rcarter187

Ok let me first start off by saying sorry for starting ANOTHER thread about this. ive been reading for over the past week on this and I'm honestly just exhausted on it and I just want to hurry up and take care of my new to me TL and get working on the transmission. So just about 2 weeks ago I bought a 2007 type S with 81k miles on it (5AT). I had a 06 3.2 years ago and missed it so it was time to get another TL. I started reading up on it to see if there are any major things I should look out for/ do preventative maintenance on and came across the whole transmission issues. Mine isn't having any huge problems that ive noticed, atleast yet (knock on wood). only thing that seems a little off is when it shifts into 5th, if I'm not going very fast, it seems to "lunge or scoot" into gear if that makes sense. nothing rough or harsh feeling. just doesn't seem completely normal to me. but maybe I am wrong and that's how these are. also one night I was racing a friend of a friend a few times and he said he could smell "clutch smell"... I never smelled it myself in the car and we had stopped at quite a few lights, and I never felt anything that felt like slipping but I know you usually don't feel something like that until its too late.... maybe it was his truck or maybe he was bitter cuz he kept losing and the girl he had a crush on was in the car with me?? LOL. maybe it was just a coincidence and that smell wasn't actually coming from my car, I don't know but it has me pretty paranoid after reading some of these transmission problems. so I just want to play it safe and take care of this thing as much as I can and get the most life out of it. I don't know the full extent of service the previous owners did. I can see on the Carfax report that they did a trans drain and fill at 60k something miles and kept up with oil changes, about every 5k miles. but that's all I can see. not sure what fluids they used or anything like that. my question is (and don't yell at me because I know this is one of those things where everyone has their own opinion and it just starts arguments) what fluid should I use for my trans drain and fill. I am going to perform a 3x3 ,not all at once but maybe like 1 a week to allow the trans to adjust to the newer fluid. I have read A LOT of posts about redline D4 with a mixture of Type F. I'm hesitant to do that because I haven't seen really any posts past 2011/ 2012 about how that ended up working in the long run. I saw many people with too much type F started having issues but nothing really on people using straight D4 or D4 with a lower % of Type F. Ive seen a lot of people also say stick with Honda DW-1/ Z1 but others saying there is too much FM in there that causes the clutch to slip and wear out quicker. so since it has been years since these cars came out and there are TONS with a ton of miles, was there ever a conclusion on what seemed to be the best fluid or best combo of fluids for these transmissions? did redline fluids (besides straight Type F) ever seem to cause problems down the road? Like I said, I just want to get the best stuff in here ASAP because I don't really know what the previous owner did service wise or what problems they may have experienced and how they treated it.... want it to last me for a while! any advice/ recommendations is greatly appreciated! look forward to anyones input. (Oh and also I will be doing the 3 pressure switches). Thanks!

thoiboi

Stick with ATF-DW1

replace your switches.


Issues should be alleviated.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Paragraphs and punctuation are your friend; I couldn't read the original post.

rcarter187

Thanks for the quick response! I was mostly leaning towards DW-1. Has DW-1 proven to be a good fluid for these transmissions in the long run? read some bad things about Z1. what did they change about DW1 that wasn't in Z1?

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

My understanding is the friction modifiers are basically the same in both, but the base oil was upgraded for DW-1.

rcarter187

Gotchya. Wasn't it the amount of FM in the factory fluid that was causing problems in these trans.? From many of the previous posts I had read, many people were claiming there were too many FMs in the Z1 fluid and that was causing these clutches to wear out faster, along with other problems. But Honda used it to give it that smooth shifting luxury feel. I am not trying to say that DW-1 is bad fluid or anything, and like I said, it is what I will probably end up using. I'm just curious if Hondas Z1 fluid was ever linked to excessive wear/ early failure in these transmissions and if DW-1 was Hondas answer to it? Or maybe there was another ATF that ended up working better for these transmissions?

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Speculation, I rather doubt the Honda engineers screwed that up. As for using other ATFs, I strongly recommend against that; engineers design transmission systems and clutches with a very specific Coefficient of Friction (COF), and unless another ATF is certified to have the correct COF, it is most likely an incorrect formulation.

Pair of TLs

You can always add an external trans oil cooler and a temp gauge if you want to go nuts.
The 07-08 autos are stronger than the 04-06s. I have 3 of these babies and if you just do the switches & fluid (and a reset) you'll be fine.
I mean, like 81K miles is like "still new."

rcarter187

Ok. I appreciate everyones help!

truonghthe

I can back up this statement, I have 4 cars that using the same AT.

frankjnjr

Seems to me, Honda still had not mastered the transmission issues in the 07-08 models. Probably less failures than the 04-05-06 model years, but still, premature failures, in my opinion! In my quest for a clean well maintained 07 TL Base, I only look at cars which post a link to the Carfax. It is not uncommon to see the 07 model exhibit a transmission failure, in the 125-150K range. Many of the failures appear on cars which have been Acura Dealer maintained, at proper service intervals, throughout their history. I agree with horseshoez. When Honda engineers design components, they design the lubricants to meet or exceed the stress produced by those components. I would stick to DW1. Your assumption that the FM level in the Honda fluid, being responsible for the high failure rate, is incorrect. The failure of both the 2G and early 3G transmissions resulted from design flaws, not inferior fluid..