Hi guys!!

I own an Acura TL 2006 3.2L Base and I just hit 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers).

I never changed the transmission oil. I heard that most people changes the oil at 60k miles and if I'm at 100k miles and never changed it to leave it alone.

Is that true? Is 100k miles too late to changes the transmission oil for the first time?

What you guys would do in my situation? Keep the oil as is or change it?

Thanks!

 

Well from my experience, I would leave it.

I changed my fluid at the dealer, it drove fine.
I then did it myself, it drove fine.
I then did another myself and immediately started slipping from 3rd to 4th up shift.
I've been driving with the slipping for a year and pretty much I'm waitin for it to fail.

Ihatecars mentions it might do more harm than good changing ATF on a high mileage car.

 

Contrary to some beliefs, I say no damage will come from just draining the fluid. Have changed ATF on many high mileage cars and never a problem as the trans won't act any differently than it did before, providing the correct fluid and quantity is used.

Here's another thought. If the ATF is discolored/burnt, do you leave it and possibly diminish lubrication, or do the change to help renew the spent fluid?

I vote the latter.

 

^ I agree. If the orig fluid is really dark and burnt smelling it is probably too late. If not, I would slowly introduce new fluid. Do a 1x3 and see what happens. Maybe go 1000 miles and do another. Then once again another 1000 miles..

 

wont hurt to just drain and refill and stick with honda fluid

 

Did you replace it with DW1 or other? And no I'm not going to say DW1 is magic.

I think most people that changed their ATF and got slipping already had a problem that was masked by old DW1 or Z1. If you switch to Type F/D4 mix it's highly possible you're just exposing a problem that was already there. That plus if you do 3x3 in a day well... expect a lot of crap to come out.

 

No 3x3 in one day here. No Redline ATF either.

In 2010, dealer drain/refill, probably used DW-1.
In 2013, I did a drain/refill with DW-1.
In 2014, I did a drain/refill with DW-1 and IMMEDIATELY experienced flaring only on 3rd to 4th gear.
Couple weeks later, got a shop to do the drain/refill, used DW-1 and still same symptoms.

 

Guess it was probably already on its way out, although the timing is... strange. 1 year old ATF shouldn't really make much of a difference.

 

All that is being done is that the sump is drained, so just draining 3 qts, and the introduction of the new fluid into what was probably still fresh clean fluid, can't see how this is going to cause the problem.

There is a TSB from Honda noting a difference in shifting in cold weather when trans is filled with DW-1, but certainly doesn't reference any slippage condition, which I would consider abnormal. Honda also recommends that if the trans is filled with DW-1 and the shift condition is an annoyance to the operator, drain 1L and add 1L of Z-1, but would assume that the OP already has at least that percentage of Z-1 still remaining.

 

The problem with Z1 is that it got phased out. It's thicker than DW1 so it can easily mask the transmission issues Honda was having at the time...

 

In 2010 Honda recommended the dealerships retain Z-1 in stock to use as corrective measures, add to the DW-1, but over time, I'm certain the supply of Z-1 has diminished. I've not tried the DW-1, still have probably 2 cases of Z-1 in the garage and with the mileage put on our TL, it will last long after the car is gone.

 

I bought my 2004 TL used with over 100,000 miles, and shortly thereafter, I discovered that the fluid had turned yellow. It was too late to take the car back, so I went ahead and did the 3 bottles, 3 times flush with Red Line brand fluid. It's been 5 years since then and the car is driving just fine.

If you're going to change the fluid, do it now. The longer you wait, the less likely it will be able to help.