Switching from Honda DW1 to Valvoline MaxLife

[parshisa]

now I'm having trouble getting the level correct. I've drained almost 4qt at the change and sloppy me I spilled a few ounces so who knows how much exactly it was. Fluid drained was cold (car sat overnight), so I attempted to put back same amount drained ( I was quite confident in the fluid level before). Long story short, 3.8qt goes back in. Drive the car, supposedly get the fluid hot, check it barely on the tip. Some more fluid goes in making it 4qts now, diriving the car, supposedly getting it hot - looks like the right above the bottom dot on the dipstick. Drove a few miles today to pick up wife and kids, shut off engine, wait 90sec, pulled the dipstick - barely on the tip. what in the world. keep in mind, same spot in the garage every time I check it. Now, I have a feeling that me level before I drained wasn't correct.

Two questions: 1. How long it takes to the fluid HOT so the measurement on the dipstick is legitimate?
2. How bad for tranny to be underfilled by 0.3qts or so?

 

[The Critic]

IME, you're about 1/4 qt low.

Start the car and allow it to idle until the radiator fans come on twice. Shut off. Wait 30 seconds, check fluid level.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by parshisa
now I'm having trouble getting the level correct. I've drained almost 4qt at the change and sloppy me I spilled a few ounces so who knows how much exactly it was. Fluid drained was cold (car sat overnight), so I attempted to put back same amount drained ( I was quite confident in the fluid level before). Long story short, 3.8qt goes back in. Drive the car, supposedly get the fluid hot, check it barely on the tip. Some more fluid goes in making it 4qts now, diriving the car, supposedly getting it hot - looks like the right above the bottom dot on the dipstick. Drove a few miles today to pick up wife and kids, shut off engine, wait 90sec, pulled the dipstick - barely on the tip. what in the world. keep in mind, same spot in the garage every time I check it. Now, I have a feeling that me level before I drained wasn't correct.

Two questions: 1. How long it takes to the fluid HOT so the measurement on the dipstick is legitimate?
2. How bad for tranny to be underfilled by 0.3qts or so?



Hope will come back with a follow up. I'm so curious as to what is going on here with this situation and can it be resolved.

 

[parshisa]

Any long term damage due to running 0.25qt low?

 

[Vigilant]

This involves Mobil 1 synthetic ATF, not Valvoline, but it may still hold true. I bought an '06 F-150 years ago, with about 120,000 miles on it. One of the first things I did was to have the transmission self-flushed and filled with Mobil 1. The truck had good maintenance, but not long after the ATF switch, the trans went out on me. I couldn't believe it. The truck was fleet maintained according to the owner's manual. Had the trans rebuilt and filled again with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF. Truck has been doing great for many miles. I have since read that Mobil 1 ATF has a lot of detergents in it. I believe switching that high mileage trans to a high-detergent ATF caused some crud to be broken loose that should have been left alone. My take on the moral of the story: Don't switch a high-mileage trans over to a high-detergent ATF. Stick with OEM fluid. In my case, Motorcraft. For a trans with low miles or a fresh overhaul, synthetic fluid is a good idea.

 

[kschachn]

Of course you really don't know if they were connected or just random incidents. My old BMW went well over 100,000 miles and many years until I got it and put in Mobil 1 ATF, it was fine.

 

[dawgn86]

I have run Valvoline Maxlife in my Nissans; my Pathfinder for approximately 120,000 miles and my Frontier for 75,000 miles. Both shift very smoothly and the fluid still looks like new. Have done a couple of drain and fills on both as well.

 

[parshisa]

Ended up sticking with OEM. got a 12qt case for 90$ so not too bad. got a full 3xD&F routine done with 8qts left. Plan to do 10K miles D&F which will put me at 50K on clock and warrantly will be over. Will look into the other options at that point

 

[thrace]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by parshisa
Suggesting making a move to cheaper option since it appears that OEM stuff doesn't really hold up (16' Pilot, 6AT).


What do you mean it doesn't hold up?

Honda service bulletin 16-060 describes deteriorated transmission fluid causing judder from torque converter lock up clutch.
https://static.oemdtc.com/TSB/A16-060.pdf