Hey guys, a good friend of mine drives a 2000 Honda Accord v6 with the infamous horrible a/t. Her and I went to this (supossedly "famous" around here) known transmission shop 2 hrs away and talked to the owner and techs there. They knew what we were wanting to talk about as soon as we showed up in her car. They said they know the problem well, and that they can remove, rebuild and re-install her a/t for $1000 flat...(she says the owner of the shop knows her dad well). So, she is thinking about having them rebuild her a/t but wanted to try and do as much as we can to help prolong her a/t untill she can afford to take her car to the shop. I have done a little research and read that Honda added a "2nd gear oil jet" where the drain plug on top of the trans is. I have searched but cant find where to buy said "oil jet kit". She wants me to drain and fill her atf 3x, add a decent sized atf cooler and do the oil jet mod. Now, I know how to do the atf drain and fill and know how to add an atf cooler, and most likely can add the oil jet kit, but cant really find out where I can purchase said oil jet kit, or any info on installing the oil jet kit yourself. Do any of you guys have any info on the "oil jet kit" Honda uses?

Also, which ATF would you guys suggest in her Accord after we add the oil jet kit, atf cooler and inline filter?

Honda atfz1 or dw1?
Redline?
Amsoil?
Something else?

This girl LOVES her v6 accord coupe and wants to keep it, especially after I installed her AEM cold air intake and audio set-up.

Please help me help my friend in need!

Try adding some lubeguard red too.

My understanding is it was a dealer-installed item just on the later 5-speeds, though I could be wrong. Check with them.

I don't think the 2000's have the 5-speed autos, which were the ones with problems I'd heard about. Again, a dealer might be able to give some help (I'd say Insight, but that would be a terrible pun).

+1 on the Lubegard; I use Maxlife but a number of the synthetics are good.

Also, is the tranny going soft or is she looking to prevent that?

Valvoline MaxLife DEX/MERC would probably be a good choice. I've read A LOT about ATF for Honda ATs and A LOT of folks say it's an improvement over Z-1. Our Saturn VUE has a Honda 5-speed AT and come 60K, I'll do a series (i.e. three or maybe even four) of drains/fills using it. Assuming that I like things after MaxLife is in there, I'll probably do a single drain/fill every 10K after that.

Honda recalled certain models in the 2001-2003 or 2004 timeframe to install the oil jet kit. It essentially provided additional lubrication to the top side of the transmission. In later units, the design was changed to incorporate this internally. For example, our '05 MDX doesn't have an oil jet kit and it's not recalled. The reliability of the transmissions improved dramatically once the design was modified.

You really can't get ATF-Z1 anymore, but you may see some out there in dealer stock. ATF-DW1 is the new standard fluid, and by most measures I've seen, it's an improvement on the old fluid. I personally don't use anything but the DW1 fluid in mine (except for the residual Z1 that's still in from the factory).

In to find out why she's concerned about her tranny (i.e., is there an issue now or is this preventative - I've never heard of any one rebuilding to prevent an issue...)



+1 on DW-1. After the initial set of drain-and-fills, I think a drain and fill every 20-30k will be more than enough, and doing anything other than that doesn't make any sense.

It is the 4 speed auto that I have read also had the same problem as the 5 speed autos, just "not as bad". Her trans has a little oer 100k miles on it and there is a huge delay between each gear, hard shifts, and slips under load.She DEF wants me to drain and fill her a/t 3 or 4 times. She also wanted me to add a decently large external atf cooler. After I told her about how Honda added a oil jet on the cooler return line on some a/t's, she asked if I could add that as well.

Anyone know where I could get ahold of the oil jet kit?

So some are saying Honda dw1, some say maxlife etc....

Which ATF would you suggest for a slipping 100k mile trans?

Redline, Amsoil, Honda, some form of high mileage atf? Lubegard additive (I thought the black bottle was for Hondas and the red bottle was for most every other application?)?

3x DW1 and Lubeguard Red should be the initial approach.

HOWEVER, if it is already having problems, then it would be too late. Slipping under load is very bad.

Hard shifts could be as simple as weak pressure switches. Those are cheap (check ebay) and straight-forward to replace. If it is hard shifting 1-2 or 2-3 replace the pressure switches first.

1x DW1; replace the switches and drive for a week; 1x DW1 - drive for another week; 1xDW + Lubeguard Red and then start saving for a rebuild.

For oil jet kit, you will have to go to Honda dealer. I am not sure if it was made available for 4-speed. I know it was not for 4-speed Odyssey. Only 5-speed Odyssey got that recall. I am thinking Accord would have been treated similarly.

$1000 is insanely cheap if they actually do a good job. I have my doubts. The going rate is closer to 3K for rebuilding similar Honda V6

Im glad she keep the honda, they are really really depenable, my girl friend having one and its 297k miles on original engine and tranmission.

Well the shop seems to be pretty popular in my area, and her dad knows the shop owner so hes giving her a deal...

Whatever they did on post-recall transmissions seems to be more involved than just the jet kit. Perusing the Accord forums seems to indicate that the jet kit does not do all that much to eliminate transmission failure. At best, it may delay it somewhat.

That said, I didn't think the 4-speed transmissions had the same failure rate as the later (7th generation) 5-speed units.

There were no modifications done to the 6th generation 4-speed AT. There was a warranty extension for them but that was it - other than just simply replacing them. On the Accord, the oil jet was only for the 5-speed AT which began in 2003.

Make sure they clean the transmission cooler as bits from a failing transmission will be in there & you don't want them to destroy the replaced one.

What is the fluid service history? Anyway, I would get a case of DW-1 & change it & then go from there. You could add an external filter and/or cooler if you wanted. It won't hurt anything.

Hate to say it, but a trans that is slipping now is a Zombie... the living dead... except that it will eventually die completely and likely do so at the most inconvenient time.

I have a 2000 Accord, bought new, still with the original trans, but with only 85K. Have done 15K drain & fills since new, a complete fluid exchange at 60K and I added a Magnefine filter at 60K as well. Fingers are crossed.

I would strongly advise NOT installing a cooler at this time. When the trans fails, or as it's failing, it will contaminate that cooler with all sorts of failure debris that can be hard to remove later. I have my doubt that a cooler is necessary in this car, but I have not installed a permanent gauge in mine so I really don't know how hot or cool they run. I always gauge the need for a cooler on oil temps. Install the cooler AFTER the trans is rebuilt and has been broken in and at least one oil change.

I would also question the advisability of an oil change at this point. Adding a bunch of fresh oil. with it's fresh dose of good friction modifiers, may cause it to slip even more.

Some years back, I heard about this jet kit but I think it is for the 5-speeds and not the older 4-speeds. That is from memory, so it's not bankable.