OK so I keep a check on my own stuff and I think I will do the maintenance myself going forward.

My fluid looks nice and clean and smells good (whatever is in it). Trans also works good. No complaints. But I keep checking it and was like ehh it is always right at the bottom hole on the dipstick, I should probably add 2-4 oz and see how that looks on the dipstick. So I went to the manual which specs the Z1 Acura fluid. I don't think that is made anymore because it was decided the fluid needed to be better and now it is DW1 synthetic.

The closest Acura dealer is 70 miles away and I will be nearby the next time I take my son to his specialist. So I think heck it is only going to be a few ounces I will google some and go down to the parts store. Mostly I read about the synthetic Valvoline Maxlife. So I went down and grabbed a quart of that ($10). Got home and set to add a few ounces of it to make me feel better. Cracked open the bottle... and man there is just no way I am putting that in there. No way. I smelled it just opening up the bottle. I don't really care how good it may be or any of that. I am not dealing with that smell later. Not only is it gross, I feel like you couldn't get a warning things were going south by the smell. Having never smelled the Maxlife before if I were looking at a used car, pulled the stick and smelled that I'd walk off. It almost smells burnt.

What is in the car smells normal like Dextron or something. What can I grab at a parts store that will work for a few ounces and won't get my gag reflex? One of the other Z1 rated fluids? Valvoline Blue bottle? Castrol? I really didn't see anything else with a Z1 rating when I was there. And I saw nothing with that new DW1 rating at all.

I assume Acura trans fluid smells normal? I realize not all dealers use OEM fluids though, so maybe not. But whatever is in there smells normal like Dextron type fluids I have smelled before. And everything works fine. Ordinarily I would just talk to the Acura dealer to see if DW1 is what I should use and get some. But it's a haul and I don't need enough to service it or anything at the moment. Is it possible the Honda dealer would have the correct fluids available with a Honda sticker on the bottle?

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-rdx-...n-fill-794451/

The post covers that.

 

Thank you, that confirms the Acura fluid is the same thing as the Honda fluid and also people moving on to the DW1 stuff. I can swing by a Honda dealer to see what they have if there isn't another auto store suggestion besides the Maxlife. There are a lot of people who like the Maxlife and I am sure it works fine. I know it may be stupid but I just don't want to deal with it's smell. I would like to just start doing the partial fluid change myself while doing the oil change and don't want to smell that funky smell. I'd rather use DW1 if it smells normal or something else that does.