill replaces about 50% of the ATF in the system. The infusion of new Z1 ATF at 35K miles, and subsequent 15K mile drain interval, resulted in less "sludge" at 50K miles. This seems to validate (Subjective) my belief that Z1 should be used for no more than 20K miles.
After the 50K mile drain/fill, the ATF was essentially a 50/50 mix of Z1 and Amsoil ATF. I believe that the 50/50 mix of Amsoil & Z1 ATF cleaned some material that 100% Z1 ATF could not remove. This may explain the large accumulation of "sludge" during the short drain/fill interval between 50K and 60K miles.
My guess is that you will continue to see a lot of "sludge" until the residual Z1 ATF has been purged from the system. At that point, I believe the quantity of "sludge" will drop off, then equalize as the Amsoil ATF begins to maintain system cleanliness instead of removing accumulated deposits.
I use Amsoil ATF in both of my Honda vehicles and went through a very similar process. My recommendation is to utilize a 10K mile drain/fill interval on the current ATF. If there is a marked decrease in "sludge" at the next drain/fill (70K miles on vehicle), then I would increase the drain interval by 5K to 10K miles each subsequent drain interval. If there is still a lot of "sludge" at 70K miles, I would perform another drain/fill at 80K miles and contact Amsoil if the situation has not improved by then.
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Honda does not reccomend flushing the tranny with a machine...just the drain and fill method....
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