NH - '00 TL

First and foremost I would like to thank everyone for sharing their Acura knowledge, it's amazing!

I apologize in advance if this question has been answered in the past but I've been searching the forum for awhile and currently I'm at a dead end.

I have a '00 with 141k miles and I have never changed the transmission fluid (I bought the car in '04 with 43k miles). I would like to change the fluid but I've heard it may do more harm than good.

Any advice would be appreciated.

MurdaZ

iTrader: (1)

lol if u lasted this long w/o a change i dont see a reason to change it.....yes i know u should go by the book and do a drain/fill, but most people get the supersition that when they change the fluid, it causes the tranny to go......im still two sided on if i should do mine.

ChampionFiyah

lol, who told u that??? wow. the transmission fluid should be changed every 60k miles, only use ACURA ATF-Z1 AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID, nothing else, and just do a drain and refill, not a flush

deevel79

My question is, if u can use various motor oils in the engines, why are people so touchy about ONLY using honda transmission fluid?

ChampionFiyah

u went 100k miles, hell I may do that, go to 105kmiles and then change it along with my timing belt, consolidate services I guess, but whatever the case at the end of the day the tranny fluid eventually needs to be changed

ChampionFiyah

Because of the way our transmissions are built, they are much more advanced then whats in a gm or ford for example. Some transmissions are just more sensitive then others to the kind of fluid u put in them

fsttyms1

Honestly i wouldnt change it now if it hasnt been changed as of yet. Id leave it.

ChampionFiyah

really? whats the max amount of miles u can go without changing the fluid?

MurdaZ

iTrader: (1)

some people, on older hondas (legends, accords) go near 200 mark lol.

rob-2

Dude that's impressive, 100K on the trany without fluid change. I'm surprised it hasn't failed.

ChampionFiyah

yea especially since it is a 00-04 tl, hes a lucky man, but i think u should get it changed, its better safe then sorry

fsttyms1

Why? Fluid isnt the problem with our trans

NH - '00 TL

It looks like I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

deevel79

I tell u. I love my 99tl, but my 91 Legend was a much more worry free car. It even felt more solid. I got it up to 176k miles before i had any major that needed to be done (Head Gasket). Im about to dump my TL, and look for a low mileage Legend.

acitydweller

do a drain and fill...

SodaLuvr

Just change the fluid. I'm surprised that the transmission has lasted this long. Don't be surprised if it takes a dump tomorrow.

ChampionFiyah

rich9

hello,
I am impressed. I have a 2000 TL. I had the transimission fluide, drain and refill only at every 16-17K miles. Therefore, it had several fluid refill/drains.
And it still died (began to slip, check engine light, and tcs light came on) at approximately 94K miles.

So that is my input, I dont know...

3.2TLc

It appears as though you have a good "original" tranny @ 140k, that's a remarkable thing considering the odds are rather badly stacked against our TL's 5speed automatic. I'm guessing that you do alot of highway cruising miles and seldom "manually" shift your transmission. My personal thought is that if there is a weak spot, don't push it ! I bought an original owner 2000 TL that had over 100k casual miles on it from a retired couple. Nothing more than basic maintenance was documented, no tranny fluid changes, only thing done was the recall for adding the jet kit. Two years later and now @ 150k, all is still well. I did decide to do the "drain 'n fill" 2X shortly after purchasing the car and just again recently. The only reason I did so was because #1, I always prefer a "clean" start on any used vehicle and #2, the apparently poor survival rate of these TL transmissions. Inspection of the fluid appeared clean both times. I would strongly recommend sticking with Honda's specific tranny fluid..........why risk using anything else if your tranny's happy ? If you're not experiencing any problems, don't kick a sleeping dog. But on the other hand, my feelings were that a fresh drink can't hurt anything ! The choice is yours to make.