Maxlife ATF or DW-1 for rebuilt Honda 4-Speed?

[BrendanC]

External cooler and HPL ATF green/amsoil ATF. Usually a large OEM ATF believer but all I ever read about DW-1 is that it doesn’t like heat.

 

[ctechbob]

My 2001 Accord EX owner's manual specifies ATF-Z1.

View attachment 263403

I'll admit, I didn't go through all the manuals when I came up with that date, I just assumed my wifes 2000 would be the same as the '01 and '02 until they went to the 7th gen in 03, which I owned.

Go Honda with mixing up all the things.

I'd still only introduce a little of it at a time to the Civic if he wanted to try it, although he seems to have concluded he needs some cooling or VB work. Even with a full load, that car isn't likely to spin the clutches out of it with DW1 so it will be a fun experiment at least.

 

[wlk]

I just did my 1st drain and fill with Valvoline MV Import syn ATF and the Honda doesn't seem to care, ~600 miles now. I wanted a syn that wasn't an LV fluid and the V MV Import fits the bill. My Element specd Z1 original and I always used DW-1 since I bought it 50k miles ago. It may be worth a shot as Z1 is 6.9visc, and so is the Valvoline MV Import. Maxlife is 5.9visc, iirc. Plus, it has Dex3 and Mercon spec, so I can run it in my other 2 vehicles as well.

To give a little context I recently rebuilt my Honda B4RA automatic off of my 2000 Civic with Raybestos GPX Clutches and filled it up completely with Maxlife, the rebuild was successful and the transmission worked perfectly, the shifts were smooth and quick for a while but after a few months of use the shift quality worsened specially in exreme traffic conditions. 1-2 engages with a little hesitation 2-1 becomes very aggressive and neck-breaking and 2-3 sometimes feels like it smacks into gear. What I’ve noticed is that if I leave the car sitting for more than 3 days and come back to it the shifts go back to their smooth ways for a day then start to get worse again. Recently I went on vacation for 10 days and when I came back the transmission was like it was the first day after the rebuild and that smoothness lasted for about 3 days so I thought maybe the issue had fixed itself, I did a drain and refill with Maxlife once again just to make sure and everything was going fine until I had to go into hard traffic, the transmission started to struggle after an hour and a half of constant traffic and the harshness came back in the same way it was before. Wondering if maybe it has something to do with the oil quality and if I should try to reintegrate DW-1 back into the tranny. P.S. I used Lubeguard Platinum to see if the shifting issues might get some relief with it but it didn’t really do much and a lot of it probably got flushed out in my last drain and refill.

 

[DEMIEJ8]

I'll admit, I didn't go through all the manuals when I came up with that date, I just assumed my wifes 2000 would be the same as the '01 and '02 until they went to the 7th gen in 03, which I owned.

Go Honda with mixing up all the things.

I'd still only introduce a little of it at a time to the Civic if he wanted to try it, although he seems to have concluded he needs some cooling or VB work. Even with a full load, that car isn't likely to spin the clutches out of it with DW1 so it will be a fun experiment at least.

Update: I installed a Hayden atf cooler and did not notice any improvements over the last week. I began the process today of going to DW-1 and the transmission immediately felt happier even with 1x drain/refill, the shifts are buttery smooth like back to how they were before the rebuild but still quick, no more jamming into third gear and even the reverse engagement smoothened out. I know there’s people who swear by Maxlife but perhaps the raybestos gpx friction material just isn’t happy with that atf in particular. Now the question is whether I do another drain and refill and leave it or complete the 3x that the Honda manual suggests.

 

[wlk]

Update: I installed a Hayden atf cooler and did not notice any improvements over the last week. I began the process today of going to DW-1 and the transmission immediately felt happier even with 1x drain/refill, the shifts are buttery smooth like back to how they were before the rebuild but still quick, no more jamming into third gear and even the reverse engagement smoothened out. I know there’s people who swear by Maxlife but perhaps the raybestos gpx friction material just isn’t happy with that atf in particular. Now the question is whether I do another drain and refill and leave it or complete the 3x that the Honda manual suggests.

I'd do the 3x d&f if it happy. I would also add Lubegard Red on the last fill.

 

[Sayjac]

....Just be glad you don't have a V6 Honda ..

Why? I have a 7th Gen Accord 3.0L with ~126k mi. and after the factory fill all its seen is MaxLife Full Synthetic MV ATF with 20-25k mi. simple/single d&fs. Shifts great, no issues, and 3.0L still runs like buttah.

As for topic, some get peace mind by using DW1 and fwiw, that's fine by me. That said, I've had solid results using MaxLife FSMV both in a 01 Civic,(problematic, car complaints) and the aforementioned 3.0L V6. Both those vehicles spec'd Honda Z1, in my observation a highly criticized ATF in this sub forum, shearing being a known issue.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Why? I have a 7th Gen Accord 3.0L with ~126k mi. and after the factory fill all its seen is MaxLife Full Synthetic MV ATF with 20-25k mi. simple/single d&fs. Shifts great, no issues, and 3.0L still runs like buttah.

As for topic, some get peace mind by using DW1 and fwiw, that's fine by me. That said, I've had solid results using MaxLife FSMV both in a 01 Civic,(problematic, car complaints) and the aforementioned 3.0L V6. Both those vehicles spec'd Honda Z1, in my observation a highly criticized ATF in this sub forum, shearing being a known issue.

Some of them have transmission failure even if you change the ATF with DW1 every OCI

 

[ctechbob]

You mentioned Raybestos. It just occurred to me the other day that a good while ago I had emailed them about their 'honda' frictions.

 

[RF Overlord]

Now the question is whether I do another drain and refill and leave it or complete the 3x that the Honda manual suggests.

Complete the 3x drain & fills with DW-1.

 

[Sayjac]

Some of them have transmission failure even if you change the ATF with DW1 every OCI

Possible I suppose, but not my real-world experience. Another anecdote, recently watched a new Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics vid where he picked up a used 3.0L Accord in Pa. for $500, Because of rust, a guy just wanted to get rid of it. Car had some other minor mech issues to repair, but the 5-speed automatic wasn't one of them. He did a simple d&f using DW1 just as preventative maintenance (he had no idea when or if last done), and in his vid title said, the car Rips!

As for brakes/rotors, always Akebono ProAct, last rotor Raybestos RPT, now Element.

 

[kschachn]

Update: I installed a Hayden atf cooler and did not notice any improvements over the last week. I began the process today of going to DW-1 and the transmission immediately felt happier even with 1x drain/refill, the shifts are buttery smooth like back to how they were before the rebuild but still quick, no more jamming into third gear and even the reverse engagement smoothened out. I know there’s people who swear by Maxlife but perhaps the raybestos gpx friction material just isn’t happy with that atf in particular. Now the question is whether I do another drain and refill and leave it or complete the 3x that the Honda manual suggests.

It went from jamming into third gear to buttery smooth?

 

[willbur]

It is possible I didn’t do a thorough enough job of overhauling the valve body and whenever the tranny gets hot enough they start to stick. If that’s the case then there’s not much I can do at this point other than put up with it.

I have used the Red Lube Gard and it seemed to loosen up sticky valves.

 

[willbur]

You can try something like Sea Foam Trans Tune that might help a sticky valve or solenoid. I don’t usually advocate using mechanic-in-a-can products but Sea Foam has a good reputation and at this point it can’t hurt.

https://seafoamworks.com/trans-tune-transmission-hydraulic-power-steering-fluid-treatment/

I wonder if the glowing "reviews" are real? You're right re "mechanic in a can"

 

[willbur]

Maxlife will be fine, or any other synthetic ATF. It sounds like it doesn't get adequate cooling from the factory, since a couple people suggested an ATF cooler.

Just be glad you don't have a V6 Honda

"Just be glad you don't have a V6 Honda " Mine is perfect in every way- engine, trans, accessories, etc. No VCM muzzler. Lots of smooth power.

 

[BrendanC]

"Just be glad you don't have a V6 Honda " Mine is perfect in every way- engine, trans, accessories, etc. No VCM muzzler. Lots of smooth power.

you can have a good experience, but that’s not to say the V6 honda powered units don’t have a bad wrap in the 5 speed era. the best thing you can do is keep it cool and fresh with fluid.

 

[willbur]

you can have a good experience, but that’s not to say the V6 honda powered units have a bad wrap in the 5 speed era. the best thing you can do is keep it cool and fresh with fluid.

yeah-but that applies to any auto trans... I do D&F every 30K with DW-1

 

[BrendanC]

yeah-but that applies to any auto trans... I do D&F every 30K with DW-1

the 2.4L K24’s didn’t have the same issue…. i also add coolers to everything and drain fluids frequently. both of my accords have auxiliary coolers and a external Fram XG8a filter on the transmission. the V6 cars do have a negative following as far as transmission longevity.

 

[willbur]

the 2.4L K24’s didn’t have the same issue…. i also add coolers to everything and drain fluids frequently. both of my accords have auxiliary coolers and a external Fram XG8a filter on the transmission. the V6 cars do have a negative following as far as transmission longevity.

these issues were resolved by 2007

 

[BrendanC]

these issues were resolved by 2007

wow, good thing we were talking about 7th gen which ENDED in 07?

 

[Glenda W.]

It went from jamming into third gear to buttery smooth?

Magic!!