aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

Is the improvement from switching to D4 Redline or simply because it's new transmission fluid?

georgegiorgio

Get Redline Racing F you'll love it...

Doing my 2x3 next Tuesday!

And also getting my B1 with Redline @ 68K miles...

Not going back to Castrol Edge!

Haven't used OE oil since 20K

LeonHuu007

i might try racing on my next drain.

marc04tl

Jiffy lube said my trans fluid is Burt and I need a flush. But I know not to flush the tl. I'm a do it yourself kinda guy and only took it to them cuz I didn't have much time. I feel like the 3x3 flush will be best or even doing it 4-5 times.

I hate cars

The 3x3 method is a good safe way of doing it. You can also pull a cooler line or the correct banjo fitting and do a flush that way where it pumps the fluid out on its own power. A power flush is a no-no but the cooler line method (for those that have cooler lines) is ok.

Gil'sUA5

This weekend i did my 1x3 and i changed out the pressure switches and filter and used 2 qts. Redline Type F and 1 qt. Honda DW1 and the transmission now feels almost like a cvt in the sense of barely being able to feel the shifts i love it.

I hate cars

I haven't seen that combo used before but that's a good idea. The best part is not only are the shifts much better but there's far less wear occurring everytime it shifts.

05_NBP_TL

iTrader: (1)

I have done a 3x3 with mixtures of Redline type-F and Redline lightweight racing fluid. Recently replaced my switches too.

erdoc48

Do yourself a favor and don't let Jiffy Lube do it, mainly because they will tell you they did it and likely won't. Worse, they'll screw it up.

Scottwax

Just going from the Z-1 to DW-1 ATF was a very noticeable improvement in both part throttle (smoother) and full throttle (firmer) that I think its best to at least replace as much of the Z-1 crap with DW-1 before maybe using something else. I want to at least have the good OEM stuff to mix with Redline (if I chose that route) rather than the crap Z-1.

YeuEmMaiMai

why not be the bigger man and not say anything at all? oh, wait...

IamaTL

lets not quote something from a year and a half ago to make a pun...

I hate cars

Are you for real? I think it's time you get a life instead of digging up year and a half old posts to talk shit about. Bigger man lol. Who just dug up an old ass post that was settled years ago. Are you that desperate to pick an e-fight?

MarcoNorthPolo

Yeah. Anyway.... My local auto parts store doesn't stock Redline but rather Amsoil. I see that Sotiris uses the Amsoil. Any update on that?

http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-produc...?code=ATFQT-EA

Forgive a dumb question. I believe I know the answer, but just want to be 100%. As long as an ATF fluid says it's good for Honda Z1, it's the correct stuff for my TL right?

Huskymaniac

IHC,

Are you still running straight RL racing fluid? I ask because there have been claims on here of flaring due to the lack of FM. My niece has a 2004 TL with the auto. I don't think she has even hit the first tranny fluid change yet. I want to advise her on what to do when she does. My inclination is to tell her to use RL D4 and change out the pressure switches. On the subject of pressure switches, do they all need to be changed or just a couple of them?

pohljm

RL. D4 is a great fluid. The current DW-1 seems to be significantly improved. I run a mixture of RD TYPE F, and DW-1 and have no complaints. I have run all type F before and did not like the notchiness of the shifts. There are only 2 pressure switches on the 04.

tihomirbg

iTrader: (1)

Let me see- isn't it the stock honda ATF a conventional fluid and the Amsoil/RL synthetic fluid? So how can the 2 blend in when mixed?

Huskymaniac

Have any of you considered more frequent changes and just doing a single drain and refill each time? I do this with my SVX. I change the oil every 6K miles. I drain and refill the ATF every other oil change or every 12K miles. I created a spreadsheet that wold calculate the effective accumulated miles on the fluid given the percentage that would be changed out each time and the miles between changes. In that car 40% is changed out with each drain and refill. It turns out that the effective mileage on the fluid just prior to a change would not exceed 30K miles for such a system. That was my goal given the tranny's known issues and tendency to run hot. The TL might be more forgiving. I just hate the idea of changing out fresh fluid by doing multiple drains and refills each time the MIL comes on.

I can run the numbers through my spreadsheet for this car if anyone is interested. I just need to know what percentage of the fluid is changed out at each drain and refill and what the target effective accumulated mileage just before a change would be.

pohljm

Thats exactly what i do! I 1x3 every third oil change at about a 5k interval

I hate cars

There have been no issues with blending synthetic and non synthetic since the 70s. Just about every oil out there contains a blend of base stocks, synthetic and non synthetic. A grp IV PAO syn will always have a grp III dino or a grp V ester blended with it for several reasons with its non polar nature being a big one. Most Mobil One "full synthetic" or anyone else's "fully synthetic" is a blend of dino and syn many times with dino being the largest portion.

I hate cars

I think that's a great idea.

Huskymaniac

I just looked at page 1 and saw this car gets the same 40% out on each drain and refill. So, if you do a single drain and refill every 12,000 miles, the maximum effective mileage on the fluid would be 30,000 miles just before the drain and refill.

It sounds like most people are running about 8K miles between oil changes. If you did a drain and refill every other oil change or 16,000 miles, the pre-drain and refill effective fluid mileage would be 40,000 miles. If you did a drain and refill every third oil change or every 24,000 miles, the pre-drain and refill effective fluid mileage would be 60,000 miles. I think that would be the farthest one would want to go.

I think this beats wasting perfectly good fluid by doing a 3x3 or whatever people are calling it. And all you need to do is track your oil changes. If you didn't drain and refill the ATF at the last two oil changes, have it done at the next one. It isn't as easy as depending on the MIL but not so bad.

Now, people might want to know what they need to do to get on this nice and easy system. Let's say you are at your first ATF change, like my niece is. You want your post-drain and refill mileage to be 36,000 miles. Assuming you have gone about 60,000 miles on that fluid, that means changing out 40% of the existing fluid. Oh, wait, that is exactly what you get with a single drain and refill! How convenient. Just start the one drain and refill system when the MIL light comes on and do a drain and refill every third oil change thereafter.

Finally, what to do if the existing ATF is that crappy stuff that Honda was using which seemed to turn brown by the first ATF MIL? I think you have to do the 3X3 in that case to get a decent amount of that crap out of there. Then start the new system. If you have the newer stuff and your ATF is not BROWN at the ATF MIL, just start the new system at that point with a single drain and refill.

The key here is that you are doing a drain and refill evey 24K miles versus a 3x3 every 60K miles. I think this is more cost effective and simpler.

I hate cars

One alternative if you have a type S or have added a cooler to the base is to do the cooler line method. You'll end up with 100% new fluid with about 9 quarts. I've only done it this way once on the TL but its the only way to get 100% new fluid with only 9 quarts. I still like the idea of doing a drain and refill every so often.

A good synthetic base oil will go 100k easily in a transmission with minimal breakdown and oxidation. The problem is the additive effectiveness changes over time and its good to keep a steady supply of fresh additives so the frictional characteristics don't drastically change. If you're changing out a good synthetic and feeling a change in shifting you're probably going too long between changes. That's my opinion of course and a very conservative opinion but if you're feeling a difference it means there's something different with the new add pack compared to the old.

Huskymaniac

Agreed. That works well and especially if your fluid is burnt and you want all of it out. Then, if you do a ATF drain and refill at every third oil change thereafter you will actually always have an effective fluid mileage of less than 60K. It slowly creeps closer to 60K but you need to get well above 300K miles on the car before it approaches the steady state effective fluid mileage of 60K.

Is that assumption of 8K miles between motor oil changes about right for the average TL owner?

bpowa

at 70k I did a 3x3 redline type f.. 3k miles later the transmission took a crap.

It was replaced under warranty with the new fluid.

I now plan on using the oem dw1 and just do one drain and fill every 30k.

tihomirbg

iTrader: (1)

Would there be any benefit from mixing dw-1 with Amsoil ATF or stick with one- for me it is Amsoil since 2008

Chad05TL

I just voted for Redline D4. At 95k miles, I started blending back the redline racing transmission fluid toward the OEM DW1 and my transmission did not like that at all! Shifting from 1 into 2nd and a crawl speed, when it shifted it sounded like a manual shifter would miss the gear. Like grinding a gear or hitting something. It only did from a new start-up. Then it didn't do it for the rest of my driving. Eventually it went away even though shifting was taking longer. Just from reverse to drive was taking longer. But the major reason issue (if you can image something more major than that) was that I begin getting a BURNING smell coming from somewhere. No since of anything leaking. This was after 2 3x3 swaps of OEM DW1.. So, in the past 2 weeks I have done 2 more 3x3 swaps of Redline D4 and this stuff pulls no surprises! And the burning smell is gone. And it shifts better. But there is no "learning curve" like the first time I did a 3x3 drain and fill with the Racing Fluid. When I did that, the transmission was allowing the engine to jump in RPM and run like a bat-outta-hell, but that soon went away because the engine re-learns. But with this D4, none of that happens.. No crazy stuff. no surprises. Just great reliable (and compatible and redline-recommended) transmission fluid. I suspect with higher mileage vehicles, the OEM DW1 is not good. But that Racing fluid is also a problem if you get too much of a concentration of it. So anyway, hindsight is 20/20 as they say. D4 is so far my best pick.

quantum7

I have used OEM DW1 for all 280,000 miles of trouble free smooth shifting.

Chad05TL

If you stayed with the same fluid the whole time, then that is best. But I never heard of a Honda Transmission lasting almost 300,000 miles without a rebuild..

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Really? I thought DW-1 came out and eventually replaced ATF-Z1 well after the last 3G TL rolled off the assembly line.

mcmanut

Chad05TL

Did you buy it new? Maybe you make a youtube video and tell everyone about how long your Transmission has lasted with castrol? You know, - buck the trend.. Most people say Honda transmissions are worse than average when it comes to longevity. Obviously you put a lot of highway miles.. You have 3.5 times the miles my car does, and mine is 3 years older.. haha =)

mcmanut

Chad05TL

sounds awesome..You're definitely a Honda/Acura guy.. So what school does your son go to? I went to osu

Chad05TL

update: That burning smell may or may not be coming from the transmission fluid. It could be the front brake pads. I have those cheap brembo pads.. I'm not even sure if they are ceramic. I have done 2 of the 3 quart drain and fill with D4, and at the same time when I did the first or 2nd D&F, I put a high quality brake pad on the rear, because the right rear was squeaking. I have no idea why just that 1 was squeaking, and I had cleaned it and sanded it once before and the squeak came back, so I just replaced the pads. And the squeal is gone. (I also noticed I barely even have to apply pressure on the brake pedal and the car just stop with ease and very light pressure. At least compare to the previous pads.. And that was just the rear, so I plan on doing the front too, soon-ish. So if the pads were/are making a smell then no wonder the smell subsided somewhat in the past month, because it has been colder and I got rid of the rear set. Plus it seems unlikely that I would smell burnt transmission fluid on the outside of the car , as long as I have no transmission fluid leaking, and I don't. Strangely when I open my hood, I do not really smell the burnt smell very much all.. It's just the "normal hot engine" smell. So, basically, the smell might not have been the OEM fluid. But I am still leaving my vote for D4. My transmission just responds better and acts not so lazy. But still, I cannot completely rule out the transmission fluid as being the source for that burnt smell, because you know it takes a while to flush out the transmission fluid when you just do 1 3-quart D&F at a time. I will post back again much later if I make any new discoveries..

quantum7

Sorry....my maintenance spreadsheet lists DW-1 as the spec but I think that I used Z1 until summer 2009. So the Z1 took my transmission to about 55,000 miles, and the DW1 for the last 230,000 miles. Pretty sure my previous TL used the Z1 and that lasted just under 200,000 miles.

JC06TL

I purchased 3 quarts of the Amsoil Multi vehicle atf along with both pressure switches yesterday, but I never did the job because I keep reading so many mixed posts about it. Idk if I should just get the dw1 now or go with the Amsoil I bought? It's my first tl and I just bought it about a month ago. It's got 135k. In 2012 the trans was serviced and says that z1 was used. Idk if that's still the fluid in the car or not, but that is the only piece of evidence I have for the trans. Any advice would be appreciated.

TheSauceBoss

This is just my two cents: Return the amsol and buy 9 quarts of Honda DW1 ATF. You cannot go wrong with OEM. Personally, my original automatic trans has 220k on it and shifts perfectly. Only have ever used OEM. Many others will vouch for OEM. Anyways, you should be able to save some $ on shipping if you just go into your local Honda dealer and ask for 9 quarts of ATF DW1.

Drain the transmission (3 quarts will come out), fill it back up with 3 quarts, drive ~10 miles (or just run through all the gears a few times, including reverse), repeat process 2 more times. After you've done a drain and refill 3 times, you will have removed nearly all of the old fluid.

If you have an 04-06, look into possibly changing out the trans filter and trans shift solenoid, as both can become clogged with debris over time. Also, you'll need a 22mm deep socket (i think it's 22mm) for changing the pressure switches.


If the last time the trans was serviced was 2012, I'd say you're long overdue for a fluid change, but then again, it depends on how many miles have been put on the car.

Are you experiencing any issues with the trans?

Scottwax

DW-1 is pretty good ATF, with it and the TransLab shift kit, on asphalt it shifts firmly enough to chirp the tires on 1-2 upshifts. But super smooth shifting just putting around. Slightly firmer shifts when I was using D4 vs DW-1 in the previous transmission but it didn't have the shift kit in it.

JC06TL

I never got notified for this until just now. Last night I did the pressure switches and did a 2x3 with the Amsoil ATF. I drove it for an hour after the 1x3,changing thru all gears, came back home, did the 2x3, went and drove for another hour, shifting thru all gears. The car was shifting way better! There was no lag, the shifts were fast and firm. I parked it and called it a night. This morning, on my way to work (30 miles away) the D light starts blinking. I pulled off the highway and into a gas station, put it in park and shut it off. Let it sit for about 5 min, started it, no blinking. So I started shifting from P, to N, D, and back and forth a few times too see if it would trigger the blinking again. Nothing. So I left and started driving to work again. It never started blinking again, and the car never shifted weird or anything out of the ordinary that I noticed, even when the light was blinking. I read online, that it could be the shift solenoids, or the trans failing. But I find it really weird that it only did that after the fluid change and pressure switch change. I just had a friend go to Honda and pick me up 9 quarts of DW-1 since I'm at work and won't make it in time. Should I just go and do a 3x3 and get the remainder of the Z1 & Amsoil out of it? Or should I go to Acura and have them scan it to see if it's a shift solenoid?