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At 60,000 mi on my 2016 RDX, I decided to do a transmission flush and upgrade the filter. I decided to flush vs drain and fill because I switched over to Castrol Full Synthetic Multi-Vehicle ATF not to be confused with Castrol Import blend.
I replaced the inline filter with a Magnafine filter which is bigger and has a good size magnet too. I was pleasantly pleased to see that it fit in the factory filter holder. I left the lower hose off so I could attached a drain line to the bottom of the filter. In hindsight I would have installed an adapter to the top filter hose and drain from that but only had a hose no adapter. I ran the engine till flow slowed down and I could hear some suction from the pan then shut it down and filled the pan back up. I did this about 3-4 times and pulled out 12 qts total.
The fluid was still red before changing so it was hard to tell when all the old fluid was out. QUESTION- Was the fluid coming out of the filter coming from the cooler which was coming from the torque converter? I hope the fluid coming out wasn’t from the drain pan and I just wasted a lot of new fluid. Lol.
The method you used is not recommended by Honda for their transmissions. This is the flush method Honda approves and does is outlined in the service bulletin on transmission judder: http://www.urvi.net/forumfiles/SB/B17-017.PDF
You must drive between normal drain & fills to get fluid out of the trans. Really drive, like going through all gears. Honda automatics are not like any other. Here is why: https://global.honda/heritage/episod...ondamatic.html
If this fluid is actually compatible with Honda atf DW-1 I'm not sure why you feel
it is so important to try and replace all the fluid. By the way, with a Honda trans, that is not possible. (well, four drain & fills with driving in between would get you substantially there)
At 60k, you should have had a least one normal drain & fill at 30k.
I agree with egads above. The flush method will put undue pressure on seals and "might" cause problems now or in the future. As for the transmission fluid. Castrol does claim that their fluid is ATF-Z1, ATF-DW-1 compatable (as does other brands). Quite often people who change to this or similar after market brand fluid will notice a shifting difference when driving (more slippage or less slippage). Sorry, but my suggestion would be to go back to stock Honda fluid. These modifications you made (I realize you were trying to better your transmission) could cause more problems in the long run. If it were may car, I would just start doing a transmission drain and fill with the correct Honda fluid at each oil change and after about 4 drain and fills, you can stop. I would also remove the Magnafine filter and put things back to stock.
The Magnafine filter is probably fine, lots of Honda owners have added them to transmissions that came with no accessible filter at all.
I wonder what issue was trying to be addressed with this fluid change. I often laugh when folks report how much better their trans is with X fluid,
when just changing it is probably what made the biggest difference. When the original trans was made for a Honda V-6 the fluid change interval
was 45k. Now it is 30k. The exception is if one is experiencing the torque converter judder when Honda/Acura will do a 3X fluid change along with
a software update. I do think every oil change is maybe a bit extreme. But every other oil change is probably prudent. What fluid? Well we have a
thread on here about that. In that thread I posted a link to a thread on the Odyclub. In that thread is a link to a chemical analysis of the three most
popular compatible fluids. Interesting reading. The gist of that is that they are all very close.
Thanks for the info and feedback. Guess I'll refrain from the full flush next time. LOL. The dealer did do a 3X flush and software upgrade at 40,000 when I bought it as an off lease. It had that signature judder/jerky shifting. It went away after that service but I know the fluid is part to blame, so that's why I wanted a full synthetic alternative. At 60,000 I figured I would switch to Castrol since DW1 compatibility is listed. I contact the company and the engineer said that I should try to replace as much of the DW1 as possible when converting to Castrol. I drove it 120 miles round trip today and it felt the same with slightly less noticeable downshift changes when coming to a red light. Maybe a placebo affect.
I'm keeping the Magnafine filter for sure. Have used them in past Honda and Toyotas with 200,000+ mi. The OEM has a bypass valve if it becomes clogged just like the Magnafine but at twice the capacity and the built in magnet, this can only help. Here's a pic of the old OEM next to the new filter.
So now that we have had full disclosure, what you really needed was a normal drain & fill. You want to smooth things out? Muzzle the VCM. Makes a world of difference.
Part of the jerk is the shifts coinciding with the VCM kicking in or out. Honda/Acura cannot disable VCM as a fix. Here's the current favorite:
So now that we have had full disclosure, what you really needed was a normal drain & fill. You want to smooth things out? Muzzle the VCM. Makes a world of difference.
Part of the jerk is the shifts coinciding with the VCM kicking in or out. Honda/Acura cannot disable VCM as a fix. Here's the current favorite:
Congrats on the fluid change out. I'm liking the way that you did the drain and fill. You didn't put pressure on the system, you let the system pump the fluid out to a point and then refilled as you went along. I have performed drains like this for over 20 years on different cars I have owned and each time the transmissions felt great afterwards. I did mine the same way back a couple of months ago , but used Valvoline Max Life Syn fluid. Coming up when the weather gets warmer again I will install a trans cooler up front of the rad, to help keep the fluid in better shape for a longer duration of fluid life.
There was a post on resetting trans computer shifting system that I'm liking also. Turn the car to the on position cut radio and heating system off , don't crank car just turn on, then hold the gas pedal down for 30 seconds then release peddle and turn car off. Then crank and drive,,seemed to help mine,,good luck with yours.
I went over everything above and noticed something missed. You stated that the fluid coming out was red and hard to tell the difference between the old fluid and the new fluid. The original Honda DW1 is clear or a bit golden , in color. If your was red,that would mean the dealership put another brand fluid in the trans. My dealership replaced my fluid at 30 k miles and used Valvolean Maxlife syn fluid,,maybe yours did as well. On your question about the draining of the fluid and tq convertor ,,yes , the way that you made the drain, removed all of the old fluid from the convertor .
I dunno...I recently changed mine for the first time and the the new stuff was red, definitely not clear or golden. So was the old stuff (altho a bit darker). It's never been to a dealer so I'm pretty sure the old stuff was the original fluid.
Then maybe I was wrong about the OEM fluid,,thought it was an amber color. When I flushed out the system back a month or so ago mine was red because the dealership had filled with Maxlife Corrected about that now.
I went over everything above and noticed something missed. You stated that the fluid coming out was red and hard to tell the difference between the old fluid and the new fluid. The original Honda DW1 is clear or a bit golden , in color. If your was red,that would mean the dealership put another brand fluid in the trans. My dealership replaced my fluid at 30 k miles and used Valvolean Maxlife syn fluid,,maybe yours did as well. On your question about the draining of the fluid and tq convertor ,,yes , the way that you made the drain, removed all of the old fluid from the convertor .
Poolman, thanks for answering my initial question that was still lingering. I feel better that I removed most of the older fluid. From here, I will do drain and fills with Castrol Full Synthetic every 20K miles. May be overkill but it's so easy to do and very cheap. As for the color, yes, OEM DW-1 is red. I did notice that Honda CVT HCF-2 that was in my CRV was light golden color.
11-25-2019, 08:46 PM
