Hello, Group: Need to change my transmission fluid (been almost 100K), the shop charges $100 for a transmission flush, so could I do it myself my much cheaper, and is the hassle worth it to save the money/ I own a 98 4cyc EX Honda Accord, and I've never changed my transmission fluid myself. --TJ
I think the operative watchword is "flush". Drain/refill would be easy-- but I'd think you need pressure and a way to seal the opening to flush...
==================== Don't use the word FLUSH. It's a drain-n-fill. Read this: http://www.hondasuv.com/members/showthread.php?t=22479& Buy 9 or 10 quarts of Honda Z1. Warm it up (shut it off) and remove the filler plug / dipstick, remove the drain plug SLOWLY and drain into a LARGE paint roller pan or similar. Wipe off the VERY COATED magnetic drain plug. Refill with same amount removed. Do it again tomorrow or next weekend or after running it through the gears for a minute. Do it again. The longer you wait before doing it again, the more magnetic particles you will catch, but it's probably no biggie. 'Curly'
If you let someone do a flush on that old a transmission you can kiss it goodbye as it will dislodge a lot of buildup in the transmission. Just do a drain and fill several times driving it in between. How difficult depends on your mechanical skills and no one can answer that except you.
do NOT allow them to flush. seriously. just drain and fill, like it says in the honda workshop manual. easy to do yourself. do it two or three times, leave a week or so between each time.
follow up question- if you purchase 9-10 quarts of fluid each time to drain/refill, and you do this 2-3 times, wouldn't it be almost as cheap to have the dealer do this? 2008 Ridgeline Thanks ==================== Don't use the word FLUSH. It's a drain-n-fill. Read this: http://www.hondasuv.com/members/showthread.php?t=22479& Buy 9 or 10 quarts of Honda Z1. Warm it up (shut it off) and remove the filler plug / dipstick, remove the drain plug SLOWLY and drain into a LARGE paint roller pan or similar. Wipe off the VERY COATED magnetic drain plug. Refill with same amount removed. Do it again tomorrow or next weekend or after running it through the gears for a minute. Do it again. The longer you wait before doing it again, the more magnetic particles you will catch, but it's probably no biggie. 'Curly'
------------------ It takes just over 3 quarts each time x 3 = 9 or 10. I suggested buying it all at the same time . . .You might even ask for a volume discount on 10 bottles. If you drain it overnight you can 'coax' a bit more out. No substitutes (that's always the next question). 'Curly'
thanks Curly, good info... ------------------ It takes just over 3 quarts each time x 3 = 9 or 10. I suggested buying it all at the same time . . .You might even ask for a volume discount on 10 bottles. If you drain it overnight you can 'coax' a bit more out. No substitutes (that's always the next question). 'Curly'
And this is long overdue so either do it yourself or pay $300 and do it 3 times by the dealer, otherwise you can kiss you transmission goodbye. I'm a little more cautious and change the washer each time I do a drain an fill...runs me an additional 1.50 for each one.
i think that's a little over-doing it nick. friends of mine drove an accord 360k miles, automatic, never changed the atf. if anything, the fact that they didn't probably helped compared with garages that insist on flushing with non-honda fluid which /is/ known to be a problem. should he change? sure. will it fall apart tomorrow if he doesn't? absolutely not. and the transmission on my friend's accord was still doing strong when they got rid of it.
I don't know but I don't want to chance killing my transmission if I can prevent it with $20 of fluid every 30k miles. BMW says that you never need to change the fluid, and I've heard of failures around 60-80k miles on some of them. I usually only do one drain and fill every 30k miles instead of what some others do which is a drain and fill every 3 times. Also you may want to have a look at the driveaccord forum as people have been doing drain and fills in their Gen 7 Accords and Gen 8 Civics at 15k miles as there were some issues with the shifting of 3rd gear. Some have said that it has resolved the problem but only to appear again after another 15k miles.
it's usually a little higher, but yes, that particular manufacturer /very/ tightly controls product longevity. no drain plugs there. maybe - the later generations have had all kinds of problems. but from a technical viewpoint, and assuming there's no mechanical problem, there's no real reason to change the oil too often. it's filtered and the drain plug magnet traps all the large particulates, etc. my crx, which had had no discernible transmission maintenance before i bought it at 103k miles, had brown fluid when i changed it. but beyond that, it was fine. and there was only a little particulate matter on the magnet.
The only thing that should get flushed it the toilet... Ok, flushing or cleaning would be permitted during the repair of a closed loop system (of any nature) for the purpose of removing debris caused from a catastrophic failure.
