Honda DW-1 Alternative

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noslofivoh

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May 15, 2013
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NE Georgia
I have been doing a lot of reading in regards to Honda DW-1 trans fluid. I see several alternatives that people have had success with. Here is my dilemma. I have a 2002 Honda Civic with a bad transmission. I have a good (136k mile) transmission that i pulled from a 2003 Civic that had been wrecked and had a knocking motor. I was able to drive the cat to verify the trans was good. I am about to install this trans into my car and was going to use DW-1 fluid. However, upon reading, I have access to plenty of Mobil Delvac 1 Full synthetic atf and Penzoil LV Full synthetic ATF through work. Link to both are posted below. Do you think these would be fine or should I stick to the DW-1, MaxLife, or the others that have been posted. Just thought I would ask. Thanks for any replies and opinions.

https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/for-businesses/heavy-duty-lubricants/products/mobil-delvac-1-atf

https://www.pennzoil.com/en_us/prod...mission-fluids/platinum-lv-multi-vehicle.html
 
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noslofivoh said:
I have been doing a lot of reading in regards to Honda DW-1 trans fluid. I see several alternatives that people have had success with. Here is my dilemma. I have a 2002 Honda Civic with a bad transmission. I have a good (136k mile) transmission that i pulled from a 2003 Civic that had been wrecked and had a knocking motor. I was able to drive the cat to verify the trans was good. I am about to install this trans into my car and was going to use DW-1 fluid. However, upon reading, I have access to plenty of Mobil Delvac 1 Full synthetic atf through work. Link to it is posted below. Do you think this atf would be fine or should I stick to the DW-1, MaxLife, or the others that have been posted. Just thought I would ask. Thanks for any replies and opinions.

https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/for-businesses/heavy-duty-lubricants/products/mobil-delvac-1-atf
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You are going to get a lot of conflicting opinions here on BITOG as well as on other forums like Honda-Tech.com. After doing research literally over years, I'd recommend that you just stay with Honda approved DW-1 ATF. Sure, you can save a few pennies by using MaxLife or spend more by using Amsoil, Redline, or another boutique fluid. However, NO one has had any transmission failures that can be traced back to using DW-1 (not counting never changing it). There are lots of anecdotal examples of Honda transmission failures shortly after changing to a fluid other than DW-1. I won't go into details, but I had a Honda transmission fail within 10,000 miles after switching to MaxLife ATF. Whether it was a coincidence or not, I'm not going to chance it again. YMMV.
 
I'm going to chime in with my meaningless experience.

The reading I did years ago pointed in 2 directions.
1) DW-1 is great and Honda's outdated Z-1, which oozed from the Devil's ear, was long overdue for replacement.
2) Honda's need DW-1 or they'll blow up and it'll be your fault.

Seriously, the Honda mechanics I spoke with just said to use the DW-1. However, the '07 (Odyssey) and the '10 (Accord) trannies I was maintaining, were of the improved design.
The older Honda units (like yours) had fundamentally different inwards.
Likely there are legit substitutes which'd leave old Z-1 in the dust.
 
Want to add something to this.... There are "clone" DW-1 fluids offered by Idemitsu, Aisin, etc and they are not "Honda DW-1" whatsoever. Some will chime in that "Idemitsu makes the Honda fluid...." but it doesn't matter. It is not the same fluid. There are fluid analysis reports here that prove this.
 
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Another vote for staying with the same fluid.

I know it’s a different transmission, and this is anecdotal, but my 06 Accord has 266,000 miles, and the 6AT shifts just like it did when new. I just drain and fill (3 of the 7 quarts are replaced) every 15k-30k miles.
 
2002-2003 Civic originally spec'd Z1, in my observation the most criticized ATF on this subforum. Known to shear quickly out of grade.

I've used MaxLife Full Synthetic MV ATF 2001 Civic, 2007 Accord V6 now both with over couple+ 100 thousand miles on it between them. No issues and has worked fine. That with 25-30k mi single trans d&fs. In my observation, some equate it's value price to poor performance. Not my experience. About 6 months ago did a single d&f on a neighbor's 04 Civic sedan using MLFSWV with ~70k miles and unknown service history. As expected, shifting/working fine.

As for DW-1, best information says in the US it's not a full synthetic fluid, at most a blend. Imo, nothing special and many on this forum that have had good results using other than DW1 on their Hondas. Though I have no experience with PPFSMV, looking at the spec sheet, price being right I'd use it on topic 7th gen Civic. That said, because of my experience with it, MaxLife would be my preference. I think 'I'd' pass on using the Delvac ATF in the OP.
 
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Sayjac said:
@2002-2003 Civic originally spec'd Z1, in my observation the most criticized ATF on this subforum. Known to shear quickly out of grade.

I've used MaxLife Full Synthetic MV ATF 2001 Civic, 2017 Accord V6 now both with over couple+ 100 thousand miles on it between them. No issues and has worked fine. That with 25-30k mi single trans d&fs. In my observation, some equate it's value price to poor performance. Not my experience. As an aside, 6 months ago did a single d&f on a neighbor's 04 Civic sedan using MLFSWV with ~70k miles and unknown service history. As expected, shifting/working fine.

As for DW-1, best information says in the US it's not a full synthetic fluid, at most a blend. Imo, nothing special and many on this forum that have had good results using toher than DW1 on their Hondas. Though I have no experience with PPFSMV, looking at the spec sheet, price being right I'd use it in 02-03 Civic. That said, because of my experience, MaxLife would be my preference. I think 'I'd' pass on using the Delvac ATF in the OP.
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Yeah another vote for Maxlife. I’ve used it for well over 200,000 on my Honda and it’s been fine. No weird shifts and no problems.

You’re not going to hurt anything by trying. IRT the poster that had his transmission fail in 10,000 miles, that was nothing to do with the fluid.
 
A vote against MaxLife. Lost one transmission, and caused hard cold engagement in my ‘92 Vigor.
Try the castrol import multi-vehicle atf or the Idemitsu, I have some of each and don’t have an opinion of those yet.
 
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I’ve had good luck with Amsoil SS blue cap in the six speed in my wife’s Pilot. Was going to change it at 60K but fluid is still bright red. Going to wait till 90K when I do the external filter.
 
ripcord said:
Maxlife has been reformulated at least twice over the years and the last time was quite recent. Past experience may not apply.
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I used the newest ML bottle on neighbor's 2004 Civic with unknown AT service history. Been a while now, I'm confident and will continue to use as I have in my Hondas. Typical properties spec sheet looks the same. Possible they changed the add pack slightly. But if you look at the add packs (and 100C viscosity) of all the aftermarket ATF recommended/suitable for Honda Z1/DW1 pinned at the top this subforum, all a little different. And members have used them in place of DW1. Tells me, more than one way to skin a cat. I will say newest ML ATF doesn't have the acrid smell of the previous ML. They did add CVT rec to it, 'I' would not use it for that. Otoh, Valvoline makes a dedicated CVT fluid in blue bottle, that I am using.
 
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spackard said:
A vote against MaxLife. Lost one transmission, and caused hard cold engagement in my ‘92 Vigor.
Try the castrol import multi-vehicle atf or the Idemitsu, I have some of each and don’t have an opinion of those yet.
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So you conclusively determined that the loss of your transmission was due to the Maxlife?

Color me skeptical.
 
Sayjac said:
I used the newest ML bottle on neighbor's 2004 Civic with unknown AT service history. Been a while now, I'm confident and will continue to use as I have in my Hondas. Typical properties spec sheet looks the same. Possible they changed the add pack slightly. But if you look at the add packs (and 100C viscosity) of all the aftermarket ATF recommended/suitable for Honda Z1/DW1 pinned at the top this subforum, all a little different. And members have used them in place of DW1. Tells me, more than one way to skin a cat. I will say newest ML ATF doesn't have the acrid smell of the previous ML. They did add CVT rec to it, 'I' would not use it for that. Otoh, Valvoline makes a dedicated CVT fluid in blue bottle, that I am using.
Click to expand...


Hey sayjac, so you have used the newer Maxlife ATF that has both ATF / CVT applications in your Hondas ?
 
kschachn said:
I don’t understand what that means. Is it bad now?
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The Maxlife that you buy today is not the same as it was a couple of years ago. They changed to a new additive pack that is supposed to now be good for CVT transmissions, too. So the good experiences people have had with it in the past may not be applicable. Not saying it's bad, just that it's changed significantly.
 
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