Tones, thanks for the link! I had spent two hours boning up on this and missed the most excellent thread you posted. Funny thing, I just did an oil/filter change on all my vehicles. I purchased from my local Honda dealer 2 filters for my '89 Accord LXi (182k miles I bought for $1,000 at 150k miles) and 2 for my new Odyssey (all were the same). Got underneath the Accord with the filter wrench and realized no way was that going to fit. I thought the parts counter person made a mistake so I left the old filter in. Oh well, the little bit of M1 10W-30 with 3500 miles mixed in with the fresh 5W-30 won't hurt anything. This car is an excellent candidate for some Supertech filters and dino.
If Honda recommended the S2000 filter for the Odyssey, I'd use that.
I've a feeling Honda engineers, given that a filter does not fail catastrophically, don't get too wrung up over a filter in terms of filtering out anything but the extremely rare large wear particles so long as there is good flow.
In terms of start-up flow, one wonders just how well a typical ADBV works in a scenario where a car sits for 2-3 days in the summer heat and whether the smaller filter doesn't provide quicker flow to the valve train and in the long run less engine wear. Perhaps this is why Honda went with a smaller retro-fit filter?
Bottom line, I believe that Honda can spec and Honeywell can build a filter that works and one that Honda is willing to stake their reputation on.
As to automatic fluid change out. The owner's manual calls for 4 drain and fills (obviously with short drives in between) to achieve a scheduled transmission fluid change out. Yes, there remains a small residual amount of old fluid.
The beauty of the Honda automatic drain/fill is that it is very easy compared to dropping the pan on something like my Chevy Astro. There's a drain bolt and fill bolt with a dipstick to measure the fluid level, just like engine oil.
My thought is to do a complete change-out at first oil change and every 30,000 miles. In between, I'll do just one drain/fill at all oil changes on the theory that a fresh dose of additives is a good thing as well as wiping clean the magnet on the drain plug. In other words, while you are under the car anyhow with your tools doing an oil change. doing the tranny as well is no big deal and the cost for 3.2 quarts of Honda ATF is only $10, well worth the peace of mind.
I hope Honda has fixed their 5-speed tranny problem. In the 2nd generation Ody they retro-fitted a lubrication jet in the fill plug to give additional lubrication to some (2nd?) internal component.
I think one of the biggest challenges in modern vehicles is keeping the transmission healthy.
[ December 27, 2004, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: ex_MGB ]
