Einstein
01-04-2003, 11:37 AM
After I picked up my 88 LXi, I did all the fluid changes (except power steering). Of special interest is my automatic transmission fluid (ATF)
I used Valvoline MaxLife Dexron III ATF first off. The transmission shifted about the same, still accompanied by a hard slam that made the dash make a crack sound.
Second change I tried Honda's premium ATF-Z1. With this, the shifts have been much better, no longer slams that make the dash shift, but definitely nowhere near the smoothness of our CR-V.
I was going to leave it alone for a while (it's been 6 months), but I was reading on the www.bobistheoilguy.com forum about how superior the ATF-Z1 is in Honda products, and it reminded me that when you change your automatic transmission fluid half of it stays in the torque converter.
So I went out today to the dealer and got 3 more quarts (also to see the new Element :)
Now that I've done the third change, 75% is ATF-Z1, 12.5% is old oil, and 12.5% is MaxLife dextron III. The oil was brownish that came out, so I think the 6 months gave it time for the old contaminants to loosen up and go into suspension in the oil.
Now the transmission is extremely smooth. If I compare it to the 11-year newer CR-V, it's still not entirely smooth, but the CR-V probably retards the ignition timing during shifts.
I don't have any leaks at all. I do not wish that I had "flushed" the transmission, Hondas tend to do well with several changes of the fluid (separated by a number of drives) to flush out the old stuff.
Of course, if the previous owner had done transmission fluid changes every 30,000 miles like they should... and used genuine Honda ATF, you would only need to continue that ritual and not do a repeated change flush.
I used Valvoline MaxLife Dexron III ATF first off. The transmission shifted about the same, still accompanied by a hard slam that made the dash make a crack sound.
Second change I tried Honda's premium ATF-Z1. With this, the shifts have been much better, no longer slams that make the dash shift, but definitely nowhere near the smoothness of our CR-V.
I was going to leave it alone for a while (it's been 6 months), but I was reading on the www.bobistheoilguy.com forum about how superior the ATF-Z1 is in Honda products, and it reminded me that when you change your automatic transmission fluid half of it stays in the torque converter.
So I went out today to the dealer and got 3 more quarts (also to see the new Element :)
Now that I've done the third change, 75% is ATF-Z1, 12.5% is old oil, and 12.5% is MaxLife dextron III. The oil was brownish that came out, so I think the 6 months gave it time for the old contaminants to loosen up and go into suspension in the oil.
Now the transmission is extremely smooth. If I compare it to the 11-year newer CR-V, it's still not entirely smooth, but the CR-V probably retards the ignition timing during shifts.
I don't have any leaks at all. I do not wish that I had "flushed" the transmission, Hondas tend to do well with several changes of the fluid (separated by a number of drives) to flush out the old stuff.
Of course, if the previous owner had done transmission fluid changes every 30,000 miles like they should... and used genuine Honda ATF, you would only need to continue that ritual and not do a repeated change flush.