I finally decided to do the drain and fill myself. It's easier than an oil and filter change.

Hardest part was getting a breaker bar to loosen the fill bolt.

Anyways, tools needed.

17mm socket with extension and breaker bar
3/8" ratchet drive
torque wrench
Crush washers 18mm and 24mm
3-4 quart HONDA ATF! (I measured 3.75 quart drain; so 3.75 quart fill)


Torque specs: Fill Bolt 33 ft-lb. Drain bolt 36 ft-lb.

Took me 30mins after jacking up the front end.

Special notes: When it draines out, it really comes out.

 

 

Single drain and fill only?

 

so how would this work if it was the suggested 4 x 4, i'd have to buy 16 gallons of fluid?

 

Hello,

You can change it twice more if you really want a good flush due to residual oil. You can use Amsoil universal fluid without any fear and get synthetic ATF.
The label on the rear of the Amsoil states that it is comparable and in case of any legal problems you would be covered. I have this Amsoil in my 2006 TL.

QuickRick

 

 

what a breaker bar?

 

Just a longer wrench that helps you get more leverage. You can put a PVC or metal pipe on the end of your regular one if you don't have one.

 

Its not 3 its not 4 qts
The method- as stated here and in the acura owner handbook is:
drain 3 qts- refill- drive 5 minutes- drain 3 qts- refill- repeat 3 times for a total of 9 qts used
hence the 3x3 designation we often speak of!

 

Is this all it takes to change ATF? im sure theres still quite a bit of fluid left in the torque converter what do you do about that? and is there a dipstick that tells you the fluid level or do you just need to measure what came out and put back the exact amount?

 

^^ That's why you do the 3x3 method to try and get all the old stuff out. Some is trapped in the torque converter so you start it back up and run it for 5 minutes to get everything circulated and try and get all fresh fluid in there. Honda recommends that you don't use the machine to suck everything out and use the 3x3 method. Yes -- Put it only what you take out.

 

yes the yellow handle dipstick on the driver side over the transmission is where you check it
Its very close to 3 qts- thats all it will actually give up at a time- total cap is 7 something quarts- so we do a pretty good job of getting old stuff out with 3x3 method
First you drive 15 minutes on freeway then do drain
And you DRIVE 5 minutes between to circulate- any more and the car gets too hot to get under and drain again!
USE ONLY HONDA ATF

 

We can drain 3.1 qts each time out of total 7.6 qts. After draining it 3 times, there's still approximately 20% dirty fluid remained.

The local Acura dealer changed the tranny fluid before they sold the car to me, but after checking the bill, I found that they used only 3 liters of fluid, that means there's more than 50% of dirty fluid left in the tranny. Perhaps that's why it doesn't look red at all.

I'll do more fluid change next week, but I wonder if it's tricky to remove the oil jet kit so that I can pour the new fluid through the filler hole - it'd be painful to fill through the dipstick tube.

 

It is not tricky at all. Remove the bolt holding the bracket on and the jet comes right out.