[crowfoot17]

Just left the Odyssey club and joined the CR-V club. Got a 2008. About 125K. Transmission fluid was last changed at 60K. Should I flush and replace? Seems kind of a borderline case, but if I don't do it now, I should probably never do it. I would prefer to go ahead and do it if I can do it safely. Thanks.

 

[Coastie05]

Don't do a flush ever!! Just do a simple drain and refill. I would do 3 drain and refills in your case. Drive 100 miles each time and keep the last refill in place. That will ensure you get all the old fluid out.

 

[Carbuff2]

You should definitely do a drain & fill now. Wisdom here is to change it every 30K miles.

To replace most of the fluid you need to drain & fill 3 times. Recommended if you feel any 'funky' shift behavior.


PS: On CR-Vs, you need to replace Rear Differential Fluid periodically, too.

 

[Wildcat]

I try to do it every two or three oil changes. These '09s I have shift like butter, and I'd like them to stay that way.

My kiddo's '02 Accord V6 has the bad B7XA transmission and it has some nastiness happening--a flare and hard shift from 1-2, and a harsh downshift from 3-2. Convinced it's a valve or solenoid, just have to find which one. It hasn't gotten any worse in a year in a half, so hopefully we're lucky and won't need to replace the trans in this thing. (It'll cost more than we paid for the car.)

 

[spotpup]

+1 to Wildcat. Our 08 shifts great. We're up to 187K on it and the fluid gets changed annually. I only do one drain/fill since it is getting it more frequently than recommended. Drain plug is right up front. No need to jack it up.

 

[crowfoot17]

A transmission specialist shop told me that with synthetic fluid I could easily run 50,000 miles between changes and be fine. Maybe so, but I don't think I'll go quite that long. It's not like it's a hard or expensive job. Any thoughts on transmission fluid additives?

 

[Wildcat]

A big NOPE to synthetics, additives, etc.

Three words to remember: Honda fluid only! DW-1, right from the dealer. $8/quart, maybe cheaper if you can find a deal.

And get a couple of crush washers while you're at it.

Drain it every few oil changes and refill with 3 qts. of DW-1 and you're golden. There is no "flushing" these transmissions--drain and fill only. Don't let the so-called "experts" at the transmission shops or quick lube shops convince you otherwise.

 

[Tigris99]

A big NOPE to synthetics, additives, etc.

Three words to remember: Honda fluid only! DW-1, right from the dealer. $8/quart, maybe cheaper if you can find a deal.

And get a couple of crush washers while you're at it.

Drain it every few oil changes and refill with 3 qts. of DW-1 and you're golden. There is no "flushing" these transmissions--drain and fill only. Don't let the so-called "experts" at the transmission shops or quick lube shops convince you otherwise.

You realize DW1 is synthetic right???

But if you already have high mileage do not use anything except DW1. Our Odyssey has had Valvoline it's whole life after first change (previous owner) so we have kept with that and been flawless. But my 2003 crv doesn't like it at all so I cleared the Valvoline back out and switched back to dw1, been flawless since.

229557 miles as of this moment, still original trans, still in great shape.

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[Wildcat]

You realize DW1 is synthetic right???

Oh yes, of course. I just meant, don't go to the auto parts store and randomly choose an allegedly compatible "synthetic" fluid. I just think it's easier to stick with what the manufacturer specifies--it takes the guesswork out of it, and we know it's correct.

And as you well know, some mechanics know their stuff and know what Hondas can use, where others figure if a transmission fluid works in one brand of car, then it can work in most others.

My '97 has only run Z-1/DW-1 its entire life. It is at 290k miles. It does have one issue (parking pawl gets stuck in park--I have to park it in neutral with parking brake on) but otherwise, it still shifts pretty much as good as it did when we bought it new in August 1997.

 

[fnjeep314]

I had read once that its suggested to change the trans fluid every other oil change and that will or should keep clean fluid running through all the time. Im due for another trans drain and fill after this last oil change.

NOTE: I run my oil down to about 20% before I do the oil change. It seems that is around 9-10K miles. So this way you are replacing 1/3 of the trans fluid every 20K miles, so depending on how you drive, about once a year or year and a half.

 

[Carbuff2]

replacing 1/3 of the trans fluid every 20K miles, so depending on how you drive, about once a year or year and a half.

Probably more often than you need to. ( I followed Honda's recommendations for our 99 Acura and it was flawless over 185K miles, and that was in the days of Z-1)

 

[Wildcat]

I am doing our '09s with every other oil change. However, I don't know how these were cared for with their past owners, so I don't mind doing it this way for the first couple of times. The fluid does look new and doesn't smell burnt, so I think it's all going well so far.

 

[fnjeep314]

Probably more often than you need to. ( I followed Honda's recommendations for our 99 Acura and it was flawless over 185K miles, and that was in the days of Z-1)

Well it equates to full fluid change in ~ 60K and then it just is kept fresh. With all the work that I have done to my CRV in maintenance to bring it up to par, keeping the trans fluid fresh is a peace of mind for me since I dont know the history.

I am doing our '09s with every other oil change. However, I don't know how these were cared for with their past owners, so I don't mind doing it this way for the first couple of times. The fluid does look new and doesn't smell burnt, so I think it's all going well so far.

The first drain and fill I did my fluid looked dark but didnt have a burnt smell thankfully. But I do think that I might have the torque converter shudder issue, but I think that its very minimal. Something that I might have to address in the next 60K or so. After the initial fluid change, I did notice a nice improvement in shifting and it smoothed out driving in general. Maybe a placebo affect, but maybe not.

 

[sps1980]

I bought a 2008 CRV and took to local Honda Dealer for a free multi-point inspection. They put down transmission fluid change. I had informed the mechanic that was showing me a few things and I told him I had no idea if the fluid change was ever done. He told me not to get it changed because it could cause transmission problems down the road.

I had changed the transmission fluid in a previous Honda Fit and about 7 months later, the transmission went (burned up inside). So if you know for sure it was done, you should change the transmission fluid as many have told you to do it.

 

[Tigris99]

I bought a 2008 CRV and took to local Honda Dealer for a free multi-point inspection. They put down transmission fluid change. I had informed the mechanic that was showing me a few things and I told him I had no idea if the fluid change was ever done. He told me not to get it changed because it could cause transmission problems down the road.

I had changed the transmission fluid in a previous Honda Fit and about 7 months later, the transmission went (burned up inside). So if you know for sure it was done, you should change the transmission fluid as many have told you to do it.

It's not hard to know if it had been changed or not. And NO Honda transmission would last this long without being changed. If fluid looks decently red/clear it's been changed. When you do a change you'll know real quick if it was never changed, a ton of crud will come out of the drain plug hole.

And your mechanic is stuck on info for older transmissions, Honda's don't have those issues so won't hurt anything changing it because if changing it causes an issue, that transmission was already trash anyway. Never listen to the "don't change it" crap unless it's a really old transmission. I've spent the last 17yrs as lead tech at a transmission shop just FYI.

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[Wildcat]

He told me not to get it changed because it could cause transmission problems down the road.

IMHO, that is one of the dumbest mechanics' myths out there. I'd have asked for a Honda TSB that recommends not changing the transmission fluid in older transmissions. There isn't any such thing. Instead, a 3x or 4x drain and fill would be best to change out as much of the fluid as possible if it does not look to be the right color, smells burnt, or has had an unknown service history.

They were pulling this same thing back in the 70s and 80s. I was driving a '73 Catalina (which our family owned since 1975), and since we'd never had the transmission fluid changed, we decided to have it done. The grease monkey insisted that the crud inside the transmission was "holding it together." I hate to tell that grease monkey, but we never had a problem with the transmission for the remaining few years we owned it. Shifted as good as it always had.

Unless the Fit had been neglected prior in life (provided you bought it used), something else could have happened to the transmission. "Burned up inside" doesn't say a thing as to what component inside the transmission actually failed.

I changed the fluid in our '88 Accord and had it fail--it was just a poorly designed transmission. And ask thousands of Acura TL owners from 2000-2003 who had theirs fail, some multiple times, prior to the first scheduled fluid change. If I remember, it was the clutch packs between either 2nd or 3rd gear that would burn up due to a lack of lubrication. The only true "cure" was to get an automatic transmission from a 2007 Accord V6, as it was a totally new transmission design, vs. rebuilding the poorly designed transmission that could easily fail.)

The Accord in the family has a transmission issue, but the trouble is finding a trustworthy shop to look at it. Too many just say "rebuild" without even looking at it.

 

[Tigris99]

IMHO, that is one of the dumbest mechanics' myths out there. I'd have asked for a Honda TSB that recommends not changing the transmission fluid in older transmissions. There isn't any such thing. Instead, a 3x or 4x drain and fill would be best to change out as much of the fluid as possible if it does not look to be the right color, smells burnt, or has had an unknown service history.

They were pulling this same thing back in the 70s and 80s. I was driving a '73 Catalina (which our family owned since 1975), and since we'd never had the transmission fluid changed, we decided to have it done. The grease monkey insisted that the crud inside the transmission was "holding it together." I hate to tell that grease monkey, but we never had a problem with the transmission for the remaining few years we owned it. Shifted as good as it always had.

Unless the Fit had been neglected prior in life (provided you bought it used), something else could have happened to the transmission. "Burned up inside" doesn't say a thing as to what component inside the transmission actually failed.

I changed the fluid in our '88 Accord and had it fail--it was just a poorly designed transmission. And ask thousands of Acura TL owners from 2000-2003 who had theirs fail, some multiple times, prior to the first scheduled fluid change. If I remember, it was the clutch packs between either 2nd or 3rd gear that would burn up due to a lack of lubrication. The only true "cure" was to get an automatic transmission from a 2007 Accord V6, as it was a totally new transmission design, vs. rebuilding the poorly designed transmission that could easily fail.)

The Accord in the family has a transmission issue, but the trouble is finding a trustworthy shop to look at it. Too many just say "rebuild" without even looking at it.

It is not a myth. I've worked for a transmission shop for 15yrs. If they haven't been changed in many years (the fluid is nasty) it's best to just drive it till it breaks. But that applies to American designed transmissions because they have nothing after the filter in the pan to catch debris.

For Honda's and Toyotas, it doesn't hurt anything. They are better designed to deal with it. Why Honda uses the sump with drain plug design. The crap settles in the bottom so the filter only deals with occasional bits that get picked up.

As for "rebuild" being the only option, unless it's a bad solenoid rebuild is the only option. That goes for all transmissions. Unless it's cured by an electrical part being replaced any internal repair costs almost the same as a rebuild because all seals and such have to be replaced anyway. So your paying similar price because the only thing not being changed are some of the clutches. Makes it very stupid not to just do a rebuild because a transmission shop if you force repair only to save 10% over the cost of a rebuild, you don't get any warranty at all. Transmission shops don't want that tarnishing their name because 9 out or 10 people that have an issue with a repair will bad mouth the shop to no end and make ridiculous demands if it doesn't fix the issue or the transmission has issues down the road.

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