DueceCoupeSwoop

Hey guys, I just bought an 1997 3.0 Acura CL, and have been enjoying it for sure. I found this site after I bought it, and have been on here reading every day. I have read the Noob guide, and like others, I am having problems with my tranny. Its shifting from 1st to 2nd in high rpms, and slipping a bit, and the same from 2nd to 3rd. I am gonna change the fluid, I was wondering if you have to take the battery out to find the transmission plug? The dipstick is right to the left of the battery, and I cant seem to find the plug. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks

jims3.0

Well the drain plug is under the car on the tranny case and the trans dip stick tube is the filler tube as well. Just need a long trans filler funnel

DueceCoupeSwoop

Thank you. I guess I worded that wrong, when I said transmission plug, I meant filler tube. I know the plug is on the bottom. From reading other posts, I thought there was a plug on top to fill it, something besides the filler tube. I was gonna use the regular atf, plus a bottle of Lucas transmission stop slip. Would you recommend putting in a transmission cooler as well?

jims3.0

Most members here suggest a trans cooler. I dont have one but am concidering installing one.

DueceCoupeSwoop

Im willing to do anything that isnt too expensive, and thats fairly easy to install, as I dont have alot of money right now, and I dont have a lift where Im at, or alot of good tools. I like the look of your CL, with the black rims. Mine is white too, but I have some chromes on there now, looking at getting some nice black rims though.

jbpost52

The fill plug for transmission fluid is under the hood on the top of the transmission housing, its a 17mm bolt(I added fluid yesterday myself). My problem is leaking transmission fluid from the rubber cooler hoses which I hope to change today. When the fluid is low, like mine, two quarts low, I had codes pop up on the obd which indicated clutch solenoid valves being problematic. After checking the solenoids first, and previously filling trany fluid through the dipstick, I realized I needed to use the actual fill hole when I noticed it low two quarts to bring it up to the correct line on the dip stick. Since then I get no check engine light and havent experienced the tranny slipping as of yet. Hope that is somewhat helpful.

jbpost52

The radiator on the acura cl 3.0(1997)has its own internal transmission fluid cooler.

DueceCoupeSwoop

Thanks for your help jims and jb. So since i have the 97 3.0, and the radiator has its own transmission fluid cooler, does the fluid travel through the radiator to be cooled down, and then back to the radiator? I got some trans fluid from the Ac dealer, and they gave me ATF-DW1, the tech said it was the upgraded trans fluid, and its better, but I look on the back it says for newer vehicles, so I havent put it in yet.

jbpost52

I had a problem with the metal tubing which goes to the radiator transmission cooler. It runs in back of the radiator, a short piece of steel tubing on wielded brackets. The point where it was welded became the weak point and over time it created a leaking drip. The part from the dealer was around $250. Well I had no idea it could be so expensive, so I decided to just bypass it with a transmission hose. Total cost, $8 bucks for hose from AutoParts store. There is always more than one way to skin a cat.