Edit*accidentally said 05 in the title but I have an 06...though I think the trannys are the same anyhow...

Hey all. Recently made a post about a wobble shifting into 3rd and 4th. My pressure control switches are in the mail, but I want to do everything I possibly can to prolong the life of my transmission (155k miles on it now).

It seems that a 3x3 drain/fill of redline racing ATF is the optimal choice....this may seem like dumb question, but I should do all 3 drains/fills all at once, right...? To flush out all of the old fluid of whatever brand it was? (assuming OEM)

Have you guys used any other (maybe cheaper lol) brands without friction modifiers? Just seeking some advice on this.

Thanks!

 

I cannot state this strongly enough, do NOT under any circumstances use anything other than Honda ATF. Why? The thing about ATF formulations is, regardless of how superior (or not) the base oil may be, unless the Coefficient of Friction (COF) is correct relative to the manufacturer's design standards, your transmission will fail sooner than later. Said another way, if the COF is too slippery, the clutches will take too long to engage and premature failure will result; if the COF isn't slippery enough, the clutches will grab too quickly and put extra stress on the transmission internals, and premature failure will result.

Relative to Friction Modified transmission fluid, you're probably thinking of the GM/ACDelco Synchromesh Friction Modified MTF many folks, myself included, recommend for those of us with TL 6-Speed models.

 

Ah I see, well thank you for informing me of such. And at that point, attempting to find a similar COF fluid would be silly, when I could just use the Honda ATF. Hopefully other people can confirm using the Honda ATF is the optimal choice...I appreciate it!

 

As far as I know, Honda is the only game in town for ATF for their automatic transmissions. The good news is I was able to buy the Honda stuff for my daughter's Accord via Amazon at a pretty good price.

 

The main reasons people were saying to go with the Redline D4 and Redline Racing ATF fluid is because they have LESS friction modifies than the OEM fluid. With less friction modifiers, the transmission will slip less each time it shifts gears, causing less wear on the clutch packs each time the car shifts. The shifts will be more noticeable and "harsher," but the clutch packs are slipping less each time the car shifts gears. That's the thing, in order to get smooth shifts, Honda designed these transmissions to shift as smoothly as possible, which means the clutch packs slip more each time the car changes gears. With more friction modifiers, like in the OEM Honda DW-1 fluid, these aid in allowing that smooth shift.

Another reason people used the Redline ATF was due to its better heat properties. Since the Redline fluids are synthetic fluids, they can still retain their correct properties under higher temperatures. One of the major things that aided in killing these transmissions was heat build up. Honda switched their recommended transmission fluid change from 15k miles to something like 60k miles. The fluid begins to break down over use and at 60k miles, the friction modifiers were broken down to the point where the clutch packs had less of the friction modifiers aiding them in allowing the car to shift. This translates to heat build up and with the near useless fluid, the clutch packs start slipping and burning up. The pressure switches come into the equation because they are dictating how much pressure needs to be applied to the clutch packs in order to allow the car to shift. When the pressure switches start to get out of spec, the PSI range in which they apply pressure gets narrower, meaning the clutch packs are rubbing against each other for longer than they should be. Again, heat build up and extra slipping. So the combination of usless fluid and extra work due to the failing pressure switches led to death of MANY of these transmissions, specifically the 3rd gear clutch packs. When you look at these clutch packs, they are essentially made of a paper material. The transmission builder I went to this week showed me them. You could peel them apart with your fingernail. He was saying they would basically just disintegrate in these transmissions.

You can go with the Redline fluids. There are several large threads discussing similar to what I just summarized. I hope my information is correct. That's my interpretation of what causes the death of these transmissions based on what I have read and been told.

I personally use the Honda DW-1 fluid. I did the 3x3 about 1k miles after I got my car along with the pressure switches. Besides some weird quirks, the car shifts great. I have talked to a former Acura Master Tech and he recommended changing the fluid every 15k miles. He is the one who mentioned Honda changing their ATF fluid change interval. I plan on doing at least a 1x3 drain and refill every 10k miles. I may start doing it every 5k miles with my oil change. Pressure switches will probably be an every 2 year thing, but I may not even keep the car that long. I would also consider doing the external transmission filter. The transmission builder I went to said it was good I did mine because he has seen the plastic break on them and clog the cooling lines, resulting into high heat build up which will destroy the transmission. Keep in mind, this filter is part of the transmission cooling system. There is an internal filter which you cannot replace and other things that can clog internally as well. All the more reason to keep up on the fluid changes to keep build up to a minimum.

Hope this helps.

 

I would think the Redline ATF would work well if your transmission had aftermarket clutches which, by all accounts, are much more robust than the factory clutches.

 

Hmm, so it looks like the best thing to do is just use Honda ATF and change often.

 

The issue on this one, in my opinion, is there is no true A-B test on which fluid is better. A lot of people who are putting in the Redline fluid had old fluid that came out. So of course new fluid is going to perform better than fluid old fluid. And it would be expensive and subjective to run DW-1 for X miles then switch to Redline for X miles to test.

I'd encourage you read through this site: TransCooler

I learned a lot from it. Whoever created the site switched to Redline and seemed to notice less shavings on their transmission drain plug, which does seem to point towards less wear on the clutch packs. However, when I saw the clutch packs, the material is more of a paper, not a metal, so I am not exactly sure what the shavings are from.

 

It could be the transmission in question had already been rebuilt and the new clutches were semi-metallic.

 

I am fairly sure mine has not been rebuilt and I still get the shavings of metal. Could be a different part of the clutch packs than I saw that creates the shavings. I'm not entirely sure on that one, but I did watch the guy peel the OEM clutch pack with his fingernail.

 

I know that when some were switching to redline, some did straight D4 (like myself), and some did a certain mixture of redline racing &D4, like said by others there are numerous threads on this. I wanted to prolong the life of the transmission, as I'm sure you do, and decided to switch to Redline D4, I would have to look at my records, but I want to say I switched to Redline around 40K (also changed external trans filter which was very dirty) and am currently at 72K.

When I made the switch the newer Oem fluid was not released yet. I plan to do a 1X3 with more redline D4 shortly. Just to check to see how the drain plug looks, and fluid color. Some members have brought up Redline D6 fluid also as an oem replacement, although I can't recall any long term outcomes.

 

I'm at 196,000 miles on a Redline mix of racing, light weight racing and D4. So I like Redline.

 

I have an 06 5at and have done 7X3 flushes over 3 1/2 years with Redline D6 and racing ATF at a 35% D6 and 65% racing, I also changed the switches and the internal filter, the trans shifts firm with no shudder, I started at 68k and now have 86k. I do a 1X3 at every oil change which is every 10-12 months, the fluid stays pretty red at drain time so I'm sticking with Redline as you can't buy a better quality ATF. BTW I also use Redline High Temp ATF in my PS with equally god results.

 

Hello,

I just purchased a 07 Acura TL Type S with 105k. I was searching through the forums about which transmission fluid to use. Just wondering what did you end up doing/using? Also, any recommendations will be appreciate it.

Thank you

 

Hey there. After all this, I actually just bought the OEM Acura DW-1 transmission fluid haha...

As Horseshoez above stated, there is no concrete evidence for using anything other than what Acura recommends. The OEM fluid is the correct viscosity and manufactured to the matching specifications that our transmissions use, so my logic was, I should just stick with the original fluid. Along with replacing my pressure switches and transmission filter with the original factory parts, I just decided to play it safe.

I got 9 quarts for 67 bucks shipped off acura.bernardipartsdotcom so I figured I couldn't lose.

Just be sure to follow the tutorials around here. I'm doing the 3x3 drain and refill, while waiting 100miles between each transmission fluid fill. The pressure switches, tranny filter, and tranny fluid change are all relatively easy to do on your own, but theres no shame in bringing it to a shop if you want to just buy the parts yourself.

 

Thank you for your reply and recommendations!

About the pressure switches, how many of those are they? Would you recommend replacing all of them? Also, for the 3x3 method. Do you guys drain the oil, fill it up with 3 quarts and drive it for a few miles? Repeat the same process 2 more times. Is this correct?

thanks again

 

The pressure switch change primarily has applied to the 04-06 TL 5AT, as the transmission in those are more fragile before the upgrade in the 07 and 08 automatic models. The 07/08 have a stronger transmission, so if you have been up to date with your trans fluid/filter changes (and you don't notice any hard shifts or the trans slipping/wobbling), I personally wouldn't even worry about it. There is an extra pressure switch for 4th gear on the 07/08 models, and it is difficult to access.

I can only speak for my 06, but I know there is a detailed thread floating around somewhere here about trans maintenance for the auto 07/08

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...2006-a-729149/
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p...2008-a-840630/