The flushing procedure on the manual of our 04 Accord says to drain and refill 3x and then drain and refill a final time, so 4 times total. It also says you can use DEXRON III as a temporay replacement but then you need to do the flush procedure with the Z1 fluid. I did a drain and fill at 20k miles and just now I did a drain and fill again at 40k miles with honda Z1. I'm thinking of doing this every 20k miles but switching to castrol import atf in the future. does anyone see a problem with this??
Recommend Trans fluid that meets Honda ATF-Z1
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I believe the manual says to drain and refill, drive it a short distance (I dunno, 1/2 mile or so), then repeat that procedure three more times.
THEN, supposedly you've got an almost complete ATF change.
And if I'm going through that hassle, I'm using something other than Z1.
THEN, supposedly you've got an almost complete ATF change.
And if I'm going through that hassle, I'm using something other than Z1.
i know alot of friends who do. it is funny how none of my friends who drain and fill with a oil change never have a tranny failure.
Here is my take on this. I have done countless cooler line exchanges(no flush chems added) in honda/acura cars. NEVER ever had one issue. All of them received a Magnefine filter right after the exchange.
I realize Honda advises against flushing any of their automatics and my assumption would be that this is due to quick lube places using a chemical flush of some sort which can stir up debris that eventually get caught in the internal filter/screen causing issues and even failures in some cases.
Im not implying I know better than honda, just that in several hondas that I have exchanged I have removed 99% of the old fluid and they have shifted much better when all is said and done and have been going on 50K since this service. The drain and fill will get you nowhere near 99%. I dont care if you do it three times. Still alot of mixing going on.
I realize Honda advises against flushing any of their automatics and my assumption would be that this is due to quick lube places using a chemical flush of some sort which can stir up debris that eventually get caught in the internal filter/screen causing issues and even failures in some cases.
Im not implying I know better than honda, just that in several hondas that I have exchanged I have removed 99% of the old fluid and they have shifted much better when all is said and done and have been going on 50K since this service. The drain and fill will get you nowhere near 99%. I dont care if you do it three times. Still alot of mixing going on.
Hey if it works stick with it! 342K on any transmission is a real achievement, let alone a honda! Here's to another 100K
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Originally Posted By: AzFireGuy79
Here is my take on this. I have done countless cooler line exchanges(no flush chems added) in honda/acura cars. NEVER ever had one issue. All of them received a Magnefine filter right after the exchange.
I realize Honda advises against flushing any of their automatics and my assumption would be that this is due to quick lube places using a chemical flush of some sort which can stir up debris that eventually get caught in the internal filter/screen causing issues and even failures in some cases.
Im not implying I know better than honda, just that in several hondas that I have exchanged I have removed 99% of the old fluid and they have shifted much better when all is said and done and have been going on 50K since this service. The drain and fill will get you nowhere near 99%. I dont care if you do it three times. Still alot of mixing going on.
agree. i believe Honda against flush is to prevent car owner going to local garage that Honda has no control of it's service procedures...
lucky you, i have not found a good way to replace factory aft filter in tsx and flush via cooler line flush on tsx and soon MDX. therefore i am stuck doing drain and fill with maxlife atf at each oil change. once i solve it i will use Amsoil from my stash. if you dont mind, can you let me know how you did the cooler line flush? did you cut the line because i found all those connector are super hard to reach, and i really dont want to cut the line.... thanks in advance!
Here is my take on this. I have done countless cooler line exchanges(no flush chems added) in honda/acura cars. NEVER ever had one issue. All of them received a Magnefine filter right after the exchange.
I realize Honda advises against flushing any of their automatics and my assumption would be that this is due to quick lube places using a chemical flush of some sort which can stir up debris that eventually get caught in the internal filter/screen causing issues and even failures in some cases.
Im not implying I know better than honda, just that in several hondas that I have exchanged I have removed 99% of the old fluid and they have shifted much better when all is said and done and have been going on 50K since this service. The drain and fill will get you nowhere near 99%. I dont care if you do it three times. Still alot of mixing going on.
agree. i believe Honda against flush is to prevent car owner going to local garage that Honda has no control of it's service procedures...
lucky you, i have not found a good way to replace factory aft filter in tsx and flush via cooler line flush on tsx and soon MDX. therefore i am stuck doing drain and fill with maxlife atf at each oil change. once i solve it i will use Amsoil from my stash. if you dont mind, can you let me know how you did the cooler line flush? did you cut the line because i found all those connector are super hard to reach, and i really dont want to cut the line.... thanks in advance!
YEah I will PM you as to not take away from the thread.
Originally Posted By: AzFireGuy79
YEah I will PM you as to not take away from the thread.
PM received, thanks very much
YEah I will PM you as to not take away from the thread.
PM received, thanks very much
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Originally Posted By: dkryan
benjamming:
How is that RLI ATF performing in your '02 Accord?
Just fine. I'll have another UOA at 135k miles. I'm at 131k miles now.
benjamming:
How is that RLI ATF performing in your '02 Accord?
Just fine. I'll have another UOA at 135k miles. I'm at 131k miles now.
dkryan,
How many quarts did you use to "flush"? What method - manual cooler line I assume?
How many quarts did you use to "flush"? What method - manual cooler line I assume?
Honda/Acura approved transmission method is a simple drain and fill. Many dealerships will only perform this service. They have no fluid exchange machine. Three drain/fills is considered a fluid excahange.
Owning an 02 RSX I have researched this topic quite a bit in the past. I decided years ago to stick with Z-1. I do a drain and fill every 30K. Fluid stays very fresh and transmission performs like new.
If I did not use Z-1 I would have used Amsoil Universal ATF. It seems to get the best reviews on Honda/Acura owner sites.
Owning an 02 RSX I have researched this topic quite a bit in the past. I decided years ago to stick with Z-1. I do a drain and fill every 30K. Fluid stays very fresh and transmission performs like new.
If I did not use Z-1 I would have used Amsoil Universal ATF. It seems to get the best reviews on Honda/Acura owner sites.
My ATF turned really brown in the 06 Accord with 25K miles. I think the previous owner did a lot of short trips in town.
So I did a drain/fill using MaxLife because it worked great in the Sienna which absolutely loves it. But the Accord does not seem to care for it. Shift quality has changed. Going into second and third gears is harder though the rest seems the same.
I will let it slosh around in there until we have a dry evening again and I will do anther drain/fill using Honda's Z1.
Someday I might spring for AMSOIL. I have had a really good experience with their ATF in a Nissan Altima and a really bad experience in a Subaru Forester. In the Nissan I ran it for 60K, shifted like a dream and never even changed color.
In the other case, it had to be drained out of the Forester because the clutch slipped so bad the whole car shuddered when it finally changed gear. Then a drain/fill did not even work. I had to get a flush to make it shift right again.
So I did a drain/fill using MaxLife because it worked great in the Sienna which absolutely loves it. But the Accord does not seem to care for it. Shift quality has changed. Going into second and third gears is harder though the rest seems the same.
I will let it slosh around in there until we have a dry evening again and I will do anther drain/fill using Honda's Z1.
Someday I might spring for AMSOIL. I have had a really good experience with their ATF in a Nissan Altima and a really bad experience in a Subaru Forester. In the Nissan I ran it for 60K, shifted like a dream and never even changed color.
In the other case, it had to be drained out of the Forester because the clutch slipped so bad the whole car shuddered when it finally changed gear. Then a drain/fill did not even work. I had to get a flush to make it shift right again.
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Unlike your typical Ford, GM or Toyota automatic transmission Hondas can be picky about what fluid they get. I'm not at all suprised that your shift quality was negatively effected when you switched to Maxlife. A drain/fill with Z-1 should bring things back to normal. Then, I'd do a drain/fill with Z-1 every 30K to keep the fluid fresh and your shift quality factory like.
Fortunately, it is a small change in shift quality that does not make me overly worried while driving.
On the positive side the gear-whine is gone! MaxLife ATF is good stuff, just not liked by the Honda's clutch.
On the positive side the gear-whine is gone! MaxLife ATF is good stuff, just not liked by the Honda's clutch.
I am currently using Maxlife ATF. I like it because of price/quality. The dealer wants $9 for Z1 so I don't mind using alternate products at all. I am using it for over a year now. So far so good.
I used to use Amsoil ATF too but It felt too slippery when I drove (I suspected that my transmission might be too old because I used to use my car for delivery.) I stick with Maxlife ATF for now.
I used to use Amsoil ATF too but It felt too slippery when I drove (I suspected that my transmission might be too old because I used to use my car for delivery.) I stick with Maxlife ATF for now.
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