Welp just before I parked my service light came on, B13. I know it means oil change, tire rotation, and what I read was either transmission change or transmission flush. Here's where I'm stuck.

The last owner was an older woman who took it to places like Jiffy Lube. Considering this, for the transmission fluid can I just do a complete change or should I do a 3x3?

Also just to make sure I would be following this tutorial as it'd be my first time doing the transmission fluid.

 

Also another question.

The rubber around the driver's side door frame (on the body of the car, not the door itself) how easy is that to replace? I just noticed a rip on the liner while I was cleaning it up with some Shin Etsu grease.

 

I don't get it. What do you mean by a complete change or a 3x3?

 

Just do a 3x3. Do not flush the transmission with any kind of detergent or cleaner of any kind. Honda/Acura says don't do that! I just did a 3x3 with Honda DW-1 fluid. Don't use Z1 because everybody on here says it's terrible.

 

There's also some diy videos on YouTube if that would help you. You'll need a 3/8 drive socket to loosen the drain bolt under the car after you take off the plastic guard piece. I would suggest loosening the plug on top of the transmission under your hood first to make sure you can get it loose before you drain any fluid. It's located under the fuse box behind the air intake. It should have ATF on the plug. You'll need a pretty long socket extension and a 17mm socket to get the plug out. I had to take the screws out of the fuse box to slide it over in order to get to the plug and get a funnel down in there to put in new fluid.

 

Oh that was a YouTube video.. My bad. Yeah, that one is good. Just drain 3 qts., put 3 qts. back in. Then, go ride and go thru all the gears. Then, repeat those steps 2 more times. I personally noticed a difference after doing this. I can hardly even feel my car shift now it's so smooth.

 

I should mention I have an 08. I'm not sure what model you have, but I know the 07-08 trans is different than the 04-06. I'm sure the plug under the hood is located relatively in the same spot though I would think.

 

Ok. So basically what he did in that video is a 1x3, correct?

I have an 08, so I assume it's the same process

I would stick with Honda oil and ATF too.

 

Also found this video, seems to be a bit more thorough. For those who do their own transmission fluid change, do you stick with Z1? I like to stick with OEM.

 

Z1 is no longer OEM, nor is it used by Honda. It has been replaced by DW-1, which is far (far) better.

 

Sounds good to me, and thanks for that information.

I'm just really trying to learn and get some hands-on experience with my own car maintenance. I mean a transmission flush is basically like an oil change x3, and dealer charges up to $300 for it, c'mon...

 

So is it better to do all 9qt in one day or flush the transmission once a week for 2 weeks after?

 

Yes the guy in the video did a 1x3. I did the whole 3x3 in one day, so I wouldn't have to keep taking the black plastic cover off under the transmission over and over. I just left it off between the drain/fills when I went riding. Some people do a 1x3 every time they change their oil while they're already under the car just to keep the transmission fluid clean. How often you do it is up to you. Some on here say they just do a 3x3 every 15k-20k miles. I just drained 3, put 3 back in, went and rode for about ten minutes and went thru all the gears a few times. Then, repeated those steps twice.

 

The dealership will charge you $10 or more a quart for the DW1. I went to carparts.com and ordered 9 quarts for $62 and UPS delivered it to my door the next day. And, I just did the free ground shipping. Also, be careful taking out the 4 black plastic push tab things on the plastic cover under the transmission. Get a small flathead screwdriver and work the middle part of the tabs out before pulling the whole tab out. You'll see what I mean. If you can change your engine oil, you can do this. It's not hard. You got it!

 

Oh man thanks for the link.

I'll order some right now.

Just to make sure it's this one yes?: http://www.carparts.com/details/Acur...3-1900444.html

Though I still got friends over at Honda since I worked there for a year, so I'll see what prices they give me too.

 

Ordered from carparts. Didn't have OEM oil so I'll stop by dealer for that and a filter.

 

Yep, that's the DW1 I got. When I changed my oil, I used Mobil 1 Synthetic and a Mobil 1 filter. Filter # M1-110. Everyone has their preference of oil though.

 

I've seen people on here say they use different oil too like 5W-30. I just got 5W-20 since that's what's recommended for the car.

 

Welp ordered, almost $68 total, so not bad at all.

Well the last service on this car was done at SpeeDee and apparently they use 0W-30 or something, I forget. I'll be switching it back to the factory recommended oil.

And I appreciate the help and info you've given me. So thank you for taking the time for checking up on my thread

 

No problem! Glad to help. In case you don't know how to reset your oil life after changing the oil, go to the screen where your oil life is under your mileage. Then, hold down the reset button on the right side of the steering wheel for about 10 seconds until it says B Service Due Soon on the screen. Then, hold it down for another 10 seconds, and another screen will come up saying reset or cancel. Then, press reset, and it will change your oil life back to 100%.

 

I recall seeing that in one of the videos I found on youtube, but not even worried about that yet as I haven't even gotten the fluids yet.

Definitely will refer back to this thread in case I forget though.

Thanks again! Hopefully I can get at least the oil change and one transmission flush done this week. I may opt for the week by week option since I'll be using my friend's garage and am a bit limited on time while there.

 

From my service manual PDF it looks like this is what B13 means:

B - oil change, rotate tires
check/inspect: front and rear brakes, tires, parking brake, tie rod ends, steering gearbox, suspension, driveshaft boots, brake hoses and VSA, all fluids and levels, exhaust, fuel lines

1 - rotate tires, check and inspect

3 - Replace ATF

 

Got both an oil change and a transmission flush done.

I ended up doing a 2x3 only because I ran out of time and was pretty tired by then. I had to make 4 stops total to O'Reilly autoparts, 2 for wrong parts, and 2 for recycling of fluids.

All in all, with the right tools, this job was overall pretty easy. Took me a total of 4hrs cause I wanted to make sure I got all the right steps done, and I think it'll be cut in half next time. No leaks or nothing from what I've seen, so hopefully it stays that way, I torqued all nuts with new washers to factory spec so, crossfingers.

Thanks for all the help an knowledge that this board provided me with for this task. I can see why a task like this may cost upwards of $200 at a dealer, but really, just removing the splashguard is an extra step compared to an oil change.

Upon driving around 10min twice after each flush, I did notice smoother shifting. I didn't check for leaks after my second run because I put the splashguard back on, maybe a mistake, but hey I torqued it to factory specs and it wasn't showing any signs of a leak beforehand.