Honda ATF over filled

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I did a drain and fill on the ATF on my Honda Civic today. Thought I would be smart and catch the old ATF in my drain pan and dump it into an empty 5 quart oil jug, then use the jug to measure how much drained out, then put that amount back in. I drove the car a few miles to get the ATF hot, put it on jack stands so it was level. It took about 10 minutes to lift the car, then I checked the ATF dip stick, it was just at the low end of the hash mark area. Fine, I set the drain pan under the car, removed the drain plug and the ATF gushed out all over the place. Most of it went in the pan, some of it splashed out on the floor and on me too. Big oily mess to clean up.

I still put the old fluid that was in the pan into the oil jug, it was just over 2 1/2 quarts. I looked at that, then tried to guesstimate the amount spilled on the floor and figured the total had to be close to 3 quarts. So I put in all 3 quarts of Honda DW1. My Honda owners manual says a drain and fill takes 2.7 quarts. I drove the car a few miles and let it sit maybe 3 minutes, checked the level and it was showing about 3/16" above the full hot mark.

On the test drive, the car ran very well like always, shifted great, much better than before, had no transmission problems at all. There were no bubbles on the dip stick when I checked the level, no evidence of aeration at all. I think I slightly overfilled the ATF by maybe 1/4 of a quart. Question is, would it be best to drain some ATF out or leave it as is? I appreciate any help.
 
Thanks. I think when I did the first drain and fill at 31,000 miles I used 3 whole quarts of DW1 then too. It is hard to get the ATF level in the cross hatch area on the dipstick. I will probably just leave well enough alone.
 
Drive it for a few days and then recheck the dipstick. After the fluid's settled down it may read at the correct level.
 
Not sure how similar our transmissions are,but when I did the drain/refill on my Accord,it took exactly three quarts to get the level right at the full mark.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I feel better about it now. I checked my records on Fuelly and on March 6, 2016 I have an entry that I drained and refilled the ATF with "3 quarts of Honda DW-1". I know that if I had only added 2 1/2 or anything less than 3 quarts I would have made note of it. So I will drive it and check the level next week. If it is overfilled a little I don't believe it will do any damage.
 
The fluid level should be checked hot, and within 30-60 seconds of engine shut down.

If you wait several minutes, the fluid level with read falsely high.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: The Critic
The fluid level should be checked hot, and within 30-60 seconds of engine shut down.

If you wait several minutes, the fluid level with read falsely high.


I did that, on my test drive when I stopped for gas. It was maybe 30 seconds after I turned off the engine. The level was showing way up on the dip stick, way past the full mark so I gave it a few minutes when I checked it again back at home. I think the amount I put in could be slightly higher than what came out, but not by much.
 
When you need to suck any out head to true value get ya10’ of that poly clear plastic tubing. Start sucking . And ya better get that siphon action going down low or next time you’re going to be savoring the taste.
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Or maybe again and again, yucch . I keep some of that 1/4” stuff just for these sort of things.
 
Thanks Trav and Mr. Nice. I have a HF hand pump/fluid extractor. The hose that goes with it may be too big in diameter to fit the trans fill tube but I might find smaller tubing at Home Depot or Lowe's. I think for peace of mind I should probably take out some of the fluid. Maybe there was less spilled on the floor than what it looked like. The car is under an extended warranty but I doubt they would cover an overfilled transmission.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Thanks Trav and Mr. Nice. I have a HF hand pump/fluid extractor. The hose that goes with it may be too big in diameter to fit the trans fill tube but I might find smaller tubing at Home Depot or Lowe's. I think for peace of mind I should probably take out some of the fluid. Maybe there was less spilled on the floor than what it looked like. The car is under an extended warranty but I doubt they would cover an overfilled transmission.


Thanks very much to both of you on this. Looking down the trans fill tube, about 4 inches down is a narrow passageway about 1/4" wide. I could see the ATF below it and the hoses on my fluid pump were way too big to get to the fluid. The pump does have a few various fittings for its hoses though, and I went down to Ace Hardware and bought some 1/4" clear plastic pvc hose and fabbed up the hoses to get to the fluid.

Using an empty DW1 bottle to measure with, I pumped out 12 ounces with the transmission cold, it was not too hard to do. Then I went for a 3 mile test drive, came back, waited about a minute after turning off the ignition, the level was at the low end of the hatch mark area on the stick. Added 4 ounces from what I had pumped out, test drove a mile around the block, came back home and after waiting a minute after turning off the ignition, the level was at 3/4 full on the hatched area on the stick. Car drove and shifted great on both test drives. I am calling it done and a valuable lesson learned, with ATF to put the minimum amount and add small amounts as needed.
 
I overfilled the ATF in my Pilot over the summer and used a food syringe & length of aquarium tubing from Wally World to suck out the excess. Honda has really small dipstick tube openings on some of their cars so the thinnest tubing is all that fits.
 
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