rydjohnson

My '08 TL has 50k miles on it and figured why not do the ATF 3x3 drain and refill. I was trying to find some more pics, but couldn't find any, at least for my year car, so I decided to take a few.

I followed directions as described by Road Rage and his post, here: https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/rr-journals-atf-drain-refill-3g-garage-c-012-a-556044/

General view of under the hood.










Notice the bolt marked 'ATF'... It's in between the air intake hose (bottom of the pic) and the fuse box (top right).




Same pic, just zoomed out











Notice where the black ratchet is. The 17mm socket is on the ATF bolt.






Bottom of the transmission. I took that pic from under the front bumper, looking towards the rear end. From this view, the drain plug is located on the LEFT of the picture, near the exhaust. (I thought I read in Road Rage's post that it would be on the right.)







Drain plus has the square female end. The tire in the picture is the front left. Notice that 21 inch long flat head screw driver. Saved my butt because I dropped the 17mm socket after loosening the ATF Bolt.






Draining the ATF fluid. The fluid was super hot, so I left the plug loose, until I could get it off without burning myself.






Lots of sludge and grime on the plug.









Clean plug






Barely dripping. This was the 2nd drain, and I'm using a 5 gallon food container, the amount of fluid is about 3 quarts plus 10.1 ounces (or 3 quarts plus 300mL).



This was my rigged breaker bar for the ATF Bolt. Its a standard Husky 1/2" drive with two 6" extensions. I couldn't break the seal with just the ratchet, so I used a big ass wrench for extra leverage.




**My notes after doing a 3x3 drain and refill**

1. Follow the directions provided by Road Rage. Very simple.
2. I unbolted the fuse box and pushed it aside to make more room.
3. Trying to loosen the ATF Fill bolt for the first time was pretty intimidating for me. I knew to expect a "pop" but because I used a rigged breaker bar, I thought I broke something. WAY louder than expected. But I didn't break anything.
4. When draining, more fluid came out than anticipated, but because I semi-planned ahead, I was ok. I actually had to use like 500mL from the second drain, in order to get the right amount being put in during the third refill. Here are the results from my drain.

First drain: 3 quarts plus 15 ounces(or 400mL)
Second drain: 3 quarts plus 10.14 ounces( or 300mL)
Third drain: 3 quarts plus 17 ounces ( or 510mL)

5.I measured pretty much on spot. I used graduated cylinders, because I didn't have any other way of measuring the amount that drained out. (I have a biology degree, whatdaya expect??)
6. On the last refill, I used 2 quarts and 17 ounces of the AMSOIL and 1 quart of the Redline D4.
7. I should have bought 10 or 11 quarts of AMSOIL. Just to be on the safe side.
8. When waiting to warm the engine after each refill, it took an average of 4-7 minutes( all 3 fills) to get the fan to kick in.
9. After checking the fluid level on the dipstick, I turned the key to on( car on, but engine off), and went thru each gear, park to low gear. I felt like it helped mix everything around.


I ended up buying 9 quarts of AMSOIL Super shift transmission fluid (@ $8.95 each), plus 1 quart of the Redline D4 transmission fluid(@ $10.95 for the 1 quart)

Total cost was $102.63( $80.55 plus $4.83tax, plus $7.24 shipping, plus the $10, 6 month preferred customer special.) Although I told my local dealer I bought the preferred 6 month thing, he didn't ask for any proof, so you may be able to say you have it, without dishing out the $10.

After taking her out for a quick spin to 'dispose' of the tranny fluid, I noticed a smoother shift when going from 2nd to 3rd. And when coasting, the downshifting wasn't as rough.

Hope you all enjoyed!

rydjohnson

Forgot to add that I completely removed the plastic housing on the bottom of the transmission because I could figure out how to swivel it.

absolute_jdm

niceeeee

AnthraciteAspec

iTrader: (6)

Good work, I am lazy I had mine done at the dealer lol

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Nice work, man. Good start for 2012.

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

Good pictures of the process, maybe it can be added to the 3G garage. I absolutely struggled breaking the ATF fill bolt loose. I didn't have a breaker bar handy...what a pain that was.

quanaman

iTrader: (4)

I broke 3 cheap made in china extensions trying to open the ATF fill bolt.

It's wayyy unnecessarily tight...

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

Yep same here, broke an extension trying to open it. A breaker bar is really the only way to go. I think the pressure just builds up and causes the bolt to be extremely tight. The bottom drain bolt was pretty tight too, though not nearly as bad as the fill.

ebelp

Great writeup. I'm very eager to do this.

acura_dipset_tl

iTrader: (40)

Good work, and nice detailed pics.