Warning, this is probably a pretty paranoid post.

TLDR: Is it a concern if your ATF dipstick lightly touches something else in the engine bay as you're inserting it back in?

After taking my car to the shop for an unrelated reason recently, they noted that the ATF was looking a bit dark and might need changing soon.

I was surprised since I did a 2x drain and fill only about 5k miles ago (6 months back), so I wanted to check on the color myself.

I checked the fluid, and it's a clear red-brown. I did this by taking out the dipstick and tapping the fluid that was on it onto a white sheet of printer paper.

When reinserting the dipstick the stick lightly touched one of the cords in the engine bay, as I was reinserting it.

Since I'm paranoid I'm worried that could have introduced contaminants into the ATF. There's nothing I can really do about it, but do you think there's any cause for concern? People probably do that all the time right?

 

You're overthinking it, it's fine.

 

I fear the day when I have a child, then imagine how much I'll overthink!

 

You should be more concerned that a shop said you need new ATF when you changed it 5k miles ago. Probably stop going there...

 

That's fine. Any contamination will get caught in the filter and it's doubtful there's anything significant that got in anyways.

However, you can never be too paranoid about a Honda transmission......