Worth changing transmission fluid on 2012 Honda Accord with 140,000 miles when it has never been done before?

[Bottom_Feeder]

It is the easiest way to obtain an almost complete fluid exchange.

Correct... but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a huge waste of time, money and ATF.

Unless you really need to get all the old ATF out in one shot in the least amount of time possible, doing an ATF drain/fill every few thousand miles while you're already under there doing an oil change is by far the most economical thing to do as far as time and materials go, and you're at least getting some of your money's worth out of the ATF you put in earlier. Do that a few times and you're good to go.

Repeated ultra-short ATF drains/fills is on the same logic level as using PYB and a cheap filter for 1k miles thinking it'll clean your engine.

 

[The Critic]

Correct... but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a huge waste of time, money and ATF.

Unless you really need to get all the old ATF out in one shot in the least amount of time possible, doing an ATF drain/fill every few thousand miles while you're already under there doing an oil change is by far the most economical thing to do as far as time and materials go, and you're at least getting some of your money's worth out of the ATF you put in earlier. Do that a few times and you're good to go.

Repeated ultra-short ATF drains/fills is on the same logic level as using PYB and a cheap filter for 1k miles thinking it'll clean your engine.

Agreed, but if you are trying to replace as much old fluid as possible, as quickly as possible.....to resolve an operational issue (e.g. shudder), this is the only method.

 

[nicholas]

That's a huge waste of time, money and ATF.

Why.....have you ever owned a Honda.
In the manual they spec 3 drain and fills instead of a flush.

 

[nicholas]

Correct... but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a huge waste of time, money and ATF.

Unless you really need to get all the old ATF out in one shot in the least amount of time possible, doing an ATF drain/fill every few thousand miles while you're already under there doing an oil change is by far the most economical thing to do as far as time and materials go, and you're at least getting some of your money's worth out of the ATF you put in earlier. Do that a few times and you're good to go.

Repeated ultra-short ATF drains/fills is on the same logic level as using PYB and a cheap filter for 1k miles thinking it'll clean your engine.

I prefer to get most of the fluid out as soon as possible.....rather than let it linger.

I'd rather get 80% out and 80% new in.....but that's just me.
Especially if it has 100k plus miles on the original fluid.

 

[partspro]

Take it to Valvoline and have them flush the fluid, if you drop the pan, or open drain plug, torque converter will not drain.

 

[nicholas]

Take it to Valvoline and have them flush the fluid, if you drop the pan, or open drain plug, torque converter will not drain.

For what ever reason, Honda reccomends specifically against this practice.
Which is why many are reccomending to drain and fill 3 times, which is also Hondas method.

 

[Hall]

In the manual they spec 3 drain and fills instead of a flush

I think my '99 Accord manual stating this but they no longer give specifics in the manuals (based on '12 Accord and '12 Civic manuals for our cars).

 

[willbur]

it doesn´t mean that if in one car long interval is ok, it will be fine in others......

True but converse is true too. If one car experiences trans problems bc of long interval does not mean all cars will

 

[Gebo]

I would. Here is "roughly" how much new fluid would have after each drain and fill.

4 CYL
1st D&F 38% new fluid
2nd 62%
3rd 77%
4th 86%


If you have a 6 CYL
1st D&F 44% new fluid
2nd 68%
3rd 82%
4th 90%

 

[Ram02]

Spill and fill with Maxlife full synthetic and LG Red you’ll be set for the rest of that tranny life

 

[CharlesInCharge]

I just did this with a few used vehicles I've acquired not long ago.

I did between 2 and 4 spill and fills in a week or a months' time, probably 20-100 miles between each iteration. That got between 30 and 70% of the fluid replaced. Fluid is about $3-5 per qt. and a lot of it was free from Carquests' Great Oil Harvest giveaway! Anyway, depending on the vehicle I have around 1/2 or more new fluids. Going forward, additional spill and fills after more miles and pan drops and filter replacements are in order.

NOT changing the fluid, even slowly over thousands of miles, is absolute lunacy. The entire job is probably $100 in fluids. A new transmission is thousands of dollars.

 

[KlubMarcus]

I just did this with a few used vehicles I've acquired not long ago.

I did between 2 and 4 spill and fills in a week or a months' time, probably 20-100 miles between each iteration. That got between 30 and 70% of the fluid replaced. Fluid is about $3-5 per qt. and a lot of it was free from Carquests' Great Oil Harvest giveaway! Anyway, depending on the vehicle I have around 1/2 or more new fluids. Going forward, additional spill and fills after more miles and pan drops and filter replacements are in order.

NOT changing the fluid, even slowly over thousands of miles, is absolute lunacy. The entire job is probably $100 in fluids. A new transmission is thousands of dollars.

I agree, keeping the old fluid in there is insane. There is no such thing as "lifetime fluids" folks. Nissan owners learned this the hard way. I'm a fan of drain and fill because it's cheap and easy to do. My oldest Honda at the moment has 170K miles and I just drain and fill with Valvoline MaxLife ATF or O'Reilly Synthetic Multi-Vehicle ATF.

 

[nicholas]

I recently purchased a used 2012 Honda Accord that had 134,000 miles. Currently has 140,000 miles. Come to find out recently, the transmission fluid has never been changed. Is it worth doing it now? I've heard people tell me no and others tell me yes. I'm not experiencing any issues with the transmission at all so I'd like to know your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Change it.....
Our accord really liked maxlife atf.
I did 3 drain and fills, each fill after a short drive using all the gears.

 

[mightymousetech]

Thing is that Honda automatics are NOT traditionally designed automatic gearboxes, they are most similar in design to the wet DCT
we know of today. These tend to need a little more attention and I would definitely do 30,000 mi drain and fills on them.

Actually more like a manual, but instead of a synco, there is a multiplate clutch. They generate a lot more clutch material in the fluid.

Drain and fills only, never recommended to do a “flush”. Drain interval is every 48k km.

 

[CharlesInCharge]

Drain and fill, drive, row thru the gears. After 5 to say 100 miles, repeat this process several times.

You'll get diminishing returns, and start dumping more new fluid than old, and you can do the complex math or find a partial drain calculator online. But basically it works out to something like this, so you'll find that the sweet spot is somewhere around 3-5 iterations, and then get on a regular schedule such as every oil change. These are made up numbers but generally representative of a typical D&F.
1. 30% new fluid
2. 50%
3. 60%
4. 67%
5. 72%
6. 77%
7. 81%
8. 84%
9. 87%
10. 90%

 

[UncleDave]

I wouldn't flush it. I prefer regular D&F's and a pan drop every 100K

You can get there with D&F's if you cant afford a pan drop. Not sure if there is a filter in there or not.

At this stage you want the old friction material out of the oil, and you want some fresh oil in there to keep the seal from degrading and it turning into a leaker if it isnt already.

 

[DougR]

Exchange the transmission fluid even at 140,000 miles.

 

[SatinSilver]

Honda says drain and fills only on these so that's what I'd do. Even more so on a higher miler/older unit. Then wait a few weeks/200+ miles between services. Probably do 4 D/F's. Noticed a big difference after the second and third DF on an 05 with 160k miles. Gear shifts were much quicker as well as accelleration.

 

[FZ1]

I recently purchased a used 2012 Honda Accord that had 134,000 miles. Currently has 140,000 miles. Come to find out recently, the transmission fluid has never been changed. Is it worth doing it now? I've heard people tell me no and others tell me yes. I'm not experiencing any issues with the transmission at all so I'd like to know your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Go to the Honda dealer and get the proper Honda ATF for that year Honda.

 

[Dogman]

My votes for a spill-n-fill or 4.