cpd

Hello all. Last week I had routine maintenance performed by my Acura dealer on my '19 RDX. The maintenance included transmission fluid replacement. One week later, I'm driving to work today and I receive a warning that my transmission temp is near its limit and I need to slow down and not accelerate fast. So roadside takes it to the dealer and I was told today that they overfilled the transmission fluid. I am reading that an overfill can have negative impacts, but did I catch it quick enough to not worry or should I somehow address the issue with the dealer?

Thanks.

leomio85

How is that even possible? The fill level is regulated by the fill hole. You fill the transmission until fluid starts coming out of the fill hole, so it’s idiot-proof. Unless it wasn’t level when they filled, but I’d think it would need to be at a fairly drastic angle for them to mess it up that bad.

cpd

I have no idea. I was just told it was overfilled. If it wasn’t level when they filled it wouldn’t that result in an underfill?

Regardless, do you think there is potential for damage to my transmission after one week?

JB in AZ

More importantly, it sounds like your dealer isn't being honest.

russianDude

With the overfill hole making it impossible to overfill, it more sounds like they did not fill it enough so it heated up due to little fluid

cpd

So the dealer is telling me they left the plug in the overfill hole and accidentally filled it up to the fill hole. They said they looked at the fluid and it looks clear and red. Does that make sense. I'm still not sure whether one week of driving like this is significant or not. The warning message only came on yesterday and when I decreased speed it went away. I sped up again and it came back so I finished the trip at low speed with no warning message. I have about 20k left on my powertrain warranty. Thoughts?

russianDude

I would have it all documented in writing (keep paper work), maybe also call Acura customer service to document it. Maybe tell them that you want to get warranty extended on transmission to 100k/7yr, never hurts to ask.

leomio85

Ok, I see now. Did the car have any issues shifting? Overfilling will usually cause the fluid to aerate and could lead to overheating. It's hard to say how much damage was actually done, if any. Is this a purchase or a lease? At the very least, I'd request another fluid drain and fill and an extended warranty on the transmission in writing as it was due to their servicing that could have potentially shortened the life of the transmission. Heat is the enemy of any mechanical component, but issues generally arise pretty quickly. If there are no shifting problems soon after receiving the car back, I'd say you're ok. Still, for peace of mind, I'd want the extended warranty.

cpd

Thanks. It’s a purchase. Luckily it happened Over the new year break when it wasn’t driven a lot. And like I said the warning only came in briefly twice and went away when I slowed down. The dealer paperwork says they put 2 entire extra quarts in it though, which is alarming so I left a message yesterday for the manager.


No issues with shifting so far. I did ask if they checked the fluid after they took it back and they said it looked ok.

russianDude

It needs to be documented as an incident should you have any issues after warranty runs out.

cpd

With the dealer or Acura Customer Care?

russianDude

I would try to do both. You dont want to come few years later and some new guy is there acting stupid saying that he has no records of dealership doing anything wrong.

leomio85

Without a teardown, you're really just speculating as to how much damage, if any, was caused. Just my opinion, but I think there isn't much to worry about, but I'd still want something in writing covering you seeing as the mishap was solely from the dealer making a mistake.

Dereileak

This transmission has a great design, it has a heat/cooler exchanger to heat it up with coolant, which it operates best at. And if it’s being worked hard it will cool it. I doubt you did any damage for the short time, these transmission are temp regulated. It could be over filling didn’t allow the atf fluid to circulate as well, or maybe it caused weird effects with the fluid moving by the temp sensor. I highly doubt you damaged anything especially with how you handled it.

ray1968

I have a 2019 and since I bought it had intermittent transmission issues been to the dealer several times and they found nothing wrong. Then I started recording the issue and took it to another dealership and they found it to be severely overfilled. They drained it and so far my issues have gone away. Mine was overfilled on the assembly line.