I screwed up and didn’t realize I needed to change my differential fluids in my 2020 RDX with SH-AWD. I took it to the dealership today at 39.5K on the odometer. No metal shavings just dark oil that they said is normal. While I am very light footed, I did pull a trailer for 1500 miles. So my question, how much damage have I done running the breaking fluid 2.5 times recommendation?

 

Truthfully I don't think anyone can tell you. The SH-AWD unit in the RDX is the newest generation and therefore we don't really have years of data to look at and compare.

 

Trailer is probably no big deal. The higher frequency of fluid changes is precautionary as you'll get more wear on the clutches due to torque vectoring - if you're rocketing off the corners a lot and getting good rotation then you're probably using torque vectoring a lot and generating more wear on the clutches but this doesn't sound like you. If not then, while not ideal, it's probably fine if you remember to do regular changes going forward. Honda seems to be pretty conservative with their fluid change intervals from what I can see so I doubt you were way out bounds (eg. folks who have their engine oil tested by Blackstone regularly show lots of life left - they could have run another 50-100% longer with no problem)

 

supafamous: Thanks for your reassuring words. I only drove rather aggressively on a mountain road on one occasion, when gas was cheaper and probably when the mileage was in the 10K range. I still am surprised at such a short interval for the first oil change, granted it was due to using break in oil. Just never heard of such a thing but guess I need to adjust my thinking since it is a luxury vehicle.