alfadoctor

One of the maintenance items I am going to do is to change out the rear differential fluid.

• There are two chambers?
• Do they use the same fluid?
• I know to use nothing but the Honda fluid that is recommended and nothing else.

Later I will change out the trans fluid as well as it has been a long time since it has been serviced. Again only using the Honda recommended fluid.

Should I buy the fluid at the Honda agency or is there a source that is more cost effective?

Any recommendations on brake fluid? My car was last changed under the recall...so it is more than due. Should I upgrade to braided brake lines?

DanL07RL

I change ALL drive line fluids every 30K miles....including the transfer case. I use only Honda products and purchase them from the Honda (NOT Acura) dealerships.....except for the oil for the transfer case. I buy that oil at the auto parts store.

I have the brake fluid flushed every 30K as well, and have a mechanic do it....my pressure bottle equipment doesn't fit the Acura reservoir very well.

rlerman

Same fluid in rear diff chambers, a little under 4 quarts total. Use Honda brake fluid, it's not much more expensive than others. Use Honda trans fluid too.

TonyCD

I may be in the minority here, but Honda ATF is not my first choice.

The short version: Due to what appear to be environmental or regulatory constraints, Honda discontinued its OEM formulation for ATF fluid. The replacement is only a semi-synthetic product, which probably means it's not as robust and durable as full synthetic. There are full synthetic alternatives available. One is Amsoil. Another, perhaps easier to find and cheaper, is Valvoline MaxLife Dexron/Mercon ATF. I describe what I was able to determine in post #6 of this thread:

https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...fluids-795607/

I've used it for about 30,000 miles now. It's shifted smoothly and made no trouble thus far.

alfadoctor

All great advice thank you.

As to Dexron VI which is all that is available now, is a superior product. I read up on this as my Alfa Spider "automatic" uses Dexron. The transmission is a BMW 22HP3. It is very compatible with all transmissions that used Dexron II up through V. For my transmission this means better wear properties. I can understand your wanting to switch from Honda to this product.

I already switched out the transfer case oil, which by the way came out as clean as the day it was put in last time it was changed.

I know that Honda recommends their fluid for the brakes. I have always used Castrol brake fluid for all my Alfa's or ATE Blu when I can find it.

A trip to my local Honda dealer is in order to get the rear differential fluid.

TonyCD

I don't know nuttin', but this is an interesting post: a new Valvoline ATF that' s apparently the same Dexron 3 ATF I've been using, now under another name. The difference apparently is that the new DexronVI product is engineered for better cold weather performance. A poster on BITOG says this:

"I had been emailing Valvoline tech support about their Valvoline Full Synthetic Import Multi-Vehicle ATF, and they stated that it is the same forumulation as the older MaxLife that was not Dexron VI approved, and that O'Reilly's was testing out the market for the product. If there was enought demand for it, they would be making it available in other stores and adding a 1 gallong container, too."

ZF transmission in Audi what fluid | ATF, Differential, Trans, Brakes, P/S | Bob Is The Oil Guy