honda passport AT fluid

Need to change AT fluid and filter on my 97 passport.
"Hays Repair Manual" says 96 and later models require a special fluid
temperture gauge to refill transmission.

Anyone here understand the purpose for this? Anyone know of an alternative
way of doing it. Manual says serious damage to transmission may occur
without use of the gauge. That is hard to beleive.
Thanks
Charles

 

I'm not sure what they are talking about as far as the gauge is concerned,
but I do know that on some of the rodeos and passports the fill plug and the
drain plug are on the bottom of the pan (sort of), so you have to pump the
fluid in. Very silly setup.

 

According to my book, it says refill through the overfill screw hole until
it just begins to run out. Then start the engine, let it run for at least 3
minutes, put the temp gauge in place and check the fluid temp. Fluid temp
must be at least 90 to 135 deg F. Fill until it begins to run out overfill
screw hole. (Also cautions not to remove overfill screw unless engine is
running).
That seems like a long way around to me. I was thinking of heating the
fluid to the desired temp, pumping it in untill it is slightly overfilled
and let it drain out the over fill hole until it stops coming out.
There is still a question in my mind how much difference there would be in
fluid at room temp versus 90 to 135 F.
We are only talking about 9.1 quarts. If it were 500 gallons I could see
it, but not less than 3 gallons.

Thats my thoughts. Intrested in hearing what someone else thinks about it.
Especially someone with more experience than me.
Thanks
Charles

 

I did not know of this procedure, but now I know why it exists.

If the dealer doesn't follow it, they will overfill the tranny, like
they did my wife's. The next time the truck goes for a good drive and
gets up to operating temperature, it will overflow on the garage floor
all over the place, look like a seal has failed (out of warranty), and
generally tick people off.