ATF change on 07 Civic - anyone a Honda tech??

[tpattgeek]

Here it is: http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/mechanica...gree-atf-2.html

Post #24. It would appear all of the "racers" on this forum think the repair procedure (3x drain/fill) is the way to change the ATF every 30k, but just read the first sentence.

 

[Johnny]

I do the 3x drain and fill on both of my Honda Elements @ 75K using Red Line D4 ATF. What I actually do is drain and fill, drive about 3 miles and repeat the process.

Really ticks me off the dealer wants $80 to do one drain and fill and it takes them less time than it does to do an oil change.

Just returned from the dealer this morning where I had the oil changed in my wife's Element and the rear diff fluid needed to be changed. Took him maybe 5 minutes to do that and it cost $80. I will do it myself next time.

 

[mechanicx]

The way I understand the procedure, and I'm sure it varies by model and year, is Honda only recommends drains and refills. On a late model Accord for instance the ATF service light will come on at some high milage maybe 60K miles or so. This indicates that all the old fluid needs changed. The way to do this is a total 4X drain and refills, and there is a procedure where on a lift you run through the gears several times to distribute the fluid between drains.

The idea is within 60K-100K you want to have completely changed out all of the old ATF, which would require about 4 drain and refills. The tranny holds about 7 qts and each drain might get out about 3.5 qts so it takes 4 drains to get ~90% of the old ATF out.Some people just opt to do it once every 15-30K to get there. Then there are some you drain the ATF every 7500 miles with the oil change, or do 3-4 every 30K miles. That seems like overkill and doing 1 drain every 15 or 3-4 every 60K seems about right.

Also Honda AT have a filter, most of the 4cyl models have one in the transmission line, and some V6s have one that is like a cartridge in the AT. It should be changed too at some point.

 

[tpattgeek]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Also Honda AT have a filter, most of the 4cyl models have one in the transmission line, and some V6s have one that is like a cartridge in the AT. It should be changed too at some point.


It's actually "not serviceable" on the 8th generation Civic, so I assume the stock magnetic drain bolt does a good job of cleaning. I'm sticking with 30k, if I run into issues at 200k, I'll just tell the dealer, "Look what you did!!"

 

[ScottG]

Same here on the $80 (Canadian). $80 for drain fill. They've done it 2 times on the current car. I bought the supplies the other day from Honda for $27 and will do it myself.

 

[Sayjac]

01 Civic EX Coupe bought new. Currently ~ 141K miles with 4 total drain and refill service using Z-1 (3qts.). Just did the last one a week ago myself, easy. Car still shifts great. This on a model noted for trans issues.

Owners manual does recommend the 3X drain, but the single drain refill method has worked for me.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I only do a multiple flush in a car that was unserviced for a long time or if changing types of fluids. I prefer to do 1x a year.

No sense in draining 50% fluid that has no miles on it.

 

[santov]

I had a 06 Civic, but never serviced the ATF myself, although I wish I had, at 50k the shifts were getting a little harsh.

My 1998 Accord I "flushed" by this method:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsdPAadc9fY

Use only Honda ATF Z1. My Accord didn't like the Mobil1 ATF at all (and it wasn't much cheaper then Honda ATF), but it could have been the millage, that thing had 160k miles.

PS: Even though the iridium plugs were supposedly 100k mile a rough idle prompted me to change them to E3 (because of price, not the hype) and the E3 were GREAT in that car. The iridium that I took out were toast. How Honda thinks they'll last 100k is beyond me.

 

[SJohnson]

Here's a link to a diagram of the location of the tranny fiter. It's at the top of page 2.

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/transmission/169165-r18-automatic-transmission-fluid-change-2.html