MacCali

This is the first time I will be doing a 3x3 on the car, I am actually going do 5 changes back to back. I was reading this article Acura TL 2004-2008: How to Change Automatic Transmission Fluid and Filter | Acurazine

Says I should drive the car for an hour between changes. This seems fairly annoying and having to remove and connect everything 5 times. Got the car on jack stands and all 4 wheels are off the ground, does the cycling of gears really make that much of a difference? Can I just put it in drive for 15 mins and let it run lifted and then do the following change.

Any tips or things you guys do that avoid driving the car between changes, putting the car on jack stands is pretty obnoxious as well

Pair of TLs

Why 5?? The ROI is minimal after 3. All you want to do is circulate the fluid through all the gears and converter. An hour of driving is excessive. I drive 10-15 minutes between changes.
You could drive a week or whatever between changes. Getting out the funnels, stands, jack, wrenches and drain pain every week would be more obnoxious in my book than putting it up on stands 3 X in an hour or so.

MacCali

Thanks, yea I am not going to do that. I am doing 5 to really clear it out, got enough to actually do 6. The oil is actually fairly dirty it's like a dark brown. Find it strange unless those bastards at the dealer never did the last change. The drain bolt was crystal clean, just looked like it had some dark mud/grease on it. Wiped it clean and now it's fresh

I am just running the car for 20 mins on drive and reving the motor and putting in m mode and shifting it through the gears. I am on number 3 now.. 2 more to go o.o

truonghthe

the idea is you want to slowly introduce new fluid to the system especially the car is 15 years old now. The new fluid will cause the clutch pack to swell up and this might cause a problem if your car haven't got new fluid in awhile, I would do 1x3 drive it for 5k miles then rinse and repeat.

Hiryuu

As an alternate, why not do 3x3 now then wait another year or two for another 3x3 since you have enough ATF for six swaps

redbeard1

It seems you are probably done with your project, so I'll add this for anyone else that searches your post.

When I did my 3x3, I only raised the car to remove the plastic cover and break the drain bolt free. Then I lowered the car because I read you can drain more fluid when the car is level. I snugged up the drain bolt, added fluid, and drove without the cover for a day. Without raising the car, I did the second drain and fill. After another day, I did the third and only raised the car to use my torque wrench for the final tightening and to install the plastic cover.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

^

redbeard1, you and I think a lot alike.

redbeard1

I'm thinking of using a dremel to open a drain hole in the cover. I do a yearly 1x3 and raising the car, getting that cover off and on seems to take most of the effort.

Can you, or any other reader, think of any reason a small rectangle hole in that cover would be bad?

MacCali

Hmmmm well the car has 83k on it, and I have done 3 oil changes since I bought it in 2011. The car had 22,000 miles when I purchased it, I did one oil change shortly after purchasing around 32 ish. I had a leak between the engine and transmission seal which was fixed under CPO so they did a change there, also guessing that by seperating the trans and everything it should be full liquid change maybe? not a mechanic

Then again I did it around 70, just one though. After that the dealer told me I should do a change again and that the oil was dirty. Found it hard to believe but honestly the first few flushes were fairly dirty.

I did all 5 so I cant go back but it's crystal clean now and it was actually looking really good after the 3x3 but I just wanted to get it all out, so I am not sure if there's anything I can do to avoid what you are saying can possibly happen. However I do drive the car on a very minimal basis, as the actual mileage can show.

My girlfriend needs a car right now, and buying one is crazy so I am just going to let her use the car. She drives really slow and like poop any way so I am not very concerned and it will be city driving. Changing out all the liquids right now

MacCali

Well that is probably the smart way to go, however I wanted to get out any dirt and deposit in the transmission. Really didn't like how the first two flushes looked, 4 looked very good and I said why not I made it all the way here. The car has really low miles on it and the oil has been sitting for some time, so simply age wise felt like it was appropriate to get it all out.

MacCali

Oh yes I am fully aware of this, the car was on 4 jack stands fully elevated and level. I always make sure the car is level, that's why I really didn't want to drop and drive the vehicle.

It actually takes three times to get the car to it's maximum 18" on the jack stand, at least at the front it required me to do it twice, because it's so low to the ground I had to jack it up put the stands on shorter height then add a wood block and jack it back up to actually reach the maximum height.

MacCali

Any suggestions for a quality brake fluid or power steering fluid? or direct me to a good thread that has this information. Going to replace all the liquids next

redbeard1

I use OEM for all fluids except wiper. I test my brake fluid yearly, but change it so rarely that the OEM premium does not bother me. For PS, I drain and fill 1 bottle yearly.

I realize others use less expensive/better? brands, but I figure if the liquid goes somewhere with a seal that will cost lots of money to replace, I'd rather not take any chances.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Can't think of a bad reason other than a little introduction of dirt or water when raining?
With that said, if possible, maybe find a cheap salvage yard 'cover' to experiment with, making sure your planned rectangle dimensions are enough to account for both the maximum / minimum peak of the fluid 'arc', when the bolt is removed, to keep everything as clean as possible before cutting your original.
Document your trials / success here, of coarse, others may want to use the idea to ease their maintenance labor.
Good Luck!

truonghthe

Ah the back story confirm that you are good to go, I am just assuming that you acquire vehicle recently with unknow service history.

Legend2TL

Always Honda/Acura OEM power steering fluid.

Brake fluid I use Prestone synthetic DOT3 brake fluid