I want to check my tranny fluid and in the manual they say to check the filler bolt inside with your fingers to make sure its topped off...but it looks like the bolt they point out in the diagram is just a circle with a square in it...is this the wrong bolt to check my fluid??? if so, does anyone haev a picture of the bolt that I SHOULD be taking off? thanks!

 

What car/engine do you have?

on a 3.0, the filler bolt is (near, not directly) below the EVAP purge control solenoid valve (it's the grey thing next to the throttle cables near the strut tower in the picture below.)




If you look below the Evap sol. valve, there's a 17mm (? not sure) bolt. That's the ATF filler bolt. It's friggin' hard to take off, i tried to do it myself but could not so i took it to a shop and the mech had to use a socket wrench, an extention, a pry bar and a hammer to get the bolt off....

 

if you have a manual tranny, the circle with the square in it is the filler bolt, just stick a 3/8" ratchet in there and remove it... be sure that your car is level when you check it...

 

Ok cool, so that's not the drain plug right? I just dont want all the tranny fluid pouring out on my driveway, thanks again!

its a 2.3 5 speed

 

I called a local shop and he said parts and labor for the drain and fill would be about $80 for the Acura...does this sound reasonable?

 

I've done mine for cost of parts

At a shop, shouldn't be over 50 bucks, anything over that is overpriced

 

when you look on the tranny, the bolt that is closer to the ground is the drain plug and the filler bolt is a few inches higher...

 

80bucks is a retarded price,... I just bought the fluid and changed it myself, you can even put 10w30 oil in there.... Royal Purple Synchromax is the way to go though, my brother put that stuff in his E36 and its smooth as fuck... I just put the honda MTF and it works fine. The only thing when changing this yourself is you have to raise the whole car at a level where you can go under and it's still parallel to the ground, you also need to fab up a hose to go from the quart into the tranny. I took a piece of garden hose and duct taped it to the top of the bottle and I squezzed the hell out of it to get the fluid in the tranny...Hope this helps you not get raped by the dealer
edit: for a simple drain and fill, you will need approx. 2 quarts of fluid... your owner's manual explains how to drain and fill...

 

So after comtemplation about doing it myself...I figure i'm just going to take it to Acura...

I know they'll charge me to do just a flush and that isn't covered under my warranty(if I need one), I may just take it to them to have them check out my rough shifting…I'm starting to hear a "knock knock" when shifting from 1st to 2nd or when coming off the clutch…I really hope my tranny isn't going (its covered anyways but..). I don’t want to get the tranny fluid change if it's not going to do anything or if I have a bigger problem on my hands. Plus, my car has almost 60,000 on it now…I think its time for a new timing belt and water pump, all of which is covered under my warranty anyhow

 

replacing timing belt is recommended at 90K miles, but if your warranty covers it, why not.

As for the tranny flush, i've read that flushing is bad for your tranny, you should just drain and refill. That's what i did.

 

Yea in the manual it says 60K and then 90K...if it isnt covered, I'll just wait another 30K. The funds are tight as it is already

 

dude. do it yourself. just get an oil pan, a big syringe thing (i think autozone has them), and some fluid. no biggie. you save so much money, and its no harder than changing your oil.