I know that the 5-speed AT on my 2006 RL may be a bit different but since i found lots of information on ATF here on the TL forum, i decided to post my question here.

Car is 2006 Acura RL with 60k miles on it. Not sure if the ATF was ever changed by previous owner (it was lease return with 36k miles when i got it) so i bought 12qts of Amsoil Synthetic ATF and i did a 4 x 3qt drain/refill last weekend. I picked Amsoil because i get a nice discount on all Amsoil products.
During the process i spilled only a few drops, on a few occasions and i quickly wiped everything clean.

The "issue" is that now when i drive the car, sometimes, when i am NOT moving i can smell a SLIGHT ATF odor inside the cabin. Not always, but if i am stuck in stop-and-go traffic, or stop light, i'll smell it more often.

When i was putting the Amsoil ATF in the tranny, i noticed its distinctive smell/odor and now i smell it again in the cabin. I cannot find the exact source of this smell under the hood since it is not strong enough and there are no leaks anywhere.

The dip stick shows fluid level a little above the second mark when car is hot with engine off. When engine is running and car is in "N" or "P", fluid is at the 2nd mark. It does not look overfilled...i think.

What could be the reason for this slight ATF smell??? Is this normal with Amsoil ATF? Will the smell ever go away or i need to go back to Honda Z1 ATF? Since i flushed the fluid, i've put 300+ miles on this car and smell is not gone.

As far shifting quality goes, i am not impressed so far. It is not smoother than before when gears change. Maybe it is a bit faster. Initially, i did not disconnect the battery so the transmission was never reset. I did it tonight by disconnecting the battery for 20mins. I am curious to see how it drives tomorrow.

Any ideas on the ATF smell? Did i make a mistake by using Amsoil?

Thank you for any input!

 

At first, I was thinking spilled fluid on hot exhaust. But, after your 300 miles, that should be gone.

I have never used Amsoil fluid, but I would think that the Amsoil should not smell.

The smelly fluid combined with your nice discount has me worried. Where did you get this "fluid"? Was the fluid in quart size containers that appeared to be from Amsoil?

 

If there is a detectable odor when driving there has been or is fluid that is not contained. Many fluids e.g. gear oil, anti-freeze solution, etc have a rather strong odor, but when in the car you're certainly not going to be able to detect that odor.
Possible that a large quantity was spilled and created a puddle in an area that is heated when the car is driven, so I’d check closely for any remaining residue, or give it some time.

 

^agreed

re-check the filler area and drain area. Use some brake cleaner to get any remaining residue off. Possibly change the cabin filter afterwards.

 

did you properly seal the fill hole?

 

I see your concern. I did order the fluid directly from Amsoil's web site. Discount was applied at checkout and the bottles looked just like the one on the picture. The fluid does have distinctive ATF smell (not a weird/bad smell) and it is just stronger than the smell i get from the Honda ATF-Z1 i have in a bottle.

 

Actually, you're going to be shocked but by the time i figured how to find a way to get to the filler opening (hidden under RL's fuse box), i already used the dip stick tiny tube to SLOWLY fill the transmission with ATF. I never opened/used the fill hole. All new ATF went in via the Transmission Dip stick opening. Yes, it was a slow painful process. Next time, i'll use a better approach.

 

In that case, you may have leaked more fluid outside of the opening than you thought?

 

Maybe some fluid was on the floor. You stepped in it. Got into the car, transferring some into the car’s floor mat

 

This is possible.
My key concern was that i may have overfilled the transmission by 1/4 or 1/2 quart. I tried to keep track of what gets out and what gets in, but since i spilled a bit on my garage floor, i had to "guess" a little bit.

Would overfilling the AT with 1/2qt or less damage anything? Could it cause the smell?

Last night, using a small pump, i got out about 1/3qt of ATF and now my fluid level is right where the owners manual suggests. (close to the second mark on the stick) Before, the level was an inch(or less) above the 2 marks.

After taking the fluid out last night and disconnecting the battery for 20mins... the car does drive better today. Feels smoother, i dont feel much of the usual "slip" between gears ....and after 20 mins of stop and go...i did not smell anything.

 

I overfilled my ATF also by about the same 1/4 to a 1/2 qt but it didn't result in that high of a level above the second mark. Mine is about a 1/8-1/4" above the second mark which a few of the more knowledgeable posters have mentioned it was not an issue. I had issues even measuring the fluid so I checked it in the morning and it didn't change much.

If it's still quite high over the second mark, I'd think you would need to drain a little more.

GL.

 

Do you check the fluid level with the car running/hot and the gear lever in "N" or "P" .... OR do you warm up the car, then shut off the engine and then you measure?

User Manual says to turn off the engine before checking ATF level...is this best method?

 

START ENGINE FOR A MINUTE
TURN ENGINE OFF
COLD OR WARM, BUT WARM IS PREFERABLE
MUST BE LEVEL GROUND
IN PARK WITH ENGINE OFF
PULL DIP STICK TO TAKE READING


Weird ATF level reading even after car was run (click here)






BE SURE TO READ THIS TOO ---> Weird ATF level reading even after car was run (click here)

 

Great Info! Thank you!
My fluid level should fine now, or just a bit over the top dot on the stick. This should be "Safe", given that this is where the level was before i started this whole process. Acura or Acura dealer had the car running with a level above the second dot for the first 60k miles and i neved had problems.

I am still puzzled where the ATF smell was coming from (i still smell it but not as often as before) but i will assume that it was coming from a hidden spilled ATF and not from overfilling the AT. Hopefully i won't smell ATF anymore.
Car shifts great! After the battery reset, i really like the feel of the AT.

 

I thought that i had this "fixed"... but here is an update.

Car continued to smell like ATF at stops after some driving. I did some extensive investigation under the hood and under the car and here is what i found.

There are absolutely NO leaks anywhere.
There are absolutely NO spills or stains of ATF anywhere. Zero!

Smell comes around the battery area ... which prompted me to look deeper and i found an AT "vent" /opening on the transmission that looks like another short dip stick pipe but it is capped off with a rubber cap. The cap is loose - I am guessing it is there so the AT can breathe and if it is severely overfilled it can overflow from there. I removed the cap, cleaned it and installed it again. Btw, rubber cap has STRONG atf odor.
This proved that the RL Auto tranny is not completely sealed and this breather hole is the source of the ATF smell.

Do all 5-speed Acura Auto Trans. have this breather opening on top?
What will happen if i seal it by putting a hose clamp around the rubber cap so the ATF smell can't get out??

Also, i sucked out more ATF, so now my ATF level is right between the bottom and the top mark of the stick. It is NOT overfilled at all anymore. This somewhat DECREASED the ATF smell.
** However, if i drive the car hard for some time or i rev the engine a few times, i still get the ATF smell inside via the air vents. Last night, on my drive way, i tested this by simply revving the engine to 4-5k rpm a few times while in park and i immediately went to smell under the hood. Sure enough - strong ATF smell could be felt around the battery area (where the AT vent hole is).

How do i deal with this issue? I hate smelling ATF inside my car from time to time. It is such a bad smell to experience inside a $50k luxury car....even if it's only from time to time.

Should i drain/flush out all the Amsoil ATF and put the Atf-Z1? Obviously, Amsoil ATF is much more stinky than the OEM Acura Z1 fluid. I have a bottle of Acura ATF, i smelled it last night ...compared to the Amsoil ATF, it is almost odorless.

Anyone who is using non-OEM ATF (Amsoil or other brand) ... do you have this issue? I am really frustrated with this.

I spent $120 on Amsoil fluid, 4hrs to do a 4x3 "flush" ...and now i have a smelly AT and a decent shifting AT. ( i am not convinced i like the Amsoil shifts better than the OEM ATF-Z1 shifts)

Ideas?