I just don’t understand! (or do I?)

The 3 Acura dealers in Seattle area in Washington State offer and imply a critical need for a Transmission flush at the 30,000 mile check-up. (This takes up the best part of the $450 they charge for the 30,000 check-up) I had a long discussion with the head of the service department about the need for this since Acura does not mention any need of this in their list of Normal Maintenance Schedule or Severe Maintenance Schedule. The closing statement was “if you don’t want problems with you transmission you need to have this maintenance done”. What he implied strongly was the transmission will most likely fail after 30,000 miles and the repair will be very expensive. Additionally this procedure could only be done correctly at a dealer since hooking the car to a flushing machine would not flush out all the pockets of fluid with in the transmission. The dealer would instead use a dilution process by filling and dumping the fluid 3 times with a short running of the engine in gear at each filling.

After giving the 3 dealers recommendations a lot of thought and coupled with the fact that I have found no mention on any of the Acura TSX board of transmission issues I have decided to forgo the expensive flushing of the transmission. Acura has a very good warranty and I purchased the extended warranty in addition. Both cover the transmission as part of the drive line coverage.

This is for information only and is produced from my experience with Dealers. Use it as you will.

Dave in Seattle

 

These all just sound like the service guy is trying to increase speacial services. I intend to do my manual tranny soon and will comment on it.

 

If you could, please try and make it a DIY with some pics Thanks...

 

Service @ 30k? plz...

Unless you drive your car like an idiot, avg tranny flush hovers around 60k (I believe.) From his last statement of

"if you don’t want problems with you transmission you need to have this maintenance done”

it should have been a definite sign of him just being a salesman. It isn't hard to flush your own tranny...its just like an oil change.

 

 

As long as the warranty still applies without this service (which it does), don't bother - they're trying to line their pockets. Do it as recommended by the proper maintenance schedule.

Hell I'd call Acura Customer Relations and tell them that their dealers are trying to pull this kind of thing - I'm sure they won't take it lightly.

 

No prob. guys, I'll do the DIY. I have to pick up the fluid which is funny because I think we take 2.1 US quarts, so I have to get 3 quarts instead... good thing I have a hook up at Acura.

 

And don't forget to dyno!

Moda, how many miles do you have? I'm thinking about changing my MT oil around 30k (it's what I've done with past vehicles). Too early? Using Honda MT oil?

 

is yours AT or MT?

 

I'm about to hit 50k here soon and that is 10k miles too soon, but I live in Ohio where the weather sucks not to mention I live in a newer neighborhood... so you take all the salt, dust and off-roading I did a year back and it just adds up to doing it sooner rather than later.

Yeah, I'm using Honda MTF.

 

If it doesn't list that service in the TSX's manual under the regular maintenance, then I wouldn't do it. They're just milkin' you for $$$ otherwise.

 

Those dealer are really BS. Go complaint it to Honda. And even a MT fluid flash should be more than $70.

 

I mean...3 qts of Honda ATF-Z1 and a drain plug washer costs you less $15, and takes about 30-45 mins to change, so why not do it every 30K?

Honda transmissions aren't known for excellent reliability

IIRC, TSX doesn't call for an ATF change until 120K under normal service, but more often than not, the ATF often turns brown well before that.

If you were to "flush" the transmission, why bother. As silly as this may sound, simply unhook the return line from the transmission and idle the car until most of the fluid has drained out. No harm is done, as long as you don't run the thing bone dry for hours and allow it to suck in lots of air...any moving parts inside the transmission will have a residual oil film remaining to allow lubrication during the 60 secs or so that you run it on low fluid.

You shouldn't ever have to do this anyway unless the fluid turns VERY nasty....if you drain/refill the fluid every 30,000 (or 50,000 miles even if it doesn't look too bad), a single drain/refill is enough.

 

From experience, it is good to give your AT a fluid flush/change with Honda ATF regularly. Every 2 years or so. Otherwise, fibre from the clutch pack will end up clogging the built in strainer, and once it is clogged, the only way to change it is to pull apart the entire transmission! We gave up after having to pull it apart 3 times (lost of gear after 2 months of use each time) and bought an AT unit from the wreckers instead (still working fine after 3 years).

 

Anyone have a pic of the under belly ?

 

I am a fluid nazi. I prefer to change things more often than less, but I also intend to keep my car for a long time. If you prefer to drive newer cars, I wouldn't worry about it. If you prefer to keep your car a long time, a 30,000 mile interval is reasonable.

I do think the "better part" of $450 sounds excessive. I'm not certain anything more than a simple drain and replacement of fluid is necessary. Sometime the term 'flush' is nothing more than drain and replace. I would shop around, including non-Acura service centers. Acura cannot require the work be done in their shop, its illegal. I would pay more attention to the brand of fluid a non-Acura shop might use. You might even find someone that would allow you to bring Honda ATF to them and they change it.

Good luck.

 

Well, I can tell you after changing my wife's Civic's ATF fluid (noting that the AT dip stick was shockingly loose), it was very clean after 50k miles. Replacing fluids is definitely cheaper than replacing major components, but you also want to get your money's worth out of the fluid you put in there. I think there are far too many variables in a cars history to simply say changing fluids equates to longer life (which I'm not sure that you said, but can be implied). Simply put, following a regular maintenance schedule and using quality fluids will give you the best chances of getting more life out of the engine.

 

I have a 99 accord, and those are the one with really bad tranny.. i replace them every 10k after 50,000 miles.. the 3qt drain & fill = 6 bucks. Original tranny at 120k while others have gone through 3-4. Cheaper than my mobil1 oil changes and faster too.

I'm up to 20k with my TSX.. i'll prob hit the ATF change in another 5 to 10k

 

Question. How do you change the AT oil? The manual says to bring the car back to the dealer to do it. That was what I did when I hit 50k.

And according to my friend, they need to take apart the tranny to replace the filter. So, it is a good idea to flush the AT to get the dirt off the filter. OTOH, he also says that it won't casue any problem till you pass 200k. So, it is more or less a peace of mind thing to flush the AT.

 

There is no need to physically "power flush" the transmission, period. There isn't much debris at all in a transmission, and any "debris" that is even present will be caught by the magnetic drain plug.

 

In the previous Honda ATs, the clutch pack was made of compacted fibre material. So that gets strained by the filter and not the drain plug. Once the filter is blocked, there is no other way than to disassemble your AT box.

 

I just passed 61K miles on my TSX w/o ever changing the transmission fluid (which I will soon). They're just trying to get more $$$ from ya.

 

so you got a 99 TSX ?

 

I don't think the clutch pack wears that much....

 

There's a difference between a transmission service and a transmission flush. The service is just a fluid change and maybe a change of the transmission fluid pan (or whatever u call it). They just drain the fluid and refill it. This usually is done between 40k-50k miles. Cost: approx. $50. A flush on the other hand is much more than a regular service. With a flush, they empty it, basically "flush" the tranny (not sure how or I'd be doing it myself), and refill it. This is done around the 100k mark. Cost: approx. $100. According to my brother in law, who has owned his auto shop for 20+ years, you do the flush when you do your major maintenance. Which is approximately 100k-110k miles for our car.

 

In the case of our 93' Accord, it did after 8 years following only the scheduled AT fluid change schedule. At first, we lost 2nd gear, and then it got worse and lost 3rd gear as well.

 

I would do the flush, its cheap (for me) the only thing is I dont think if they'll use the honda fluid or some other generic fluid that'll ruin our tranny..

historically honda tranny needs their special fluid, which they pound into our head..

 

What does DIY mean?
Newbie

 

Do It Yourself

There are threads where members post step-by-step instructions with pictures. We call them DIYs.

 

no, a 99 accord, the 6th gen accord had the most tranny problem

 

Can you find out from him, if say honda needs you to put in the "honda" brand atf. Does he use honda atf or honda compatible fluid ? Just trying to find out if theres any restrictions.. I never use the machine before.. thus i change 3 qt every 10-15k

 

For Acura/Honda 5AT - use Honda ATF-Z1
For Acura/Honda 6MT - use Honda MTF

 

My bro recently put Amsoil Synchromesh into his '99 Accord 5MT (with about 30k on the current tranny oil) and absolutely raves about it. Shifts much more smoothly from 1-2 and 4-5 than it ever did, the rest of the gears shift about the same as he remembers them being when the oil was new. I'm going to give it a try in my 6MT TSX and I'll report results. If nothing else, I eat $25 for the team (and a couple hours wrenching on the car -- which I enjoy).

 

Make sure to comment on the fluid (pic) vs the Amsol.

 

Yes, thats common knowledge, I'm asking if you do the FULL machine flush, will they let you bring your own honda atf or they just give you whatever they got in the machine

 

Ahh... I'm pretty certain the machine is already setup with their own fluid type.

 

Actually, the place where I took my wife's Tahoe and, previously, our Volvo V70 put the appropriate tranny fluid into the machine prior to the flush. (I was standing there with the guy the whole time, observing.) They looked up and put in the right fluid. I would make certain, though, that the shop you intend to use will put in the fluid you bring (which is how I'd do it).

 

Will do.

 

I agree, no telling what machine a shop has.

 

So there isn't a safe way unless ur standing there.. u can get screw with generic atf.. ie mercon stuff and u'll be driving home weird..