Time To Change Tranny Fluid, Any Tips?

[HondaBoy]

ok, its way over due to change up the tranny fluid. the honda dealership will charge me about $70 to drain and fill the tranny. i'm thinking i can save some money and do it myself. i will buy the honda tranny fluid, i wont make any acceptions on that at all. but, its not completely hard to do i know. any of y'all done this? i wanted to do it today if possible. i can check up in my repair manual, but i'd like to have to tips from y'all who've done this yourself.

[HondaBoy]

i went to the honda dealership and bought 3 quarts of tranny fluid. says ATF-Z1 on the bottles. they said that would be what mine needs. anyway, right now would be a perfect time to do it. the tranny is already warmed up. also, they gave me a new washer for the drain bolt.

[HondaBoy]

ok, i did the conversion. says the automatic uses 5.2 pts. so that came out to 2.6 quarts. this if for draining and refilling. if its different, someone say something.

[Vanilla Sky]

mine said it needed 3.2 quarts

[Blue Impact]

someone say something.

SOMETHING!!!

I've never changed fluids on an auto tranny before so I wouldn't know what to tell you other than drain the old fluid out and pour the new fluid in. It's almost like changing the oil. Good luck.

[smufguy]

They might be named differently but they are all Dexron III. We normally have to use Dexron II like the owners manual says, but even the dealerships i went to, dont have em. Esp toyota dealership said they all use the universal Dexron III even tho the toyotas, like hondas, use or recommend Dexron II.

This reminds me, i gotta change that shit on my sister's car. Was the fluid pink or light red?

[HondaBoy]

looked more like what fresh oil color. not much pinkage going on, thats why i think it needs to be changed. also, kinda hard shifting. i hope 3 quarts will be enough, that's all they said i'd need. i didnt like that guy who was helping me today, i should have flipped him off when he turned around. lol. he was kind of a dick, i asked some questions about the tranny. i dunno. i want to get that done tomorrow if possible. its also time for an oil change, but that can pretty much wait. its pretty clean oil, so thats all good. i've been changing it every 3000 miles, but its a little over that now. when i first checked my tranny fluid the other day, i burned my arm on the radiator hose. i think it was a 3rd degree burn there. got blistered and its now red. that dipstick was screwed on tight. i did get it off anyway. it did say to check the fluid with the tranny warmed up from driving. next time i'll loosen the thing before i drive it. good thing that burn was small. anyone had any problems you encountered when changing the fluid? besides maybe a stuck drain bolt.

[Vanilla Sky]

hey man, as for that radiator hose, just get an old sweatshirt and stick your arm down the sleeve of it, and the fleece sweatshirt will keep you from getting burned... that's what i do

[HondaBoy]

yeah, i'll probley do that in the future for sure! do y'all think i'll need more than 3 quarts of tranny fluid? thats all i bought, but i dont wanna not have enough you know. that could mess things up.

[andresinibus]

what abouth the filter? i changed mine some time ago (the oil) but i couldn't figure out how to change the filter do we change it or not?

[smufguy]

what abouth the filter? i changed mine some time ago (the oil) but i couldn't figure out how to change the filter do we change it or not?

ur talkin about the engine oil filter??

Or are u talking about the auto tranny filter screen? If this is what ur talking about, u dont have to change it. just take it out, clean it, if its too extreme, get a new one. but 98% of the time u just clean it and put it back.

[andresinibus]

yea the tranny oil. and how do i pull out the filter to clean it?

[smufguy]

check pages 15-11, 15-20, 15-18, 15-54.

go to http://www.pauldesign.ru/honda/shopmanual.html and download the "Transaxle" zip file and view those pages above

[HondaBoy]

but still nobody knows for sure if 3 quarts is sufficent? i dont know if thats enough still. even the honda place seems to be stupid about that. i should just call them and ask the lady that usually helps me. shes pretty good with finding specific stuff like that. anyway, if anyone else knows some helpful stuff with this shit, post it up.

ok, i just called Honda, they told me 3 quarts was all i needed for the drain and refill. said thats what they would do if they were to do the work. dont know when i'll get some time for that though now. i'm workin and stuff and have people wanting me to help em out with their cars after i get off work. ah, i should make time for the 3gee! maybe i'll have some time today.

[andresinibus]

check pages 15-11, 15-20, 15-18, 15-54.

go to http://www.pauldesign.ru/honda/shopmanual.html and download the "Transaxle" zip file and view those pages above

but do we have to disamble the hole tranny to change the filter?

[smufguy]

but do we have to disamble the hole tranny to change the filter?

possibly yeah, But its not a novice. Removing a tranny or doing something like that, in this case, a heavy piece of STUFF, is just not a mechanically inclined. If u can take the tranny down and put it, which is not that hard, im sure u can do it. any other tranny place might do it the same way but just would charge u a butt load of money.

[HondaBoy]

yeah, that there is one of the small problems people can find with most honda tranny's. there is no removable pan on most of em to access the lovely filter. anyway, i successfully drained and refilled the tranny fluid. as they honda place said, 3 quarts is just enough. if your doing it on a level surface, like a garage floor with the front raised on jack stands, then 3 quarts is enough. i'm not sure if its not raised, if it would drain more than 3 quarts. ok, so i had a little trouble getting that drain bolt off since its torqued on. you gotta use either a ratchet or breaker bar. you use a 3/8 ratchet. i didnt have that size breaker bar, so i had to use some muscle to get it loosened. that may actually be the original tranny fluid. it was quite dark, like old oil. although shining a light through the stream of fluid comming out i could see it was red. very old though. the smell was pretty god awful. eww, i dont like the smell of tranny fluid. even the new stuff wasnt good smelling. lol. anyway, out of 3 quarts, i was left with right about 9 oz. of fluid left in the last bottle. i made sure to fill up the tranny just right, not too much and not too little. i'd like to do this a few more times so that the fliud will be mostly clean fliud. thanx Vanilla Sky! that sweatshirt trick works like a charm. my arm didnt get hot at all, and obviously didnt get burned again. the outcome is, it is shifting a bit smoother, but nothing like a new tranny. there is a noticeable difference about how the shifts go. 2nd isnt biteing so damn hard now which is what i was going for. if i was to spend between the $60 or $70 i'd have to spend at the honda dealership to get this done by them, i could have bought about 12 bottles of tranny fluid. maybe i should have ran a few bottles through the tranny. i do this when i change the oil. i get some of the cheaper oil, pour it through getting most of the old oil out and then fill it with the good stuff.