sutlTL

I believe the aftermarket brand equivalent is with Dexron III. Anyone using or know of any problems with using another brand ATF as long as it has Dexron III?

Mr Zipps

I was thinking about using Synthetic Trans Fluid?

Has anyone switched...

steadydaddy

Don't mess your ride by messing with that stuff. A friend who's also a Honda service advisor admonishes "...just use Honda ATF and no flushing. Just drain 'n fill."

gohawks63

My Service Advisor said the same thing, "Honda doesn't allow us to flush, just drain and fill".

Honda has special additives that are not in many aftermarket fluids. I've also read many articles in which the same thing has been said, basically use Honda tranny fluid at all times.

AK_MOBBER

Every time this topic comes up people just say, "follow the manual and use honda fluid". Its kinda annoying...

I use Valvoline MaxLife synthetic tranny fluid. It was around $2 for a quart, I bought 6 or 7 of them and did it myself. I drained the old and dirty tranny fluid and then added 3 quarts. Sealed her back up and went for a 2 minute drive. Shift through all gears including reverse. Park it again, drain again, refill again. Done.

It's not like the dealer will notice or can tell the difference between the "honda" fluid and the "aftermarket" fluid. THEIR BOTH RED!@!

So since I switched to synthetic tranny fluid I have noticed buttery smooth shifts and from the butt dyno it feels like the acceleration is faster(maybe not faster but deffenitialy smoother).

So there, go pick up some synthetic tranny fluid spend 30 minutes and save yourself plenty of $$$ the dealer would love to have for a simple job.

AK_MOBBER

oh, btw, I have a 99 TL with around 10 K miles since the switch to valvoline maxlife synthetic tranny fluid.

acur8

DON'T use anything other than Honda Z-1 transmission fluid. Z1 is a 'highly friction-modified' atf. Dexron III is not.
It is different than Dexron III. Spend the extra couple of $$. There are instructions on how to do a tranny flush in your owners manual in case you 'temporarily' installed Dexron. Considering how many tranny probs there have been, it might be worthwhile to do anyway. Also, after reading the number of trany probs on this and other forums I installed something called Lubegard.

hzm82

I'm a big fan of aftermarket stuff. I'm a DIYer, I'm a don't trust the big auto company and theiving dealers. But the trans fluid is probably the only thing I keep that Honda recommends.

Combatdog

I use Amsoil products in almost everything I run. I just got off the phone with them about their Universal Trans Fluid. I was told that Honda does indeed have a propriatery trans fluid and that there is NO comparable Amsoil or other fluid on the market at this time.

Good enough for me, it's Honda fluid!

JMO,
Lou

patrick

I agree with your statement regarding Honda ATF. However, I disagree with the flushing part. I asked my dealer to do a tranny flush for me, and they did. Good thing too, cause the service advisor said that by flushing my tranny, they were able to clear out the stuff. No amount of drain 'n fill will get that out.

BlackShadow

Honda ATF only!

AK_MOBBER

you guys are brainwashed. Propriatory my ass! You guys are trusting the company that said the tranny problem is fixed and continues to sell cars and repair cars that have problem trannys. And your trusting them that their "propriatory" fluid is better than aftermarket fluid?!? SH|T wouldn't that be a b|tch to find out that hondas "propriatory" fluid is the problem to begin with?!?

They just want you to think they got something magic in the bottle that other competitors don't.

Oh yeah, I also heard redline ATF is some of the best and most $$$.

Comet2404

Like I said before - I take it to Acura, and I dont know if they put olive oil or dextron III in it... it works, and it works good so its fine with me!!!

fsttyms1

use only honda atf! there is no need to risk any thing plus its not much different in price.

Allout

The reason why Honda fluid is "Proprietary" is because they don't release their spec's to other companies. That's why Amsoil, Redline, and others cannot say that they have a fluid that's compatable. There is a strong possibility that there is no significant differences in their fluid for all practical purposes.

For what it's worth, Comptech runs Redline and has not had any problems.

On the topic of flushing, there's no reason not to do it if your fluid needs it (i.e. - burned fluid). If you have fluid that is not bright pink, your fluid is burned and you will notice a difference in shifts when you flush it. Without a supplemental tranny cooler, burned fluid is inevitable with our cars. I spoke with the factory Acura rep for my area and he agreed that the additional tranny cooler was a great idea.

acur8

AK MOBBER -

In theory I agree with you - A company with bad trannys telling you to use their ATF fluid. LOL! But - I also called Amsoil and was told the same thing as combatdog. They were the ones that told me that Honda atf is a 'highly friction-modified' atf. And I was ready to buy a case of atf from them. So it's more than just Honda keeping their 'proprietary' formula a secret from everyone. However I am intrigued by your use of Valvoline syn atf and your noted improvement. What year is your car and how many miles in total do you have? How bad was the shifting before? Thanks.

Mr Hyde

Ditto. I used to use Mobil 1 ATF in my 1996 Accord, but now switched to Honda ATF only for the TL.