Honda shift solenoids clogged symptoms.

[SoNic67]

I had three Fords (Mercury) and two Hyundai. One of the Fords came with Mercon and a TSB recommended to switch to Mercon V - higher friction modifiers and hot viscosity. Well, at that time the transmission was already at 110k and having shifting/slipping issues. Changed to Mercon V (Castrol) after looking to different brands specs and considering the price too (Amsoil would be better but I didn't afford). Well, that transmission lived to +200k miles (the mileage stop counting due to a faulty wiring), and that's when the internal pump shaft sheared.
On my present Mercury that came with Mercon V, I drain and refill with Castrol Mercon V and use LubeGuard Platinum - I am at 150K miles and shifts well. Same in my Ford Explorer.
Castrol Mercon V has 7.8 cSt at 100C. The older formulation Mercon had 7.0 or so. The Valvoline MultiVehicle has 6.9 cSt at 100C, Valvoline MaxLife has 5.9 cSt at 100C.
The Hyundais (Sonata and XG350) get a drain/refill with Castrol Import Multivehicle (8.0 cSt at 100C) and LubeGuard. Both have Mitsubishi transmissions around 130-140K miles and the XG350 drove recently from VA to CA (San Fran) without issues. I really think that Toyota and Mitsubishi (using a highly modified ATF) gained reputation of "good transmissions" and that prompted Ford to change their formulation too.
I don't think the synthetic transmission oils should be used without any consideration. Amsoil has three grades - two for newer LV-spec vehicles (5.8 cSt OE and 6.3 cSt Signature), and another one, Signature, for older gen vehicles (7.5 cSt). Mobil 1 has a synthetic that's non-LV too (7.4 cSt at 100C), but the cost is higher: https://mobiloil.com/en/automatic-transmission-fluid/synthetic-atf

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: SoNic67
I had three Fords (Mercury) and two Hyundai. One of the Fords came with Mercon and a TSB recommended to switch to Mercon V - higher friction modifiers and hot viscosity. Well, at that time the transmission was already at 110k and having shifting/slipping issues. Changed to Mercon V (Castrol) after looking to different brands specs and considering the price too (Amsoil would be better but I didn't afford). Well, that transmission lived to +200k miles (the mileage stop counting due to a faulty wiring), and that's when the internal pump shaft sheared.


So your transmission pump shaft sheared... and you jump from thread to thread insisting on thicker ATF fluid.

 

[merconvvv]

thanks for sharing your experience.sonic67.

I ordered castrol import multi vehicle at $4.88 a quart from walmart.
Its on rollback. So pretty good price. I will see how sis honda likes 8.0 visc. I might just teach her how to do the transmission drain and fill.
Hopefully the drain after the car has sat for a couple of days will get a lpt of junk out.

 

[merconvvv]

I dont think visc. of 8 at 100 is going to add that much additional wear.

Most of time my atf temp struggles to reach even 170f where the visc. will be higher than what it is at 100c.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted By: merconvvv
I ordered castrol import multi vehicle at $4.88 a quart from walmart.

Now you've got me wondering if Valvoline MaxLife ATF wasn't a wise choice for mine.... I read probably 60/40 on opinions of using either only Honda ATF or Valvoline. No one mentioned any other ATFs.

 

[merconvvv]

Originally Posted By: hallstevenson
Originally Posted By: merconvvv
I ordered castrol import multi vehicle at $4.88 a quart from walmart.

Now you've got me wondering if Valvoline MaxLife ATF wasn't a wise choice for mine.... I read probably 60/40 on opinions of using either only Honda ATF or Valvoline. No one mentioned any other ATFs.


Does not sound like you have had any problems running maxlife !
If it is not broken dont fix it !!!

 

[Hall]

I am seeing something not working properly though.... https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4422330/Re:_Honda_shift_solenoids_clog#Post4422330

 

[merconvvv]

I went back in time and read your experience.
Higher visc. might be an easy try. I will keep the thread updated.
I should be draining sis honda in the next two weeks after it has sat around for a while to test my theory that filter gets clogged after a few miles

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted by merconvvv
If valvoline maxlife is dexron ii iii good then is it safe to assume it has less friction modifiers than z1 and dw1?


It is different. Maxlife is a universal / multi-vehicle fluid, Z1 / DW1 is Honda only. According to Valvoline Maxlife is good enough for many brands including Honda, but it didn't say it has more or less friction modifier (means nothing unless you put it on a dyno). They may be better or worse but Valvoline only guarantee it to be "good enough".

You can have a "better" fluid for other cars that can use Dexron III that fail horribly in a Honda, but the "good enough" fluid or OEM DW1 that works "better" in your Honda.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by SoNic67
Maxlife is NOT what is needed for older transmissions, it is a LV formulation, per their own datasheet: http://content.valvoline.com/pdf/maxlife_atf.pdf
See the note in their sheet:]

"*Please note that legislation in California prohibits Valvoline from recommending MaxLife� ATF in certain applications where the viscometrics of MaxLife� ATF do not match those of the official OEM specification. Valvoline therefore does not recommend the use of MaxLife� ATF in these applications in California."
Adding the friction modifier will "help" but is always better to start with the correct spec fluid.

I strongly suggest an "import multivehicle", if Valvoline is your poison, this one would be closer to specs: http://content.valvoline.com/pdf/multi_vehicle_atf.pdf
Personally I use Castrol (even higher 100C viscosity), and Lubeguard, but I am not judging others

.



This says it all to me, when called out on this Valvoline clearly DOES NOT recommend MaxLife for many older cars!

Here IS what they recommend for older Honda which specced Z1 at the time of their production.
https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...bd3/a258878d-fbbc-e711-9c12-ac162d889bd1

 

[kschachn]

Do you know the technical details of why California says that?

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by kschachn
Do you know the technical details of why California says that?


No, California set standards and rules and Valvoline itself has said it does NOT recommend MaxLife for older Honda.
The fact that they do sell a different Import Multi Vehicle formula indicates that they have serious reservations about using MaxLife in older Honda vehicles
which used Z1 at the time of their production.

 

[kschachn]

If that's true, one would think that Valvoline would take ATF-Z1 off their recommendation list for that product. It is on the list.

Is it related to this?

http://www.pqiamerica.com/MaxLife ATF - Response 2-22-13.pdf

 

[AC1DD]

This is what Valvoline themselves recommend in Honda with Z1 spec'd transmissions.

 

[kschachn]

But they also recommend Maxlife for use in ATF-Z1 applications:

https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...bd3/3fa3136a-09bd-e711-9c12-ac162d889bd1

And since both the products have to be recommendations (Honda does not license the ATF-Z1 spec) I'd say they carry equal weight.

 

[Sayjac]

Quote
…..The fact that they do sell a different Import Multi Vehicle formula indicates that they have serious reservations about using MaxLife in older Honda vehicle which used Z1 at the time of their production.
Say what? That means nothing of the kind. ML has been listed suitable for Z1 applications for as long as I can remember, I've used it in two Z1 applications since Z1 discontinued, well over 150k miles between the two, no issues.

The California warning is similar to the earlier PQIA alert, both of which have been explained on this sub forum many times. It made so much sense to PQIA they amended the Dex/Merc alert. And California says nothing about Z1 applications, only Dex/Merc. Check the PDS linked in prior post.

One can read member MoleKules thoughts on both summed up in this post.

 

[AC1DD]

Except this recommendation comes from Valvoline themselves, not the state of CA.

If Valvoline recommend this other product why not use it and have more confidence? It's a no brainer.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by kschachn
But they also recommend Maxlife for use in ATF-Z1 applications:

https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...bd3/3fa3136a-09bd-e711-9c12-ac162d889bd1

And since both the products have to be recommendations (Honda does not license the ATF-Z1 spec) I'd say they carry equal weight.



Since Valvoline recommends Valvoline Import Multi-vehicle ATF with stricter state regulations I'd put more weight on that recommendation.

 

[kschachn]

Another explanation is that California doesn't really know what they are talking about. They think they do but they don't. Are we all of a sudden putting greater weight on a government pronouncement than on the manufacturer's technical recommendation?

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
If Valvoline recommend this other product why not use it and have more confidence? It's a no brainer.

Valvoline recommends both with equal confidence, at least as far as I can see.

Mind you, you can do what you want. But I see no technical justification for saying that Maxlife is not recommended for ATF-Z1 applications. Besides, that's not really the question anyway.