I'm getting conflicting answers on this as I search, but is it better to do a 3x3 ATF change all at once or wait a certain amount of miles between each drain and fill? my latest rebuild has about 20,000k on it if that matters. Thanks for any input

 

1. Drain, refill, drive around
2. Drain, refill, drive around
3. Drain, refill.

each 'drive around' is up to you how long you want to drive; just enough to mix the fluid up. Or, drive a day or a week, however it is convenient for you. If you borrow a place to do the draining, then of course you want to do it and finish it in one day in a short period of time.

 

In between the drive arounds your supposed to shift through all the gears to evenly distribute the transmission fluid.


Note: Also more than three quarts come out at a time so when you do a 3x3 buy ten quarts. Make sure the oil is in between the dots on the dipstick.

 

please download the free owner book for your year at www.owners.acura.com
follow the 3x3 as explained there

minimal drive around block-up to 35mph-
trying to keep exhaust cool because you have to climb back under there
using each gear up and down including P and N

its not to mix the fluids- its to push old fluid forward from its hiding place in the torque convertor and various parts towards the drain

we don't want to mix fluids
the original reason for a 3x3 was IF you ever added even a drop of dextron in the trans- you must `flush`(per acuras description of the word) as much fluid out as possible

 

20k since rebuild is good time for this , may want to do the external filter too
there will be break in wear crud floating around and trapped in the filter now
25 bucks and worth it as insurance for a long life trans
Use dw1 Honda atf only,,acura may sell for less than Honda- exact same stuff

 

I find it interesting that Honda/Acura says "no Dexron", yet a lot of "Dexron" compatible fluids cover the ATF-Z1 spec (the only one that covers DW-1 that I know if is Castrol Import ATF, which is usually MORE expensive than the Honda/Acura stuff)

My replacement transmission was filled with Z1 from the dealer, so Im doing a 3x3 with something Z1 compatible that people have had success with (Valvoline MaxLife ATF). Obviously thats the owners call, I just dont trust anything transmission related from Honda/Acura anymore, so why would I trust their fluid?

DW-1 is definitely better than Z1, but then again so is the MaxLife stuff at half the price.

 

It`s your call but the Honda DW-1 according to the service tech at the Honda dealership it is the most compatible transmission fluid for our Acuras. It is a synthetic blend with the appropriate cleaners specifically geared for Honda and Acuras.


If your going to rebuild a transmission as opposed to replacing it with new remanufactured or an 06/07 Accord transmission, it might not matter what you put in because the failure rate is so high on rebuilds.

 

From reading around on the net it seems that our replacement transmission was in a "gray area". It was just before DW-1 replaced Z-1 as the standard fill. Its not clear to me if the replacement transmissions changed any after DW-1 came out.

Ive read a few people having issues when they replaced Z-1 with DW-1 in a Z-1 spec tranny (long drawn out shifts, etc), and even a couple people that had failures not very long after converting to DW-1 (coincidence maybe, but who knows)

If mine came with DW-1, I would have replaced with ONLY DW-1, but it didnt so I wasnt sure. Im planning on doing a drain and refill at every other (or maybe even every single) oil change, so whatever fluid I use wont be 100% in there very long anyway.

 

If you do a 3x3 drain and fill you will only get 94% of all the fluid out and the Z1 will linger in there. The only way to get all the fluid out is doing a Honda Flush (which I have never done).


I would use the DW-1. See if you can find a deal on a case.

 

Yeah, I know there will be some, for a while. The plan from now on is a drain/refill every other oil change (so once a year it will get 3 fresh quarts). Im not too worried about what lingers in there, since most of it will be nice clean fresh fluid. It cant be any worse than going 30K before doing another 3x3.

Ive confirmed that the Castrol stuff does indeed meet DW-1 specs, and is currently on sale at Advance Auto for 4.00/qt. Thats a bargain if you ask me, and is about half the price of DW-1. Dont get me wrong, DW-1 could be the best choice, but for an 11 year old car with 100K+ miles on it, Im saving $$$ where I can towards a replacement vehicle.

Im still not convinced the brand/type of fluid will save the transmission, I think its more the condition you keep that fluid in (within reason.....I wouldnt use el cheapo fluid either)

 

It's your car and it's tranny, so.....it's also your choice in the type of fluid and method that ya decide to maintain the tranny.

 

HUGE difference between what oil makers call `compatible with` ,
and `Approved by Acura for`....and found to work well in TL trans

Why trust them now?,,well the problems with our specific model trans cost them a lot and in many ways...
the newer cars got more HP and needed a semi synth fluid, so we get it too
Developments in oil, as with all technology, has come a long way in 10-15 years

only reported probs on the switch from old to new type is high mileage trans with failure just around the corner
new type to new type is no issues

want to do a great job??? see `accord method` in search on here or youtube
change fluid with engine running = similar to acuras new method used in shop

saving 20 bucks on unknown fluid now ..after a 2000$ rebuild...= nonsense
getting out the break-in metal shavings after rebuild and on nice fresh Honda fluid..= a wise mans game

 

The makeup of DW-1 has proven thinner than Z-1. Im not sure how that translates into something better, vs something "just good enough". Its clearly not fully synthetic since it only gets labelled that way in Canada.

Im not quite sure how Honda can come up with something that fits all of their transmissions, yet is different than the fluid its replacing (in a bad way....thinner = break down even faster? dunno).

Ill probably suck it up and buy the Honda stuff, but Im still not convinced its any better/same/worse than any other ATF.