And my 2007 MDX I used red line D4 I know it's between the changes there is very little material on the magnet in comparison to OEM fluid. Redline did shift a little quicker, and when using sport mode is a little more harsh I personally like that feeling a little better never had a problem with the transmission never out of the car 220,000 miles. Just recently purchased a used 2015 I was thinking about swapping it out to redline d6
Honda/Multi-Vehicle ATF Comparison Chart
- Thread starter jayjr1105
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I've had very good results with Redline ATF in a few vehicles as well. Has really smoothed out the shifting.
That is some expensive ATF
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Doesn't seem too bad, really, seeing how I only service the transmission (drain and fill) every 60K miles. I do the labor so I save money and only pay for materials. A gallon of Redline D6 is $64.
It has worked great in a few vehicles. Redline D4 Really smoothed out the shifting in an Aisin AWF21 6 speed transmission.
I was just going to ask this question in a specific thread, but I figured id put it out here first. 2013 Ridgeline, been running DW-1 most of its life with one Maxlife fill a few years ago. Last November the Transmission Pressure Switch went out and I basically had a 4 speed auto that shifted clunky. I replaced that with a new unit, non oem, but still made in USA from Napa and did another DW1 drain/fill.
I am interested in knowing if anyone has ran HPL's ATF Green which says its DW1 replacement spec? I am interested in either trying that or adding some Lubeguard Red to help with the life of the transmission. It currently has 96,000 miles on it, it is used for some light towing through the year, ex. 8ft trailer with firewood, garden tractors, and occasionally my sub compact Kubota BX. But mostly its driven from Nov-March for my winter vehicle. It does have a hiccup now and then when shifting, can kinda get a hard upshift every now and then, might happen once or twice a year. Id like to run something in it that will help with the life of the transmission as I plan on keeping this for another 100,000 miles or so.
I am interested in knowing if anyone has ran HPL's ATF Green which says its DW1 replacement spec? I am interested in either trying that or adding some Lubeguard Red to help with the life of the transmission. It currently has 96,000 miles on it, it is used for some light towing through the year, ex. 8ft trailer with firewood, garden tractors, and occasionally my sub compact Kubota BX. But mostly its driven from Nov-March for my winter vehicle. It does have a hiccup now and then when shifting, can kinda get a hard upshift every now and then, might happen once or twice a year. Id like to run something in it that will help with the life of the transmission as I plan on keeping this for another 100,000 miles or so.
Unless HPL says they copied the DW-1 formulation, I wouldn't bother with it. It's just another "multi-vehicle ATF" like Valvoline MaxLife, Castrol Full Syn ATF, etc. For $40 and no reason to question it, stick with DW-1.
HPL green has worked well in my Acura. Shift quality is better, in my opinion, than on the OE fluid. It will also hold up longer than the OE fluid, which in my experience, degraded quickly leading to torque converter shudder. I’d have no problems recommending this in Honda/Acura applications calling for DW-1, and will continue using it moving forward. I’ve used Maxlife in a lot of applications, however, and would run that with full confidence in place of DW-1, as well.
There’s a lot of reasons to question DW-1.
It's probably close enough to use any fluid clone or multi vehicle fluid, the honda transaxle is not the Space Shuttle.
How many issues have you personally seen that can be directly blamed on the fluid ?
Premature fluid degradation causing torque converter shudder. Honda has a TSB out for it. I’ve experienced it in every Honda 6 speed auto my family and I have owned.
Your advice for blindly sticking to DW-1 is errant. There are reasons for sticking with OE fluid, but just blindly doing so when you can find better (see: longer service life) performance or better pricing with other guide is borderline nonsensical.
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Switched to maxlife in my sons crv. Shifts the same, would never know the difference.
The DW1 add pack is very, very different than any stepped gear automatic fluid. The design of these transmission is also very different.
I have no issues using a multi-vehicle fluid in any other stepped gear application but I am especially leery of using it in a Honda.
I can understand that. I also won't fault anyone for wanting to just stick to DW-1 for peace of mind knowing that the additive packages are different between OE and aftermarket. However, if there was a lack of compatibility between the Honda-designed transmissions and aftermarket fluids, it would've shown by now. In fact, though I can't say for certain anymore after being out of the dealership environment for quite a few years, but about 7 years ago when I worked at a Honda dealer and a customer brought their car in for a transmission service, it received BG fluids. No matter if it was an A/T or CVT. There's enough of a usage-base out there that if there was something wrong with running aftermarket ATFs in Honda automatics, it would've reared its ugly head by now.
In fact, and now I'm just trying to go by recall here so if I'm misremembering, my apologies, but I thought it was pretty well determined that the additive package design wasn't so much for wear protection but for altering shift quality/feel. I mean, as well as can be determined without knowing the details behind the formulation and evolution of Z-1 and then DW-1. Either way, I won't fault people for using OEM fluid in any application, especially after weighing the pros/cons of using another fluid, but just suggesting that others blindly cast off other alternatives and claim DW-1 is without question is foolish (not that you did that).
Molakule discussed the Zinc matter in these two posts:
Another HONDA ATF thread :)
So I have quite a few of these sealed ATF quarts laying around, attached picture. In the past have always used Honda OEM ATF/ DW1. Is that safe to use in a 2006 Honda Civic or 2007 Honda Accord, for drain and refill purposes? Thanks for the help.
bobistheoilguy.com
Honda/Multi-Vehicle ATF Comparison Chart
Idemitsu (the only one I emailed) seems confident that even though DW1 and H+ are not identical, that the performance aspects match. I suspect you'd get much the same answer from the other manuf's as well. So, either they're lying about it (doubt it) or they have some other special brew that...
bobistheoilguy.com
The additive is used for anti-wear purposes.
Shift feel is an entirely different subject. I have personally found most multi-vehicle fluids to deliver a different shift feel than the original Honda fluid. It is noticeable to some people but not others.
You're still going about this ? I didn't tell anyone NOT to use Valvoline or any other ATF but if someone wants a recommendation for a Honda, I'm going to say DW-1.
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There are quite a few handfuls of people on the Odyssey forums using Maxlife in place of DW-1 and none having any ill effects whatsoever. Of course, there are also some gomers on there who swear by DW-1 cuz "by god, Honda designed it so they know best!" lol
Go to the Odyssey forums - - - - - lots of problems with the DW1 burning up in the gen 4 Ody transmissions before 30k miles.
Its just not a very good fluid to stand up to high heat and shear.
[QUOTE="I There are quite a few handfuls of people on the Odyssey forums using Maxlife in place of DW-1 and none having any ill effects whatsoever. Of course, there are also some gomers on there who swear by DW-1 cuz "by god, Honda designed it so they know best!" lol
[/QUOTE]
I am using Maxlife in our 15ody and used it in our 06 v6 accord with the glass 5speed for over 300k kms.
I personally this Max is WAY better than Honda OEM in their autoboxes.
[/QUOTE]
I am using Maxlife in our 15ody and used it in our 06 v6 accord with the glass 5speed for over 300k kms.
I personally this Max is WAY better than Honda OEM in their autoboxes.
I used Amsoil ATF for YEARS in our 2006 Ody. Crazy miles and crazy driving. I changed to Amsoil ATF really early. Not one issue and fluid looked amazingly new for YEARS.
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