Honda CR-V - Trans Flush for A-RX

[glennc]

I've ordered two bottles of Auto-RX after deciding to try it in the auto trans in my "new" '97 CR-V. Apparently the trannies on these can be somewhat problematic, not as bad as the infamous Honda V-6 trannies, but problematic.

Mine shifts and works perfectly, except that I have noticed that after applying throttle after deceleration to low speeds, it sometimes thumps hard into gear. I think it is deciding between 1st and 2nd, and when it chooses 1st it does this hard thump.

So I figured I'd give A-RX a shot, in case it was dirty, then switch to Redline D4 ATF. The A-RX instructions say to run it 1k miles, then flush to get all the debris out. The flush procedure is to drain the trans pan then disconnect the cooler lines at the rad and run engine until 1-2 qts of additional fluid comes out. I'm pretty new to auto trannies in general. A few questions:

- Is this a safe procedure for the transmission on this car? I don't see any similar procedure advocated by Honda, and in fact their flush recommendation is to not do a flush and instead to do several consecutive ordinary fluid changes.

- If I run the engine to pump out additional fluid as recommended, should I keep running until the fluid stops coming, or just wait 'till 1-2 quarts comes out, then stop?

- Related question, how bad is it if it runs dry for a few seconds while the last bits of fluid are pumped out?

- Are there any possible issues with priming or bleeding the air after re-filling?

As usual the instructions on the A-RX site are vague and extremely general. Honda does a lot of things uniquely so I'm hoping for some knowledgeable feedback.

The trans oil in there now looks and smells like new and I'm pretty sure it's been in there a while.

Thanks all in advance.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I just drain and fill. Were getting a storm now so I gott split. D&F with a bunch of plain Dexron to flush it, imo. There is a throttle linkage adjustment that is poart of the shift issue. iirc, the throttle return cable gets loose.

 

[sciphi]

Probably ought to flush to be thorough. Two drain+fill cycles will give ~75% new fluid, assuming not all of it drains into the pan.

Being honest, 2 drain+fill cycles was what I did with my Buick and it turned out well. Might do the DIY flush if I ever get a transmission cooler.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Well if your transmission is like a Toyota and has a drain plug you can just drain it and refill it drive it about 2-3 miles drain and refill like 4 times inthe course of 1-2 days and get much the same effect. I did that in lue of paying $110 for a shop to hook it up to a flush machine. One the wifes car I had to drop the pan 3-4 times though since GM is too cheap or stupid to put a drain plug on their automatics!

 

[glennc]

The problem with the repeated drain&fill is that the fluid is quite expensive. If I use cheap fluid for "just" the drain&fill, then I will need to do several more drain&fills with good fluid to get the cheap fluid out anyway.

If the flush will work well it seems like the way to go.

Thanks for the info on the throttle linkage adjustment. Hope you got through the storm!

 

[AcuraTech]

When I first got my Legend it shifted kinda funky. Had a bit of shudder when shifting. So I did multiple drain/refills with ATF-Z1 over the course of a couple months. Once the fluid was 99.9% fresh ATF-Z1 it shifted a lot better. No problems since, and that was 40K ago. Now I just do a drain and fill every other oil change or so, and the fluid always comes out bright red with very little metal shavings on the drain plug magnet.

Having a Honda is awesome, because you can change the tranny fluid without having to go through the hassle of dropping the tranny pan, etc. Just pull the plug, let it drain out, tighten the plug, and refill. No reason not to do it every other oil change.

 

[AcuraTech]

Also, Honda transmissions readily burn up fluid and turn it brown, hence the every other oil change recommendation. Every time you drain the pan, you get about a quarter of the old fluid out. So if you do it every other oil change, then every 8 oil changes the fluid has been completely replaced. 8 x 5 = 40K. Sounds about right.

BTW Honda does NOT RECOMMEND TRANSMISSION FLUSHES. For what it's worth.

 

[refaller]

Mine starting doing that and then got really bad. Here's what I did. Replaced the linear shift solenoid ($150.00). Went away for about 100 miles, returned. Replaced the shift solenoid ($150.00), went away for good so far- couple thousand miles. Up to that point, I had been changing fluid every other oil change (about 15,000 miles). Fluid looked great at the time of incident and changing it did not effect anything.

ref

 

[glennc]

Thanks. That could be very useful information. If it does get worse and $150 saves me the cost of a rebuild, I owe you.

 

[refaller]

No problem. Just to add, I have messed around with the solenoids so much that I can now do either in about ten minutes. Do need to empty the trans oil however.

ref

 

[glennc]

Wow ten minutes, must not be that bad. One thing I really like about the CR-V is so far everything is a cinch to work on.

FWIW I have the A-RX in the tranny now (it came fast!) and have still not decided how to get it outta there when the time comes. I'll probably email them and ask if they have specific advice for Hondas. I'd really like to be able to flush it properly.

And I now have Redline 5W-20 in the crankcase and a Purolator Premium Plus oil filter. It really does seem to run even nicer with the RL, but it's probably just my imagination. I'm hoping for a miniscule increase in efficiency, maybe enough to pay the extra cost of the oil, though I don't think it'd ever be enough to notice at fill-ups.

 

[Mr Nice]

Quote:
BTW Honda does NOT RECOMMEND TRANSMISSION FLUSHES. For what it's worth.


Whats so bad about multiple drain and refills with the correct ATF ?

I've never liked the idea of trans flushes.

 

[glennc]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
I've never liked the idea of trans flushes.

Just the wasting of a heck of a lot of good fluid, if you don't really need to do it that way. And even after several drain/fills there will still be a good percentage of whatever bad stuff was in there.

 

[AcuraTech]

I should clarify. Honda does not recommend machine flushing transmissions.

They recommend multiple drain and refills.

We have a tech in our shop who once tried to flush a transmission with the transmission cooler cleaner (similar to a trans flush machine) and ended up taking a transmission fluid shower. Funny stuff.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I'D D&F twice with plain Dex, add the ARX and drive it 2000-2500 MILES, D&F twice again with Dex and drive another 1000-2000 miles then yearly D&F with your premium SYNTH atf.

 

[Donald]

Multiple D&R vs a flush get the fluid exchanged but in a less cost effective manner than a flush. Especially if you are trying to go to expensive synthetic ATF. Remember a flush is never a power flush. In no case does the power of the flush machine push fluid through the tranny, it merely pushes new ATF into the pan.

If your old fluid looks like driveway sealer, then you need to change the filter and clean the pan regardless of how you change the fluid.

 

[Audi Junkie]

There is no filter nor pan.