Is changing the tranny fluid and filter a do it yourself job? Or something to take to the shop or dealership?

 

It depends on how handy you are. if you are use to changing your own motor oil its pretty much the same thing. If you do a search there are many postings on how to change it. basically look underneith the car where the tranny is you will see a 3/8in square which you can use a 3/8in ratchet and a cheater bar if its really tight. crack the nut and unscrew. roughly 3 qts will come out at a time. To fill look on top of the tranny in the engine compartment and look for the big nut that says ATF. if you have the older model tranny with the jet kit on the top look for a sensor right next to atf nut and unplug that sensor and use a 10mm to take off the bolt holding the sensor down. Then use a long neck funnel and you can pour the atf in from there. if you are doing a complete drain and fill 9 qts are needed. you will have to do a drain and fill 3 times to get pretty much all the old atf out.

i did the 9 qts once.but i just drain and fill the tranny with 3qts at every other oil change. this way it keeps it refreshed and it not a huge cost to buy 9 qts at a time. but its pretty much straight forward. to make things a little easier drive around a bit and heat up the tranny this way when you drain and fill it usually more fluid will come out.

There is some debate on the oil that is used but to me if you still have the warrenty on the tranny i would use the OEM honda/ acura fluid. this way they have no excuse not to deny your warrenty because it does not have the right fluid in there. There are other members on the board that use Amsol fuild and have use it with out any problems. but to me once the warrenty is gone ill switch to that better fluid. but for now if you have warrenty OEM fluid is what i would recommend..

very easy nothing hard.

 

There is no tranny filter.

 

Really???
I tought all automatic transmision has a filter.
Than-x for the tip.

 

I just called the nearest acura dealership and they said they could change the oil but not the filter for some reason...

 

hmmm.... that's weird

 

Because the only filter is inside the trans and is not a replaceable filter. Its basically a screen. The only way to replace it is to remove the trans from the car and open the trans. The only thing there is to do on the TL is to change the fluid.

 

O...That sucks...I thought it would have a regular filter like most cars but guess not...i only had it for a whole month so im trying to learn as much as i can...thanks guys i appreciate it...

 

What type of tranny fluid do you guys recomend for a 100k+ tranny???

 

Honda fluid ONLY

 

Honda ATF only !!! no filters or screen inside transmission. !!!the drain plug is the filter. it has a magnet that collects metal shavings. drain transmission fluid from under car driver side of transmission. the plug looks round with square hole in the middle. you need a ratchid to lose. let it drain , wipe drain plug and dont over tighten. add 3 qts of ATF even. no more or less. fill plug is down to the left of master cylinder. 17 mm socket long extension with 1/2 inch ratchid

 

naw man fsttyms1 is right the filter is inside the tranny, i rebuilt the tranny on my 3.0 cl basically the same as the tl tranny, and the filter is black with a fiber coton like filter inside.
the magnet is only there to catch the particles of metal that are big enough to be caught and sink to the bottom., which is why its on the bottom of the tranny, which is also why its a bad idea to do a full flush on the tranny.