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So I did my first transmission fluid drain & fill since I bought it a little more than a month ago. The car is a 2004 Acura TL 5AT and has 131K miles on it. I am mainly curious about three things:
(1) The magnetic drain plug had some metal filings on it. They seemed to pretty small and I wiped them clean before putting it back in. I have attached a few pictures of the same. I am curious if this is too much or normal? The drained out fluid color was dark red to reddish brown.
(2) Only about a 1.3-1.5 US quarts of fluid came out of the drain plug. This seems to be much lower than the 3 quarts that I should have expected. Does it mean the tranny was pretty low on fluid?
(3) Since I do not much about the tranny fluid system, I just put back in new ATF-DW1 fluid of the same amount (1.3-1.5 quarts). After that I turned the car on and let it idle till the radiator fans started rotating. After which I turned the car off and checked the dipstick cleaned it, put it back in and pulled out to check the level. It seemed that one side was quite dry and the other side had fluid trails way above the upper hole and almost till the center of the entire dipstick. My hypothesis is the wet trailing side is the fluid sticking along the walls of the tube and the dry side indicates low fluid level.
If my hypothesis is correct, I was thinking of putting another 1.5 Quarts in to make the total amount up to 3 quarts (since I already filled in 1.5 quarts), check the dipstick and then drain & fill after a few miles again. Please let me know what you guys think. I am most curious about points (1) & (2).
That's a lot more shavings than I have ever seen for a standard change. How long did you let the fluid drain for? Did you remove the dipstick so it would drain easily from underneath?
You should have gotten at least 3 quarts out. I would put in 3 quarts total in and recheck the level. It can be hard to read the level properly, best to have a helper and a light to make it easy.
That's a lot more shavings than I have ever seen for a standard change. How long did you let the fluid drain for? Did you remove the dipstick so it would drain easily from underneath?
You should have gotten at least 3 quarts out. I would put in 3 quarts total in and recheck the level. It can be hard to read the level properly, best to have a helper and a light to make it easy.
So I this is the first fluid change I am doing on this car during my ownership. The indy acura mechanic who did the inspection had told me that the previous owners probably hardly ever changed the tranny fluid. So do you think the amount of metal shavings that we see could be due to the fact that the previous owner did not maintain the transmission that well? Also since only 1.5 quarts of fluid came out, the car was probably on such low levels of fluid for how so long.
How concerned should I be about the metal shavings I see?
If there is damage, it has already been done. No going back now. Fill it to 3qts and drive it till it gives out. Start saving for an AV6 trans and swap it in when the time comes. The 04-06 auto trans have been known to grenade themselves when they feel like it. You may get lucky and get another 50k miles before it shits the bed or you may get another 50 miles. Just be prepared, it will happen.
If there is damage, it has already been done. No going back now. Fill it to 3qts and drive it till it gives out. Start saving for an AV6 trans and swap it in when the time comes. The 04-06 auto trans have been known to grenade themselves when they feel like it. You may get lucky and get another 50k miles before it shits the bed or you may get another 50 miles. Just be prepared, it will happen.
Yes I did fill up 3 quarts. Note that till now I have had no tranny problems, shifting is smooth (even smoother after the drain & fill) and goes through all gears.
I am still curious about the amount of metal shavingsthe drain plug had. Was it too much? Is it indicative of abnormal/seve wear & tear going on inside? Or is it just because the fluid was not changed in a long time so its more indicative of shavings accumulation over a long time?
Also, what all can I do to extend the life of the transmission? I intend to drain & fill (1x3) every 3-4k miles. Apart from that is there something else I can do?
Please let me know guys, I am a bit stressed out since its my first car and I really like it apart from the tranny lying inside.
You could probably get away with a trans fluid change, 1x3, every year or 15k miles as preventative maintenance. Like I said if any damage is done, its done. Nothing to reverse it other than a new trans. Just ride it out and don't worry about it. New trans will run $3,500 give or take a few hundred depending on location and shop.
For instance, my 05 trans crapped out on my at 195k but that was after I did a 1x3 fluid change. Didn't know the history of it and thought it was a good thing. Sometimes just leaving it be is the way to go!
