Ultimately I am going to use Redline D4 fluid. But that would not be cost effective at all to waste 6 quarts.

My old roommate left a 3 gallon bucket of ATF-4 in the garage and I was wondering if that would be a suitable fluid to use JUST FOR THE FLUSH NOT FOR LONG TERM.

Also are the benefits I am looking to get just a cleaner smoother shifting transmission?

 

im not 100% sure about this. i think when you drain 3 quarts and refill with 3 quarts, it mixes with the tranny fluid that is already in the tranny. id imagine theres about 9 quarts in the tranny. so filling it with some unknown "atf-4" fluid wouldnt be a good idea. not even sure if its compatible with the tranny. 3 drains and 3 refills with redline would make convert most of your tranny fluid to redline d4.

 

The whole purpose of doing the 3x3 is to get the old fluid out of the system and the new in...

So I would buy 9 quartz of Redline.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/redline-my-system-820509/

this thread should answer all your questions

 

Just for the sake of flushing out all the old Z1 ATF, I would just go to any autoparts store and get any cheap Type-F ATF and use it to flush.

 

Read the thread referenced by Swoosh above. With each drain and refill, you are getting a greater percentage of Redline in the system. It is all explained in the thread. Also, why are you going with D4 and not "F"? Read the thread to see the differnce between the two.

 

I'd stick to the regular drain and refill procedure and skip the bucket of ATF that's likely to cause more problems by introducing another fluid into the mix of things.

 

using a cheap ATF would be counterproductive! The fluids end up mixing and staying inside the transmission. The problem is that the transmission holds almost 1/3rd of the fluid and thus you will need to drain, refill and drive and repeat to get the Z1 out.

D4 is still a great fluid over the stock Z1, and I can understand you wanting to go for it since it's Honda approved. In all honesty, If you haven't bought the D4 yet I'd suggest you buy some D4 and some Racing Fluid and mix the 2. That way you still have the fluid that's approved by honda if anyone asks and as well you will get some of the benefits of Racing fluid.

 

Don't do this.

Total capacity of your tranny is 7.8 qts. When you drain you get something between 3 and 3.5 qts. The reason is that the rest of the fluid is in your torque converter (torque converter is unique to an auto tranny and allows you to stop at red lights while still in Drive). So, when you're doing your "flush" you are essentially mixing the new fluid with the old fluid left in the torque converter. That's why you should shift through the gears both and up and down about 5-6 times.

If you read the thread referenced by Swoosh you'll see that people will only notice a difference after the SECOND flush. That's because first one gives you about 50/50. Next gives you about 75% of the D4 (I forgot how to do the math properly - it's not exactly 75%). Third flush further increases the percentage.

Don't put other crap in there! :-)

 

Here will help you out. Below are the drain and refill %'s

1=39.5%
2=63.4%
3=77.8%
4=86.6%
5=91.9%
6=95.1%
7=97.0%
8=98.2%
9=98.9%
10=99+%

i would agree on not putting crap in your car....if you tranny takes a dump it does not make sense saving 50 odd bucks on cheap tranny fluid....

 

I noticed a positive change with just one flush using the Type-F. If you want the best bang for the buck and wish to converge to D4 ultimately, then make the first change Type-F and then do the last two with D4 and you'll be pretty close as far as friction modifier goes.

I'm changing my ATF every oil change so it will be an economical convergence to Type-F- just not instantaneous. I'll have full type-F before 50K miles though.

 

now you my friend are doing it right....chime in your results and what you feel in this thread:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=820509

 

reading some of the posts here for a little info before i do my own flush and fill and i'm glad i did.i got some replies saying there's 3 quarts in the system,i completely forgot the converter.although i have a 2nd gen it will most likely be the same anyway,.reading 1 post i'm replying -absolutely there is a lot of fluid in the converter as well,that's why it's important to get that out as well on the initial and end cycle.draining from the plug is only draining the pan and not the converter.to get it there might be a drain plug on the bottom of the converter i don't know i don't have any books on it and i have to look into it through here.if there isn't one then the method of removing one of the cooler lines is the way to go.but it has to be the supply hose to the cooler and i think it would be the top one. here again i don't know i haven't checked under my hood.i've had this car 2 years now and i still haven't gotten to know it.i did this on my 87' ford crown vic wagon when i changed the tranny in it.i didn't know of the 3x3 method then but besides that i know i did this and it worked. i sucked some new fluid in at the same time in another container and walaa it worked! so it should work on this project too except i'm not going to suck more clean fluid in,it's hard to monitor the exchange and to shut the motor off by myself to stop the flow.having over 270k on it and very dirty i wouldn't use anything else to flush it out with except maybe this other multi import fluid(according to what was told to me in my post) for the clean outs and then for the final fill using genuine honda dw1.i don't know about no type f except that it is used for some ford vehicles so i'm not taking the chance, i have to be very careful at this mileage..i need the cheapest and safest fluid i might have to look into this some more if i'm going to do a complete converter flush too.i know afterwards i will be cleaning the shift solenoid screens too which looks pretty easy to do...the other thing that i wanted to mention was the method of checking the fluid level in these cars is the opposite to what i've been doing for years in american steel of the 70's and 80's,i was doing it wrong,lol!..

 

Where to start??...

 

Oof. Apart from reviving a decade-old thread with a wall of text, this process has been heavily discussed across this forum.

In a nutshell:

Use Honda DW-1 ATF.
Do not use a machine to flush the trans.
You need to drain 3 quarts of fluid, and fill with 3 quarts of fluid. Drive around the block to move the fluid through the TQ and other lines. Repeat this process 2x, totaling 9 quarts of fluid.
The solenoid screens/pipes can be inspected and cleaned. I just did it a few months ago https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...creens-994400/

 

hi, so you're saying to only use dw-1 and not type F?..i read here people using it.one guy said to someone "why are you using the d4 over the f?"..i'm confused here.i need the cheap stuff to do the flush and then use the type that i need for the final fill up.z-1 was superseded by dw-1 ,right?..why did someone say d4?.is this what's used in the 3rd gen cars these days or did this guy make a mistake by calling it d4?am i on the wrong gen forum that it makes that much of a difference for my 2nd gen tranny?i never said anything about using a machine nor would i use one if i had one or brought it to the shop,i know it's bad.also the advice given to me elsewhere somewhere in these posts is that when doing the 3x3 that you have to drive 5 miles between changes in order to do it really correct..what's wrong with pumping it out through the cooler line to completely get the tc drained as well on the 1 st and second drain and fills?i wonder if draining completely the 7.8 qts out in one shot and filling it and repeating is the same as doing it 3qts at a time through the drain plug as far as the amount of fluid i'm using goes.so it would be about 16 qts to do 2 drain and fill flushes instead of the 9 qts for the most effective flush i can do without a machine.what do you think?

 

^you're making it super complicated, when it doesnt have to be that overly complicated.

pumping it is the same thing as using a machine to force it out. dont force it out.
I wouldnt use the type-f....just use the honda stuff.

again, it's very simple to do. drain 3qts. pour 3qts, drive a few blocks. do the process over again 2 more times

 

The DW-1 ATF is really good. Very noticeable difference the first drain and fill vs Z-1 and it got even better after the next two.