Hey guys so im in the process of changing out the tranny oil since first to second has become violent. It may be a little late for that now but i figured hey whats 50 bucks compared to buying a used tranny. Anyway my question is when draining the fluid does it typically stop at 3 quarts or does it drain more and i am supposed to stop at 3 quarts?

The reason i ask is i drained 4 quarts luckily i bought 4 quarts. What im not sure is whether it has been over filled all this time from the tranny shop?

Any advise before i put that 4th quart would be appreciated. Thanks

 

4 quarts means it was overfilled by a quart which is bad and probably non Honda ATF was used before. Put 3 quarts only nothing more.

 

I'm not trying to thread jump, I have a similar question. What your saying, just so its clear, is that when you drain the fluid from the casing, only 3 quarts comes out?

 

^ Yup.. Trans holds +7q but the Drain Bolt will only drop give or take 3q. If he dropped 4q then he was overfilled or he drain the car in a big ass slope or decline and some of the TQ ATF come out as a bonus.

 

Thanks guys but it was only overfilled by half a quart. Stupid me was using the measurements on the oil drain pan and it is apparently wrong. Once i was done i poured the oil back into the original containers and i was left with half a quart in the drain pan. Thanks again fellas

 

actually: the trans will give up 3 to 3.5 qts depending on fluid temp and angle of driveway
to get 4 is very unusual

when you refill start with 3, then ck the fluid level via dipstick per owner book-
halfway between the 2 dots is correct
some years book says measure warm, others cold
need the book? free download at www.owners.acura.com need cars vin to register there- its acuras official site

 

overfilled will cause many problems including frothing of the oil

 

Okay so im trying to prevent the inevitable which is buying the AV6 tranny i have all the extra stuff needed to do the swap including filter, gasket, rear main seal (since i will be in there anyway) etc....

Here is what the tranny was doing.

for about 3- months it has been shuddering at the top of second going into third.

As of yesterday it was shifting into second pretty harsh. The odd part is that after driving for a bit it was shifting through all gears as smooth as glass. In fact smoother than when i first had the tranny rebuilt. (Waste of time and money) <~~ before i started really focusing on Azine and listening to others

I decided to do the 3 x 3 to hopefully better my situation and now it has a faint shudder from 2-5 any other ideas before i pull the trigger on the AV6?

Sensors maybe? or am i fulling of dreams? Thanks guys

 

Hmmm, smooth shifting after warmed up is a good thing. It appears as though ya may have bought some time. But, only time will tell the true story.

Are your mounts all good ? Check them. How did the drain plug magnet and old fluid appear ? Dirty....if so, try cleaning the shift solenoids and replace the inline ATF filter. Ya never know, ya may get lucky for awhile.....who knows without trying ?

At least ya may have some extra time to look for a good AV6 donor and not have to rush into things too quickly.

 

Thanks and yes is exactly what im doing every time i start the car and put it in D. The plug seemed somewhat sludgy not too bad just what i would expect after 75k miles and then there was the little metal shavings which looked to be typical almost looked like peach fuzz. i have the filter order in and dont know where all the sensors are but ill look into the DIY for some info on how to clean them up. I was also thinking considering the drain only lets out around 3 quarts of maybe driving the car for a week then doing another 3 X 3 and trying to get a little more of the old oil replaced as it cycles through the tranny. Thoughts?

 

Okay so i looked around to find out more about the solenoid cleaning and no dice. Any idea where i can find a write up to knock this out before biting the bullet?

 

Sometimes if ya look up an online Acura parts source, they have detailed diagrams of all of that stuff. May help ya out if ya can't find anything through the site's search feature. Check out the DIY sticky. The filter can be purchased locally at most auto parts stores.

To complete the 3 x 3 D&F, Ya can do it over time .....3 quarts DW1 @ a time.....3 times total !!!

 

Yep after more research i did a 3 X 1 not a 3 X 3 i was thinking 3 quarts down 3 quarts up not 3 quart drain and fill 3 times i definitely need to do 2 more thanks for the confirmation and i did look up a parts microfiche in the meantime it just didnt specify which was which i guess i can take a stab at all of them. Only question i have now is will oil come spewing out when i pull one

 

Hey Teggyturnedtl......just what exactly are ya talking about, ya lost me !!!

Stab at all of them and oil spewing out ??? HUH ! WTF ?

 

The solenoids cleaning them off and putting them back in

 

I believe they are located on the top of the transmission housing, under the air intake.

 

Thanks im taking another crack at the tranny again today

 

Best advice i can give you is remove anything with an electrical connector attached and clean it. (other than #37, leave that one alone)

 

Okay fellas so here is the whole scoop on what i did

Wednesday - problems started happening( shudder in 1 and 2 gear then after i drove for a while it would drive smooth no issues. Got in the car in the afternoon felt a little worse so i picked up tranny fluid to do a 3 X 3 which i found out was really a 3 X 1 since i thought wrong (lesson learned) what i didnt mention was those 3 quarts was Castrol Transmax for honda Z1 oil. BIG MISTAKE. I test drove it that night and it didnt seem any worse but not any better.

Thursday - HOLY SHit!! the car needed an exorcism it was going crazy! slipping going back and fourth between gears and juddering all the way to work. (Definitely the 3 quarts of oil i added that was not Honda oil. (Another lesson learned despite everyone saying only use Honda) I spoke to 3.2TLc and was educated at that point that my so called 3 X 3 was really a 3 X 1. I went to Honda and was lucky as all hell to run into an old friend who gave me my 9 quarts of DW1 for $60.00. So i did an actual 3 X 3. Here is what i learned.... in between each cycle the tranny actually felt better. Definite sign NEVER EVER EVER USE ANY OTHER OIL OTHER THAN HONDA DW1 in our transmissions.

Friday - Car still judders from 1 to 2 when cold but when warm if i drive in sport mode and shift at 3200 it shifts smooth no issues. Only bad is that 5th gear still judders light as if i were on a bumpy road. So i slowed down and keep it in 4th as much as possible. This is no fix just buying me time. I was lucky to source a tranny at allprousedautoparts.com they actually have great pricing i found an 06 with 100k for $ 575.00. $615.00 with taxes, thats of coarse if your giving them your core. I spoke to the guy and he said he doesnt mind if you dont give them the same tranny back as long as they have a core of some sort. They have it listed for $675.00 and when i called the guy said $ 575.00 i didnt ask any questions just put it on hold to pick up tomorrow. Hopefully if anybody else is having a hard time getting good pricing they can be a source for us. If your out of state then they charge an extra $25.00 to do a return on your core, provided its out of the car and there delivery guy can grab it at the same time of delivery. And its only 9am

 

Have you tried cleaning the solenoids?

 

I cleaned the one next to the fill plug didnt get to the others. That one wasnt bad. The others was a little harder to get to and i was starting at 7 pm and rain clouds coming in. I can try today hopefully it doesnt rain but Florida weather sucks. Every day after 4pm we get showers off and on. If i take a crack at it today will oil come out or do you think i would need to drain at least the 3 quarts first clean the solenoids then fill it back up?

 

how is the fluid color looking, after a real 3x3 it should have pushed out 90some percent of the old fluid, it holds 7.3 with some old trying to hide from you lining the passage walls etc

have you tried a search for threads with pics- solenoid , for help on access.
iirc there are 2 next to each other on driver side of trans, the ones we care about
No need to drain more fluid to clean them unless you really want to be thorough,
will need some new fluid for the new filter!

SS mode makes the trans line pressure increase, a good thing when trying to push thru crud to cure shift issue and prolong aging units
any speed below freeway cruise is fine with D4 or SS 4 once up to speed
in stop and go traffic to 45mph ziners suggest D4, so it doesn't hunt for 5th, in and out all the time

 

hey kris/other trans internals guru= does 5th share a shaft/clutch with 2nd gear?

teg- you are cking the fluid level per your years owner book?
level is critical on these trans- and middle of the 2 dots is the correct level- not at one or the other
trans fluid temp affects readout on dipstick

 

Thanks for the response honestly its a damn mess all i know is that i have oil between the two dots. and i check it after driving to and from work. I agree with you 100% that oil is critical in these transmissions especially after putting in the wrong stuff.

So what your saying is if i pull these two sensors out on the front of the tranny i should not have any fluids spewing out? If so i will definitely take a stab at it today after work. Thanks guys you have saved my ass in the past i just need to buy a couple more days till i can get the AV6 swap parts in.

 

on cking fluid level- depending on year- that's why ck owner book
either dead cold and ck
or drive 15 minutes, from cold right onto freeway without driving thru town stop and go, get off freeway and park- engine off ck level as between dots

your test is what exactly for a drive?

as long as the engine is off there is no pressure to pump fluid out- and the solenoids sit pretty high up iirc

when you did the actual 3qts 3 times= did you drive less than 5 minutes under 35mph using each gear up and down -include p r n a few times then back on the ramps?
that's how to get the old fluid pushed forward in system and out the drain area

 

Yes 01l4tl i did cycle through all gears when doing the 3 x 3 both 1-5 as well as P R N. I dont have an owners manual so i couldnt check that but what i have done is drive out of my neighborhood which takes 5 min on its own, not to mention the highest gear being 3rd since i have about 9 speedbumps from my house the the gate. Then i drive outside going through all gears about 1 mile and back. When i get home i turn the car off and check. That has been my process. When i say its a mess, i mean when checking the dipstick i have oil all over the stick but between the dots is where its heaviest. Let me clarify. Its not filled to the top its right on the second dot but it looks like from movement of the vehicle and all those speedbumps there seems to be a light residue of oil above the dots. hope that makes sense if not i can take pictures to show what i mean. I also picked up the AV6 trans saturday and was able to spot all the sensors you guys spoke of. I pulled the two up top below the throttle body and check those. They were not full of sludge or anything so i wiped them and blew them with my air hose from about 12" back and reinstalled. This morning was the first i drove the vehicle since i did that and while it felt slightly better it still shifted from 1 to 2 hard on the very first upshift never after. 4th still seemed a little rough as if i were driving on a bad road and i never allowed it to go into 5th since i was driving it in sport mode. thanks for all your guys comments. I hope this AV6 has no issues when i put it in

 

Hey Teggyturnedtl, try first checking the fluid while it's cold, then take the car for a spirited drive to get the tranny up to operating temp, shifting through all it's gears. Afterwards, park the car on a level surface and move the tranny's gear selector into each of it's positions a couple of times while the motor is still running. Then shut the motor off, wait a minute or two and remove the tranny's dipstick.....inspect level, wipe stick dry and re-insert it, pull again and see if the level is more apparent between the two fill dots. This may help.

PS: Ya may also want to try checking the other tranny shift solenoids and pressure switches. They may be better accessed through the wheel well. There's also one hidden near the starter.

 

Hey Teggyturnedtl, try first checking the fluid while it's cold, then take the car for a spirited drive to get the tranny up to operating temp, shifting through all it's gears. Afterwards, park the car on a level surface and move the tranny's gear selector into each of it's positions a couple of times while the motor is still running. Then shut the motor off, wait a minute or two and remove the tranny's dipstick.....inspect level, wipe stick dry and re-insert it, pull again and see if the level is more apparent between the two fill dots. This process may help.

PS: Ya may also want to try checking the other tranny shift solenoids and pressure switches. They may be better accessed through the wheel well. There's also one hidden near the starter.

That "AV6" sitting nearby may scare off the tranny gremlins, ha....hah !!!

 

haha i checked ones on the AV6 which looked clean i didnt check the TL yet i was afraid of losing fluid and didnt have any to top it off with since its a little ways down the tranny. Also if im correct on WHICH you are speaking of i believe there are 2 right next to each other. Right? I also noticed there is a small piece on the AV6 that has broken off ill take a photo of it when i get home and post. It is a shaft but the threads are deep in the hole and are not damaged. The photo will be much clearer than how im explaining it. I doubt it will affect the way it performs but im worried about how it mounts.

 

yes 2 next to each other with a letter above each are the solenoids iirc

none of the methods above are correct to ck atf level
please see the downloadable owner manual at www.owners.acura.com

regardless of temp book says= ck with trans in Park, engine off,- remove atf dipstick and WIPE CLEAN of atf with a soft cloth
insert dipstick fully to its stopper
remove dipstick
and easily read where the fluid level is indicating

hotrodding it heats the fluid and falsely raises indicated level
the book has a method for a reason
Lets say this is like- only use honda dw1 atf ! ok? same end result, doing it right .....

 

Thanks will do. If i might trouble you guys some more im sending the tranny and car to a family relative who is a tech for Nissan. i have given him the AV6 write up and i ordered the parts listed on the write up. Is there anything else i will need to get considering he will be removing a tranny and installing one? for example i know he will need more oil so that is already in the works. I also picked up the rear main seal. Are there any other gaskets or parts that i should grab before delivering the car? I hope this is not a loaded question. again thank you guys for all your comments everytime i do something more the tranny feels slightly better as if it may last one more week