Ok, so if you read my earlier post about Jens, you see I dropped off my car at PAA this morning for a few things.

1. Driver window shimmy's/rattles as it goes down
2. Emergency Brake Adjustment
3. Transmission fluid/filter change.

I have never done any tranny service to my CL and it is approaching 46,6xx mi. When I brought my car in this morning, the young lady that was writing me up suggested that I have the service done. I said "You know what, thats a good idea...lets do it."

The day goes by and I get a call from her that says "We greased your window, cleaned and adjusted your emergency breakes and replaced your transmission filter and fluid. I said Great! I'll pick it up after work.

I finally got to PAA at around 6:25pm after dealing with traffic for over an hour. I walk up to the counter, pay $120 for tranny service and brake adjustment and I am on my way...

After I get home I decide to check the tranny fluid to make sure it is a nice pink color and at the right level. I check the dipstick and clean it on a white napkin and wouldn't you know that the fluid is still the same disgusting brownish pink color it was before I took it in!!

I was like WTF? You have to be kidding me! At this point I realize that I should check the window and see how thats working, and after raising and lowering it a few times I realize that it still has a vibration right at the point of opening as opposed to the passenger side which is very smooth going up and down the whole time. The only good news is that the emergency brakes feel a bit better.

So did they only do 2 of 3 items I requested? Someone please tell me that honda's tranny fluis is supposed to be a dirty pink/brown color and that I am making a complete ass of myself right now
I have changed my own tranny fluid on many cars in the past and they always ended up with a nice clean pink color in the end.

I am in no way trying to give PAA a bad name for no reason, as a matter of fact I have been going to them for as long as I have owned this car. I just cannot swallow the fact that I MAY have spent $120 for no reason at all.

Someone please advise and thanks for listening.

 

A simple phone call to PAA should clear this up. I highly doubt that PAA would do something like this.

 

A change replaces less than 1/2 the fluid. A flush replaces almost all the old fluid. So if you just got a change it mixes with the old fluid and it may look a little brown but the new fluid compensates for the deterioration of the old fluid.
BTW, I didn't think we had a tranny filter!!!

 

Make a phone call and let them know. I've never been to PAA but (from what I've read) they're excellent in customer satisfaction. They'll remedy your problem.

 

And I would guess we do have a filter, hate to see the fluid with out it.

 

DITTO but not even 1/2,,, change is 2.5 qts out of 8 soooo it will still be brown,,, the additives in petro trans fluid ussally last about 15 k miles,, the change you did just just adds back the additives,,, although you can use synthetic trans fluid which has been proven the additives last more than 3x longer. I flushed out my trans with syn and now just do the 2.5 qt change every 25k. Which it still excessive but I'm on the 200k mile program. see http://www.amsoil.com/products/atf.html

 

Nope no replaceable filter of trans cooler,,, That why I'm adding a comptech trans cooler this summer,,,

 

so call'em uP!

 

UPDATE:

First of all, they say there is no filter...my mistake


Second, This morning the service lady called me to follow up and see how I liked their service. I proceeded to tell her about my concerns and she told me she would have a manager call me back.

About 3 hours later a manager by the name of Peter called me back about the tranny fluid. I told him that it was still brown and he assured me that it was drained and filled (not fully replaced) and that it is sometimes normal for the color not to change much. He pretty much gave his word over and over that the fluid was infact changed.
I told him ok, and that I would call him back if I have any other questions.


I don't know what to think. I am getting so many different ideas from different people. Some say its fine and others say that it should be a brighter color.

I took some pics earlier to show you what the fluid color looks like, what do you guys think?







On a side note, I would like to thank PAA for keeping the lines of communication open and for actually calling me back when they said they would.

 

looks a hell of alot cleaner then my tran fluoid with 13.5k miles on the car

 

looks red and white to me .. the x's, that is

EDIT: ahh, there it is.

 

that is how mine looks.

Peter is cool too. I think he has an RSX type S.

 

looks pretty good to me

i had my dealer fully flush my tranny fluid, twice, for FREE!! at 13k and 25k

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess I owe PAA an apology.

 

In the future, please take it up with the dealer before bashing them publicly. This goes for any vendor you may deal with. It's one thing to post pics of the fluid and ask questions, but do so without dragging down the dealership w/o giving them a chance to help you.