[CL9] Changing Automatic Transmission Fluid

[buddah51au]

yeah but they also go over the whole car for you, tightening suspension/chassis bolts, top up all fluids, check/do tyre pressures, including in the spare tyre, check for any out of the ordinary, such as cracked bushes, broken engine mounts, worn out belts etc.
i know the price is still high, and not really worth it, but alot of garages just do the service and don't check anything.
also, being dealerships, they have bills to pay as well.
so obviously, they can't charge peanuts and expect to pay wages, bills, rent, consumables etc.

yeah but they also go over the whole car for you, tightening suspension/chassis bolts, top up all fluids, check/do tyre pressures, including in the spare tyre, check for any out of the ordinary, such as cracked bushes, broken engine mounts, worn out belts etc.

In all my years in workshops I have never seen that done with the exception of tyre pressures, it was just a quick visual check over

[demons21]

yeah but they also go over the whole car for you, tightening suspension/chassis bolts, top up all fluids, check/do tyre pressures, including in the spare tyre, check for any out of the ordinary, such as cracked bushes, broken engine mounts, worn out belts etc.

In all my years in workshops I have never seen that done with the exception of tyre pressures, it was just a quick visual check over

Mate,

I am well aware of the "Honda Mark-up" but as I am not a mechanic I have to take it to them or another recognised Servicer (who I would not trust with a matchbox car).!

[destrukshn]

yeah but they also go over the whole car for you, tightening suspension/chassis bolts, top up all fluids, check/do tyre pressures, including in the spare tyre, check for any out of the ordinary, such as cracked bushes, broken engine mounts, worn out belts etc.

In all my years in workshops I have never seen that done with the exception of tyre pressures, it was just a quick visual check over

i've worked at a honda dealership for over 5 years, and other dealerships as well.
everyone i've been too, has done it.

[seanneko]

I change Auto fluid every 20,000km, if you consider when you drain the Auto fluid you only drain a little over 1/3 of the total capacity (2.5lts to refill, total capacity is just over 6 lts). In theory that means your changing the full capacity of the transmission every 60,000km, but in reality it doesn't work that way as your always mixing new oil with old.

Couple of questions...

The CL9 service book says that auto transmission fluid is changed every 120,000km. Do they do a full flush of the entire thing, or just replace the 2.8 litres that drains from it? If it's the latter, isn't this bad, since essentially the car will always have old fluid.

Also, how sensitive is the transmission to the level of fluid? I remember on my old Statesman you absolutely had to get the right amount in. Too much or too little would make it slip, hold gears too long, etc.

Is it true that you have to use genuine Honda fluid rather than a generic one from SCA, Autobarn etc? If so, can you get it anywhere except dealers? Can't seem to find any on ebay...

[rayd17]

I change Auto fluid every 20,000km, if you consider when you drain the Auto fluid you only drain a little over 1/3 of the total capacity (2.5lts to refill, total capacity is just over 6 lts). In theory that means your changing the full capacity of the transmission every 60,000km, but in reality it doesn't work that way as your always mixing new oil with old.

Heat is the biggest killer of auto transmissions & the fluid, so it is cheap insurance for the life of the transmission if you change it more regularly. It is an easy DIY.

(my opinion)

aaronng, i actually broke the internals of a 3/8 drive ratchet on the auto drain plug of my FD1, so i take a more heavy handed approach now to remove the drain plug.

Buddah, can all of these chassis bolts etc that you mention be done diy ? im not really mechanically minded either but if i have a fair idea which bolts n where to tighten that would be helpful?

car is a 2006 , with a mild 67000kms on the clock....

I also am experiencing the power steering/ squeeky noise would you recommendation to put new fluid in be worth it? ( the previous owner has fudged logbooks ive found out as the dealership stamps on it do not correspond when i rang up the dealer) buyer beware always ask for receipts as log books mean **** all

[buddah51au]

Couple of questions...

The CL9 service book says that auto transmission fluid is changed every 120,000km. Do they do a full flush of the entire thing, or just replace the 2.8 litres that drains from it? If it's the latter, isn't this bad, since essentially the car will always have old fluid.

Also, how sensitive is the transmission to the level of fluid? I remember on my old Statesman you absolutely had to get the right amount in. Too much or too little would make it slip, hold gears too long, etc.

Is it true that you have to use genuine Honda fluid rather than a generic one from SCA, Autobarn etc? If so, can you get it anywhere except dealers? Can't seem to find any on ebay...

I would say that 98% of the time they just change the 2.8 litres (approx) that is drained out. This is why I change mine every 20K, it is almost impossible to do a full drain of old fluid in a transmission, therefore you are always mixing new oil with old. Unfortunately Honda do not have a pan & filter on the transmission, just a drain plug & magnet. One of the biggest killers of Auto transmissions is lack of service as heat destroys the oil & from there the internal components (if you lower a car or put body kits on cars this restricts air flow under the car causing the transmission to run hotter. I only ever use genuine Honda Transmission fluid & would recommend the same to others. Using the wrong oil can kill a transmission in no time. Oil Level is VERY CRITICAL, but i would prefer to be a fraction over then a fraction under.

[buddah51au]

Buddah, can all of these chassis bolts etc that you mention be done diy ? im not really mechanically minded either but if i have a fair idea which bolts n where to tighten that would be helpful?

car is a 2006 , with a mild 67000kms on the clock....

I also am experiencing the power steering/ squeeky noise would you recommendation to put new fluid in be worth it? ( the previous owner has fudged logbooks ive found out as the dealership stamps on it do not correspond when i rang up the dealer) buyer beware always ask for receipts as log books mean **** all

If you are able to get the car high enough to get under it you can check the chassis bolts yourself (I have never checked mine).

You can try changing the Power Steering Fluid to see if it helps, but it would be impossible to know if it would improve your problem. If at any time your Power Steering Pump has run on low oil level there is a strong possibility that the bearings could be damaged.

[Fredoops]

The new ATF-DW1 (synthetic) apparently is more high temp tolerant than the old ATF-Z1, I might give it a try later.

heres a comparison of them all, used ATF-Z1, new ATF-Z1 and new ATF-DW1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Pw4fwnMDY

[buddah51au]

It maybe more high temp tolerant, but the difficulty is changing all the oil in the transmission at 1 time. What we used to do with cars that had badly burnt transmission fluid was to do a service & when finished, disconnect the transmission oil supply pipe to the radiator (or cooler), run the car in gear untill the oil flow from the pipe stopped, refill the gearbox & keep repeating the process until the oil ran clean. This would normally consume 20 litres + of transmission fluid. that = $$$$$

If you were to just use the new ATF-DW1 oil during a normal drain & refill method you would probably be looking at 4 to 6 oil changes before you could get close enough to full capacity of ATF-DW1 in the transmission

[Fredoops]

It maybe more high temp tolerant, but the difficulty is changing all the oil in the transmission at 1 time. What we used to do with cars that had badly burnt transmission fluid was to do a service & when finished, disconnect the transmission oil supply pipe to the radiator (or cooler), run the car in gear untill the oil flow from the pipe stopped, refill the gearbox & keep repeating the process until the oil ran clean. This would normally consume 20 litres + of transmission fluid. that = $$$$$

Funny you said Transmission oil cooler, I was thinking about installing one... Then I founding out from either k20.org or Acura forum that it doesn't actually help Honda Auto Tranny's apparently the part that usually breaks is the second clutch or something which the 'cooled' fluid can't reach anyway...

If you were to just use the new ATF-DW1 oil during a normal drain & refill method you would probably be looking at 4 to 6 oil changes before you could get close enough to full capacity of ATF-DW1 in the transmission

Yeah I know... aint that a b&*^%.
Guess we'll just have to keep our fingers greasy.

[buddah51au]

I can't comment on the temperature difference an oil cooler would make to a Euro as I have never done any testing. I can say as fact that on falcadores we fitted oil coolers to it dropped the oil temp by 20 to 25 deg C, Under heavy towing conditions the difference was over 30 deg C. Oil Coolers do work, the problem with modern electronic Auto Transmissions is to make sure you don't fit too big a cooler which drops the oil temperature too much.

[dec3it]

The drain bolt has a 3/8" square drive pattern on it. Look for that. To remove it, you use a 3/8" square drive ratchet. When changing ATF, the volume changed is 2.8L. So 3L should be enough to do it. To fill it back up, you do it through the auto transmission dipstick hole.

Hi,

just wondering which part of the car does this diagram reflect, i mean where is this area? directly under the ATF dip stick? i assume? as you can tell i am a complete noob when it comes to cars..