honda transmission experts needed.

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TR3-2001SE

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Ok I just purchased a used honda accord 97 with 113000 miles and auto transmission. It drives great and the only thing I noticed is the transmission fluid was very dirty. I am guessing it was never changed. Current owner has not had it long and never did it. I drained it and installed 3 quarts of Honda
reconmended fluid. This is half of the total fluid it holds. What is a good plan.
1. Change the fluid every 15,000 until it looks clean
2. Change it several times quickly till it looks clean.
3. Do a full flush of the transmission fluid.
4. Make another recomendation.
It shifts great so far and I think a guadual changing of the fluid ie 1. above would be the best plan of action. Always got good advise from this site so here is your chance to school me.
 
i had that many miles on my 95 and got it power flushed at the dealer. cost me $100 and worth every penny. never noticed any noises or problems before or after the procedure. got a free oil change out of it too. (of course i've got a good relationship with my dealer/service center).

i see nothing wrong with your three choices.

i didn't have time to do multiple drains, so i dropped it off in the morning and picked it up after work.

[ December 17, 2004, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: seotaji ]
 
most dealers around here do three drain/refills in a row, and thats what they call a flush. A standard drain refill is about $35-$45 I think.

How much are getting the ATF Z1 for? My localdealer wants an absurd $6 per bottle. Its under $4 a bottle in the bay area.
 
Well, I am no "expert" but it occurs to me that if the transmission is doing OK, then I would change it gradually until the fluid is clean. Do one dran-n-fill per oil change for the next few OCIs. If you go 15k on the drain-n-fill, you could be running dirty fluid for a long time. I found it fairly easy to change on my '02. I don't know if it is different for you.
 
That is a great price in my experience.
cheers.gif
 
On my old Acura Integra I went to my local Honda dealership and picked up three gallons (12qt) of ATF Z1. I paid just under $60 after tax on this... so that works out to just under $5 per quart.

Then I drained the transmission fluid, refilled it, started it up, put it into reverse, drive, etc, then turned it off, drained the transmission fluid, refilled it... until my 12 quarts were gone.

First drain: very dark fluid
Second drain: reasonably dark fluid
Third drain: almost-new fluid in color

Then I filled it up with my last three quarts and it was good to go.
 
I don’t think the fluid will ever look clean by changing it every 15k miles.

I changed the fluid today in my wife’s 03 Civic for the second time in 24k miles. It looked dirty at 12k miles when I changed it the first time and today it looked almost as bad.

At least the magnet didn’t have as much junk on it this time.

Next oil change I’ll do what Logik did.
 
The implied "dangers" of a sudden complete exchange are overated to the point of urban myth. (Using a chemical flush is another matter entirely.) I would do five or six changes in a row with about 10 miles of driving (idling with gear "changes" up and down the selector won't cut it) between refills. This regimen thoroughly circualtes the fluid to all points, and helps permeate the clutch and band facings with fresh, clean fluid, too. You'll be down to single digit percentages of the old fluid and its contaminants by the time you're finished. And, you'll know that you've done a better job than the stealership, too.
 
I think I will take Tones advise and change it each oil change until it is fairly clean. The shop that did the work overfilled it about 1/2 quart and I had to pump it out. It looks slightly dirty but not so bad. I think a gradual change will be safer than a sudden change to new fluid so will be ordering 9 more quarts which should make the fluid very clean.
 
Tones' and Logik's schedule will both work well. ATF isn't that expensive so I prefer to do it all at once, like Logik:

Drain and Fills (percentage of old AFT in transmission)
1st = 50%
2nd = 25%
3rd = 13%

So your last fill means you have about 94% new ATF and 6% old AFT. That's a pretty good flush. From this point on, I like changing the fluid every 15k-20k miles. It could go longer but again, ATF is pretty affordable.
 
My daughter recently bought a 2000 Accord, and the fluid looked dark. I bought 8 qts of Honda fluid and flushed it myself. Standing in front of the car & looking down, the RH trans cooler hose was the return hose. I just unhooked the factory hose and slipped on a clear hose that was long enough to run into a large (15 gal or so) container. Once I'd taken the drain plug out & cleaned the magnet, I put the drain plug back in using a new Honda crush washer.

From that point, I added 3 qts of fluid & started the car. I added a qt. as I was "eyeballing" a qt. or so come out. Once the outcoming fluid was red, I stopped adding.

Hooked the hose/cooler back up, let the car trans temp get warmer, and got the level on the dipstick where it needed to be.

This seemed to make better sense to me than the 2-3 qts per week over several week method.

My 2 cents worth, but it seemed to work.
 
The Honda automatic holds less fluid and drains more than most. I'd had good luck with three drains and refills with short drives between.

I'd clean the transmission with Auto-Rx, then refill with either Schaeffer's new #204SAT, or a Dexron-III synthetic + Lubegard black, or Honda's own ATF.

Older Hondas are the only transmissions I know of where their old requirement for Dexron-II can not be replaced with Dexron-III.


Ken
 
I have a 1987 Honda CRX/DX 1.5L 3-bbl. Carb. Auto. Trans. that I bought new and even though it specs Dexron II, I have flushed the transmission many times over the years with Dexron III with no ill effects, still shifts like a dream. Used the disconnect oil cooler return hose method to change out fluid. Holds approx. 6-7 quarts total.
 
I have not experienced any ill effects using Dexron III in any Hondas before they started spec'ing their own fluid out.

Dexron III should be a little more slippery than Dexron II, but those hard shifting Hondas needs all the help they can get.
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