Teh Jatt

A12 service is due soon but it doesn't say that I need to change tranny fluid. Should I go ahead and tell dealership to change tranny fluid, plus what else should I have it done?

I got 29300 miles on my car.

rets

Umm... another guy ever said A12 in the past...

Ron A

Replace transmission fluid is a 3, but most people probably won't see it until 50-60,000 miles.

It is not a bad idea to do it now. You would not actually replace all the fluid, but they will drain it, which only requires 3 quarts for replacement. If your driving is normal and not in dirty areas, this should be sufficient. Next time, around 50-60K miles, you could do this three times in succession, which would get most of the fluid out.

What they do is drain and replace 3 quarts, drive the car, do it again, drive the car again, and do it again.

Some people have said they go somplace that flushes the entire system, but I don't know if that is good or bad for our cars, so the 3 drain/refill procedures usually works well.

Teh Jatt

ok well we have lots of dirt in fresno and where i work we got dirt (Truck yard). So I guess i'll have them change that, air filter too?

What else RON?

Acuraluvr

iTrader: (2)

a12 already? and 30,000 already? wow

by the time i get my dad's tl (3 yrs) it'll barely hav 12,000 miles

Ron A

I figured you would already have jumped headfirst into page 199 and seen that the 2 says to change the air filter and the dust and pollen filter.

Have the service manager or mechanic look at your transmission fluid and see what they say. If they are honest and intelligent, they should be able to tell you if you just need the one drain, or the 3 drain procedure. Or you can look at it yourself (instructions for raising the hood are in the manual). If it smells burned, or looks dirty, you might want to consider the 3 part deal. Probably cost around $120 with fluid, but in California who can tell.

Teh Jatt

SodaLuvr

I highly recommend changing ATF for the first time in a vehicle no later than the 30K mark, because of the excessive wear metals accumulated from the break-in period.

Amsoil Universal ATF is my recommendation, since it isn't much more expensive than the standard Honda Z-1 fluid. The Amsoil Universal ATF is a full synthetic fluid opposed to Honda's blend, but please note that the Amsoil Universal ATF is backed by Amsoil to work in Honda Z-1 applications, and Amsoil will cover any fluid related damage to your transmission while using their product when a fluid analysis sample is provided. Note that a Honda/Acura dealership will NOT install this fluid for you since there are no Honda approved substitutions for the Honda Z-1 fluid, however, many people on this forum and on Bobistheoilguy have used this fluid in Honda/Acura applications without any problems. This fluid works very well since it has just as many, if not more friction modifiers than the Honda Z-1 fluid.

On this car, it is relatively easy to change the ATF, just follow RR's ATF drain/refill guide in the collection RR Journals thread located in the 3G Garage section. Please note that the capacity is 3.1 quarts for a singe drain/refill.

Three drain/refills are necessary in order to replace as much fluid as possible. I don't think that this vehicle has a serviceable filter or pan, so using a T-Tech may not be a bad idea. The total fluid capacity for this vehicle is 7.4 quarts I believe.

However, the least expensive method is to simply do three drain/refills on this car. BTW, fill out the "product pricing request form" on lubespecialist.com and request a price quote for a 10 quart jug of Amsoil Universal ATF. The folks over at lubespecialist.com are very generous and are willing to sell Amsoil products at dealer cost. The dealer cost for a 10 quart jug of Amsoil Universal ATF is about $56, after you add tax/shipping, it comes out to about $66 for most people. At $6.60/quart, its only about $2/quart more than Honda Z-1.

Michael