Hey guys,

I may have blown the transmission on my 05 TL. This would be the 3rd time on this car this has occured. Since its a flow design issue within the transmission that causes these to fail, an external cooler wouldnt really help all that much.
I am thinking of changing over to Redline Oil but are there any other preventative methods or upgrades I can make while the transmission is out to help either increase performance or increase reliability?

 

What about a transmission temp gauge?

 

Please do a Google search, include Acurazine in your search and you will see multiple threads related to the TL auto tranny.


That being said...change your pressure switches and change your AT fluid regularly. I'm thinking you know that.


Also, I'm guessing you might drive your TL a little hard due to...


RACING...Because football, basketball and soccer only require ONE ball.


Be gentle, it isn't really a racecar.

 

Yea I was doing that kind of search, found a few threads but I got more now that I added Acurazine. Thanks! I normally baby the car, unless I'm running an auto cross.

 

 

^

 

Gary is on an effin ROLL !!!


OP, listen to what Gary mentioned, run Redline, install a cooler, switch your pressure switches....should help last longer...

I drive my car spirited since its 680lbs lighter than stock, but I lift when I shift I always drive in manumatic mode

 

Instructions unlcear - broke vertebrae

 

3rd time? For real? I would dump that car a long time ago.

 

lift when you shift the auto? that must be interesting. damn tranny doesnt even know when its gonna shift how do you know when to lift? besides it lifts automatically at the correct time.

 

Mileage on car? I am guessing somewhere around 150K?

 

How many miles did you get out of the prior transmissions?

 

sport shift mode

 

It would be helpful if the OP mentioned how frequent the ATF was changed and the mileage on the car now and when these AT breakdowns occurred. Reading between the lines, I have to assume Z1 was used for much of the car's life and that would be problem #1 in my book.

I dumped the Z1 crap out at 38k miles and did the sensors at 50K. My initial ATF change was at 22k miles and that was done before hearing about Redline. No problems at 65k miles so far.

 

Thanks Viet....I did mention I drive in Manumatic OR sports shift mode OR M, 100% of the time...

 

I laughed when I saw this.

 

yeah no reason to lift in manumatic mode. it lifts for you.

 

got some documentation around that? from what I understand is Auto does not lift for you (and hence the ability to carry boost between gears if you are FI)....

I am 650lbs lighter than stock and I really like to take it easy on my trans...I drive it in a spirited manner but I dont like doing pulls from a dig or I dont downshift 2 gears under WOT...I also have 180K miles on the car

 

The only mode that might preserve your transmission is 'L' while in stop and go traffic. Sequential Shift is not going to improve transmission life at all. I was first enamored with SS but quickly learned the D setting does a pretty good job.

Based on my dynolicious runs, D and stomp on it gives the best performance. Sequential Shift is nice on mountain roads, but then again the D setting does that pretty well too.

 

swoosh

Honda/Acura retard timing and cut fuel during shifting to help preserve the transmission and also to make shifting somewhat
smoother, it's been that way since at least 98....

 

I think I may have hijacked the thread...I am not the OP

driving in M-mode i think is purely upto the driver...i like it, you may not

I might have to check that on my OBD2 screen....so far, the only time the ECU retards timing is when I coast and my foot is off the throttle...

 

On the 3G, the throttle is closed on shifts. Inaccurate proved it. Bad switches causes the throttle and shift timing to be out of sync.

 

no more lifting I guess....

 

LOLOL. I change the oil frequently. The tranny was done by a friends of mine's shop before I bought the car, it blew about 2 weeks later in 105 degree weather on the highway, and then now again in the snow.

Last time the tranny was redone they switched the pressure switches.

The same shop thats fixing my tranny is the shop that lets me work on my car so I normally use the oil they give me and put a Honda friction additive they use on ever Honda trans they fix. I am thinking of running red line as preventative measure.

I asked them last time about the Oil cooler but they said since its a flow design problem the cooler wont do anything.


Anyone ever do the temp gauge and find that usefull?

 

Put about 70,000 miles on the tranny before it just blew.


Im still hearing back from the shop. I may just be a solendoid, they dont know yet.

 

The cooling mod is just to spray oil on the second gear gearset. The failure mode of that is usually a complete lockup of the transmission. If your clutches are wearing out it's probably not because of that. You should definitely install it just in case.

Next time you use their fluid, try their bulk fluid but without the added FM. Most shops will carry a DexIII fluid and add the FM for Honda vehicles. Not many are going to pay for a few drums of Honda fluid. Dex III without the FM is what you want for longer life.

 

It's not a bad idea still. When you shift in manual mode, things can change. I don't know about the TL specifically but when you go over to manual mode or on an older non computerized transmission you go down to 1,2, or 3rd gears manually, line pressure is raised for firmer shifts and more holding power because it assumes you're going to be using it harder. I don't use manual mode enough to know but if you feel the shifts firm up over auto mode, it could have more line pressure which is a good thing for reliability but it could also be not closing the throttle or closing it less to get a little more performance at the expense of wear. It's not the end of the world, the 2G TLs couldn't close the throttle on shifts and some of them lasted just fine.

You're definitely not hurting anything by lifting when you shift.

 

Looking through more threads I think I may switch to Redline Type F like you did. Less heat and higher tolerance for heat. Do you still use Type F for your car?

 

^^^JPM...I was running Type F and I recently started experiencing some flaring...here is what I had everything switched out:

147K - 1x3 - Type F
148K - 1x3 - Type F
149K - 1x3 - Type F
150K - 1x3 - Type F
165K - Transmission cooler install and 1x3 - Type F

So I had done a 5x3 with Type F and after the install of the cooler, I started experiencing some flaring going from 3rd to 4th...The switches were done at 110K and again at 160K...also the transmission started developing some lag in changing gears...

I had read that inaccurate had experienced the same and it went away when he added some D4....

the next scheduled 1x3 was at 180K, but instead, I did a 1x3 at 176K and this go around, I used 2xD4 and 1xType F...after driving about 50-ish miles, the flaring is gone, the quick shifts are back...I am at 179K now and the shifts have been nice and crisp...

Going forward, I am going to use 2xType F and 1xD4...

 

I thought the consensus was to go with redline racing ATF. Is that what the type F is?

What most of the domestic and DSM guys are using that are beating the snot out of their transmissions is John Deere Hy-Gard Universal Tractor Fluid

 

Redline fluid comes in 4 variants for us Honda folks...

Type F - fluid with no Friction Modifiers
Lightweight Type F - same as Type F but just thinner
D4 - comparable to our DW1 but synthetic and has better properties
D6 - if I recollect right, this is thinner than D4. Again comparable to DW1 but synthetic and has better properties

 

So who is going to be the one to try the John Deere Hy-Gard Universal Tractor Fluid?

I vote: I hate cars. since he has the most experience changing out the different fluids and can let us know how it feels. All the other guys swear by it.

 

Good to know! Thanks. I called up Redline today to ask them a few questions and they said they don't recommend mixing. They may just be saying that for legal reasons but doesnt both trans fluid act differently in terms of viscosity & characteristics? You wouldn't mix different motor oils, wouldn't it be the same for trans oil?

 

well with the AT, you are ALWAYS mixing.

Even when you switch from DW1 or Z1 to D4 to Type F, you are always mixing as you can never swap out the complete fluid....

the transmission capacity is 7.8qts and you only drain 3qts at a time

check this thread out:
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/optimal-percentage-racing-atf-834299/

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with mixing as Swoosh said. You can't help help but mix unless you use nothing but factory fill.

You can mix motor oil as well.... I've mixed weights to get the cold flow and HTHSv I want.

 

IHC- is Valvoline Maxlife or Valvoline Import ATF good for our vehicles? A lot of people use Maxlife over in the Odyssey forum and have good results from it. Also the shop I take my car to that specializes in Honda said he uses Valvoline and never the Honda fluid. I didn't ask him which Valvoline he uses though.

Just wanted to get your thoughts on that.

 

Thanks fellas! Good stuff.

 

So if the transmission needs to be totally redone, there fore has 0 fluid in it, to gain a 65% ratio I should get 5 quarts of Type F and 2.8 quarts of D4 right?

 

I have a challenge for some of you, may be you've encountered this. The reason I started this thread was because over the last snow storm here in NY, I decided to go into parking lot and mess around. Ive done this plenty of times to keep some what fresh with my driving over the winter, its fun, and up until now, not stressful on the car. The motor didnt really go above 4000 RPM, VSA was off. I was just pulling the E brake and I did two reverse donuts.

The next day 2nd and 3rd gear were a mush and accelerating the car from a dead stop I could tell there was a lot of slipping. The revs would go up, the trans would catch and then it would slowly decrease and the car would accelerate, almost like I was driving stick shift.

Upon inspection from the transmission shop there were no codes and the transmission oil didnt seem burnt so it didn't over heat. Any idea what actually happened to the transmission?

 

its a 4 door FWD butt heavy sedan...why would you do reverse donuts

the most I do in the snow if drift in/out of corners...i dont do burnouts or donuts or try to take off....