I bought a 2004 Honda Odyssey w/ 138k miles to become the "new" family hauler. One-owner vehicle. It has some service records and documented transmission fluid changes, but records are not complete. The owner stopped using dealer service a couple/few years ago, and the last ATF flush was about 15k ago, using Kendall Versatrans ATF, which appears to be a run-of-the-mill Dex III product.
The fluid color on the dipstick leaves a lot to be desired, it's an off-pink with sort of a grey tinge to it. Might be wear metals or clutch material discoloring the fluid; I know these Honda trannies are not the most robust. Transmission shifts fine, I notice no slipping or anything out of the ordinary.
That said, I want to keep it that way and begin my ownership with a complete fluid overhaul. I'm told you can't get to the filter, so my thought was to do several ATF fluid drain & refills in succession. I was thinking of buying cheap Dex-III clone to do the first 3 drain & refills (just to get the old, presumably used-up fluid out), then do about three more drail refills with a nice quality Synthetic, or whatever is considered best for this transmission.
What service / fluid would you guys recommend? Actual experiences with this transmission & different fluids in it would be especially helpful. I'm not dead-set on using dealer fluid, if there's a better product out there for the price. Has anyone used a Dex VI or low viscosity ATF in these tranmissions? I've had good luck with the LV ATF's in other vehicles. Last few vehicles I've done ATF service on, I've used Mag1 Full Synthetic (fairly cheap on Amazon) with good results. Thinking about doing the same on this Honda, but it's my first Honda and I'm unsure what fluids work best in these unique transmissions.
The fluid color on the dipstick leaves a lot to be desired, it's an off-pink with sort of a grey tinge to it. Might be wear metals or clutch material discoloring the fluid; I know these Honda trannies are not the most robust. Transmission shifts fine, I notice no slipping or anything out of the ordinary.
That said, I want to keep it that way and begin my ownership with a complete fluid overhaul. I'm told you can't get to the filter, so my thought was to do several ATF fluid drain & refills in succession. I was thinking of buying cheap Dex-III clone to do the first 3 drain & refills (just to get the old, presumably used-up fluid out), then do about three more drail refills with a nice quality Synthetic, or whatever is considered best for this transmission.
What service / fluid would you guys recommend? Actual experiences with this transmission & different fluids in it would be especially helpful. I'm not dead-set on using dealer fluid, if there's a better product out there for the price. Has anyone used a Dex VI or low viscosity ATF in these tranmissions? I've had good luck with the LV ATF's in other vehicles. Last few vehicles I've done ATF service on, I've used Mag1 Full Synthetic (fairly cheap on Amazon) with good results. Thinking about doing the same on this Honda, but it's my first Honda and I'm unsure what fluids work best in these unique transmissions.
