Hi all! I own 2010 RL with 123k miles now. Bought the car with 109k a little over 2 years ago. I don't drive RL much and I have a second daily driver(Honda Fit). Today car showed A13 service. I will take care of oil change and tire rotation.

I am debating if I really need to do an AT and Transfer case fluid change. The car had 90k miles service done according to Acura service center and at ~105k had timing belt done as well. AT fluid is bright pink, pretty much the same color when I bough it. There is no smell of any kind. What I can't see is the transfer case fluid color. Could it be that 90k service was done at mid-point and where MM didn't ask for it and now MM is showing this as due items?

1) Is it safe for me to not do AT and Transfer case fluid change now and wait until next service indicator? I can monitor the fluid and change when I see the color get a bit darker.
2) After how many thousands of miles does MM indicate AT fluid change? 30, 60?

Thanks!

I'm attaching my "old school" schedule for maintenance......Aura's recommended intervals. I personally don't trust the MID though others rely on it totally. I do the maintenance on my schedule and ignore the MID totally.....but that's me.

As for the drive line fluids, if you have good documentation that the fluids were serviced properly and regularly then I'd recommend you save $$s and go with that. If not, do the changes according to this schedule.

Good luck.

Thanks for the doc and your input. I do have CarFax and a printout from Acura service center which consists of 21 pages since 2010. It shows 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90k services performed(including all other regular services and oil changes). For 15 and 30k, the list does indicate: AT, Transfer and Read Diff fluid change in the list, however for 45, 60, 75 and 90k service, just says performed. Do you know what normally each 15, 30k and up...service includes?

In your owners manual pack, do you have the second book alongside the owners manual ? The second book is the service record (mine is titled "Owner's Warranty and Service Manual") - it has precise lists of what needs doing for every service right up to 20 years or so. But I'm not in the US so my intervals will be all different to yours...

The inside of the book look like this - https://acurazine.com/forums/second-.../#post16691733

I did look at owner's manual and the leather pouch contains few other books. One of them was "Maintenance Journal", however it is empty. Each page has a template titled "Periodic Maintenance" and a tech needs to fill out/put check marks depending on service which was performed. Would be good to have information what is included at each 15,000 interval service. Maybe Acura service center has that available.

OK then a deeper dive into those "Acura" records would be my next step. Take all that to the dealer, who should be able to pull up complete details on prior services via the VIN, and consult with them on next needed servicing. Then maybe throw them a bone and do the oil change with them for their help. They are anxious to develop a relationship with another paying client!!

The MID can be fooled if a service (oil change for instance) is done outside the MID-indicated intervals, and as such no longer indicate actual required servicing. I have also been told (call it "rumor") that the MIDs are programmed to come on yearly, regardless of actual conditions in the oil, to require oil change and tire rotation. See now why I don't trust the MID??

Again, good luck.

While purchasing the car I asked Acura dealership to provide maintenance history(aforementioned 21 pages printout). Unfortunately only 15k and 30k services mention "transmission/transfer case and read diff" fluid replacement. All other 15k mile interval services just mentioned things like "75k service competed" and so on. There were other services such as 7500k oil changes, air/cabin filters, wipers and so on. It is a good idea to ask the dealer to show me a booklet or what each "15k interval" service includes. Thank You


Just took a look at the fluid

Here is the ATF after about 30k. I touched paper towel with my semi-dirty hands.

I would expect that within those pages are delineated specific charges for fluids and labor to service those fluids......as with every receipt I have ever gotten from Acura. If that's not there, then somehow their records look incomplete. So in that case, if it were my car, I would service every fluid that is in question again referring to my interval system.

Cheers.

If I won't find an exact info on what was or wasn't changed, then replacing aforementioned fluids would be a good preventive maintenance. Here is a copy of the 90k mile service. Do you see anything that could indicate fluid replacement?

Nope. There should have been a breakout of the $235.42 in "parts" and it's not there. Very odd.

So yes, if not sure and they won't/can't tell you, do it anyway.

One thing to note from that service receipt - it's $873, so they must have done more work than just a basic oil change. I would think that $637 labour and $235 parts includes other service items...

But like Dan says, without a proper breakdown there's just no way to know - your only option is to do them anyway, then at least you know they're done. It's weird that the receipt doesn't list all the actual individual parts (fluids) that make up the price !

Aside from all the various fluids, the other two important service items are the timing belt and the engine valve adjustment. Both have a scheduled (long) interval.

It possible that many items were included, but at 90k maybe more items are needed compared to 30k service. For the contrast, here is the 30k service which does list fluids.


30k service record

Yes, it is possilbe.....can't believe the same tech created both those records.

My opinion stands: Unless you can affirmatively assure that the fluids were serviced, then do them anyway.

The transmission fluid is not as easy to change as it should be, because we need to remove the splash pans underneath the car to get to the transmission and transfer case drain bolts. Be that as it may, replacing transmission fluid is not particularly hard, either. When the transmission fluid is changed, only about 1/3 of the transmission fluid actually drains from the car, leaving 2/3 of the old fluid still in the transmission. You should change the transmission fluid on a schedule rather than choosing to do (and then not doing) the 3-times flush and fill later.

As one who has had a transmission completely blow up previously, a scheduled transmission fluid change maintenance is really cheap, compared with the alternative if something goes wrong.

AMEN!! What he said^^^!!

Took me some time to get to my Acura as I have 2 cars and to get the answer from the dealership. Here is a limited reply from service advisor and according to them, they can't release full info as I was not the owner of the car back then: "But I can tell you that transmission, transfer case, rear differential and the brake fluid would have been serviced at that 90,000 mile interval based on the invoice. If you are building history just for your own information then I hope that helps."

So if the above is correct(by the cleanness of transmission fluid it is), then all aforementioned fluids are about "33,000 miles" old. I guess all I would have to do is an engine oil and filter change. If anything of these fluids would need to be changed before the next maintenance minder, then I can do it mid-cycle.

Guys, I want to thank everyone for their input! This is my first such service on the RL, so it all was new to me.

To be on a safe side, I went ahead and did the fluids which MID indicated. So transmission fluid wasn't 3 QT as manual stated, I added more like 3.6 qt which brought the level to 3/4 or a bit more on the trans dipstick. The ATF was still nice bright red color Took me 15 minutes to open a fill hole, needed to go at an angle and since there is no room, I almost stripped the bolt head. Don't know why anyone would tighten it that much?! Another pain was that dust shield however I didn't want to mess around to remove it completely and just removed 2 10mm bolts and couple of clips which was enough for it not to interfere with ATF drainage. Broke one clip which was half way broken anyway. Need to reorder.
Additionally did transfer case with Hypoid 1 fluid which took about half a qt or so. This fluid was also nice and clean when drained.

I add the transmission fluid through the transmission dipstick tube, like in almost every other car with an automatic transmission. I think that the fill hole is so oddly placed that I just bypass it. You may need to purchase the "expensive" $6.00 flexible narrow tube funnel from Walmart to do it that way.
Regarding those plastic clips, I suggest buying a ten pack of various assorted sizes and using the replacements as you break them.

I too wanted to use a dipstick hole to fill ATF however I wasn't able to find a thin enough tube/funnel. If you have a link for that "flexible tube funnel" that would be helpful.

Walmart has various funnels available with a narrow spout. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-Tou...0106/636907435