yahelou

Hello all,

I just picked up an '05 TL with exactly 100k miles. Looks like previous owner didnt do any maintenance on it, so i plan on doing that.

Did a lot of searching but couldnt find a definitive answer to this. I plan on changing the trans filter after the flush is complete and using redline atf.

What is the recommended method? Complete the flush in one day or gradually (such as every time you change ur motor oil, you also change your atf)?

GKinColo08TL

I have an 07, did mine in one day...drain 3, drove for 10 miles or so, fill 3, repeat, repeat...

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

with that many miles with no previous maintenance, imho do it gradually.

welcome to AZ.

mattymattB

iTrader: (1)

Since you have 100,000 miles and have no idea when the person last changed the tranny fluid, you should probably do the drain and fills about 100 miles apart from each other so it can adjust to your transmission...And dont just use Redline Racing ATF alone...you want a healthy 65% mixture...this is a screen shot from a thread on here...open it in a new window to see it full.



Tranny Fluid drain Percentages
(i had to do it more than 3 times b/c it kept coming out really dark)



And also change out your 3rd and 4th pressure sensors for sure !
another screen shot from a thread to show all the part numbers
you'll need along with a tranny filter.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

^ winnar.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

chicken dinnar

yahelou

i planned on using just d4 and not the racing fluids. but i was thinking the same thing, that gradually doing it is better on a high mileage car.

as for the pressure switches, i saw some threads about it and to replace them for preventative maintenance. But why are they changed? is it common for them to fail? and what happens when they fail, catastrophic failure to the trans?

yahelou

found the answer here: https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/very-interesting-conversation-my-transmission-builder-tl-721508/

guess i will be replacing the switches also

mattymattB

iTrader: (1)

i love that search bar

yahelou

can someone point me to a thread that shows how to change the differential fluid?

is it the same process as this: https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-tl-problems-fixes-118/differential-fluid-change-diy-607617/

GKinColo08TL

Luke Bryan says "catfish dinnar"!

GKinColo08TL

That's it...

mattymattB

iTrader: (1)

here...this is the complete manual for our cars in a pdf....

Go to page 874 for transmission draining

http://www.filedropper.com/hondaacuratlmanual2004



Table of contents (not listed in manual)

1) Pgs. 6 - 14 = Chasis Paint Codes
2) Pgs. 15 - 36 = Specifications
3) Pgs. 37 - 44 = Maintenance
4) Pgs. 45 - 93 = Engine Electrical
5) Pgs. 95 - 117 = Engine Assembly
6) Pgs. 119 - 173 = Cylinder Head
7) Pgs. 175 - 204 = Engine Block
8) Pgs. 205 - 216 = Engine Lubrication
9) Pgs. 217 - 222 = Intake Manifold and Exhaust System
10) Pgs. 223 - 236 = Engine Cooling
11) Pgs. 237 - 562 = Fuel and Emissions
12) Pgs. 563 - 581 = Transaxle
13) Pgs. 583 - 669 = Manual Transmission
14) Pgs. 670 - 987 = Automatic Transmission
16) Pgs. 989 - 1017 = Driveline/CV Axles
17) Pgs. 1019 - 1076 = Steering
18) Pgs. 1077 - 1122 = Suspension
19) Pgs. 1123 - 1221 = Brakes
21) Pgs. 1226 - 1385 = Body
22) Pgs. 1387 - 1480 = HVAC
23) Pgs. 1481 - 1816 = Body Electrical
24) Pgs. 1817 - 1951 = SRS

NBP_BALLER

Good information here guys. Appreciate it. Didn't know the differential has its own drain... learn something new every day

desmo888

Can someone explain why it would make a difference to do it all in one day vs. gradually over several weeks/months/oil changes? As long as the old and new transmission fluids mix in between drain 'n fills, what difference does it make?


If my car had 100K miles with an unknown service history, I'd rather get the old stuff out as quickly as possible, as opposed to dragging out the affair over the year it would take me to accomplish 3 successive oil change intervals. (FWIW, I did a 3x3 over the course of about 2 weeks, because that's what my free time dictated.)

LaCostaRacer

^There have been posts that indicated that the transmission problems started shortly after changing the ATF.

For me it's a cost/time thing, I would rather get more use out of my $11/qt ATF than 10 minutes. I realize that the drain/refill 3x is not draining new ATF but it will have a ever increasing portion of new ATF when you do that.

I would time it every oil change and not stress too much on getting every last drop of old ATF out of the car. I have done my ATF every 20k miles since new.

07BLKTL

I never hear of anyone changing the differential fluid, only the transmission fluid? Why is that?

How often is the diff/gear oil supposed to be changed?

mattymattB

iTrader: (1)

I searched the whole manual and found nothing about changing any differential fluid...and i searched all over google and found nothing....
Im curious now....



I can only assume that it doesn't get changed ??....or gets changed when you drain and refill the transmission normally ?? idk





That I HATE CARS dude seems to know everything about these transmissions on these cars...hopefully he can chime in with some direction

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

this is the first i've heard of a "differential fluid change" that diy up top is for 1st gen TL...

if im not mistaken, isnt the differential inside the transmission for the 3G tl? hence doing a transmission drain and fill also changed the differential fluid

NBP_BALLER

FWD cars the differential is inside the transmission. Now i've never heard of any Diff fluid change myself. External front differentials requires fluid changes. Most AWD and 4WD cars the diff is seperate. They normally take thicker fluid than transmissions so this would make sense. Ill look into it.

I hate cars

Sorry, I've been in the process of jumping ship and getting another GN monster that will solve the local twin turbo Z06 problems around here.

The trans and diff share the same fluid so when you swap the trans fluid you're swapping the diff too.

About why it's sometimes good to drive the car for a while between changes is the new fresh detergents introduced with the new fluid. You want it to be slightly diluted so it does not break away large debris and instead cleans slowly. An auto has many very small passages and every time it shifts the clutches shed material (same as the dust in a manual clutch) that gets suspended and then deposited by the fluid. The clutches are immersed in fluid just in case someone didn't know. This is also a reason to change the fluid regularly.

There's no reason to space it out if you change the fluid at least semi regularly. If you're not spacing it out, all you have to do is accelerate through all the gears until you're at steady state cruise and the TCC locks a couple times. Put it in reverse a couple times, you don't even have to actually back up and you're done. All you're trying to do is get it to energize every hydraulic circuit a couple times. These circuits hold very little fluid and all you really have to do to get most of the fluid out is to start the engine and let it run for 5 minutes to pump the old fluid out of the torque converter.

yahelou

very good post IHC. I was wondering why I couldnt find anything about changing diff fluid in the 3g TL. first thing i did when i got my camaro and then corvette, was to change my diff and trans fluid with redline fluids.

here is another question: should i change my pressure switches during the first flush or the 3rd and last one?

I hate cars

It doesn't matter much. You're hardly going to lose any fluid when you change it. I say the sooner the better.

dcmodels

Concerning how long to wait between ATF fluid changes, the following is what I have read, makes sense to me, and is what I would do.

Perform 3-drains at 200 mile intervals, wait another 1000 miles, and do at least one more drain, possibly 2-3 more. Here is why ...

The new detergent in the new ATF will begin to clean any deposits already inside the trans. If a 3x3 is done in a short mileage interval, then over the next 1000 miles, most of the existing deposits will be *cleaned* and the *new* ATF will be completely saturated with deposts held in suspension. In other words, the all new ATF will be very dirty, very abrasive, and cause wear.

By performing the drains at intervals, that will allow the *new* ATF to slowly clean and suspend existing deposts. Then the next drain will remove those deposits, and the next fill will again do additional cleaning and suspension of deposits.

This procedure will mean that the total amount of suspended deposits at any one time is more limited, yet you slowly clean and remove all of the existing deposits already in the trans. Hope that this is clear.

You should be able to monitor the cleaning progress of your ATF drains by just checking the amount of material on the drain plug magnet. Just keep in mind that is only part of the deposits - the magnetic particles. The clutch particles are not magnetic, won't be on the drain plug magnet, so checking the magnet will not give you a completely accurate picture of how much deposits are held in suspension in the ATF. These particles are so small, I don't know of a practical way of checking the amount of them.

I hate cars

Part of an ATF's job is to keep wear particles in suspension. The stuff that gets deposited is a very small fraction of wear materials, not really a problem unless the transmission has gone way too long without a service or it's in the process of failing. On the transmissions I've opened up that were taken care of you could practically throw some clutches and steels in them and put them back together they were so clean.

dcmodels

Regularly changing the transmission ATF (automatic transmission fluid) will prevent buildup of suspended wear material particles inside the transmission. These particles create a very abrasive slurry with the ATF, which will eventually damage the transmission. These particles wear the solenoids and their corresponding bores, causing them to leak, and can also clog the solenoid filter screens.

But I have read maybe 100 posts from people waiting 60K, 80K, and even 100K or more for the first transmission ATF drain: oil change interval (OCI). And second vehicle owners will not know when the last time the ATF was drained/ changed.

And its more than miles, but also number of total trans shifts, that wears the trans clutches. Remember that the number of shifts-per-mile is much greater when driving in the city, than when driving on the highway. There is no direct correlation or relationship between only miles and trans wear.

Also remember that the amount of material on the drain plug is only what has dropped (or been pulled) out of suspension in the ATF, nearby the drain plug magnet. The rating in these pictures is 0-10, my own opinion. And for those who wonder what a 10 might be like. I read one post that said the drain plug when removed, appeared to be 3-inches long: one inch of drain plug plus 2-inches of sludge on the end of the magnet.

Does anyone have a picture to post, of a drain plug with more sludge than these pictures? These pictures were posted on this forum, and I apologize that I did not keep track of who originally posted them. I hope that the original posters will forgive me.

For more pictures of what happens inside the trans, when the fluid is not regularly changed:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14810985#post14810985
----eof

LaCostaRacer

^It's nice to monitor the sludge more frequent than waiting 60K as shown in the above photos. I also take a photo of the resulting smear on a white paper towel. I noticed I have much less smear residue after changing to Redline Type-F. For me, it's every 20k which is about every 3rd oil change. I usually do the tranny the same time I'm down there for oil.

I hate cars

I'm glad number of shifts was brought up. On my 1.5 mile trip to work in the morning, I counted 24 shifts. I can drive the 280 miles to Vegas with that many shifts, and even less. I've driven 500 miles to Phoenix non stop with only bringing it out of lockup twice. You can easily have a 500,000 mile highway only transmission with less wear than a 100,000 mile city only transmission. Let's not forget the amount of throttle applied to take off normally from a light is enough to keep the car at 130mph on the freeway so there's less stress (torque) on average on the freeway so it's easier on hard parts too, not just clutches.

I usually don't say anything but when I see someone bragging because their 5at went 250,000 miles but it was all highway, it's really not a big deal. I go so far as to shift manually on the way to work. I take off in second gear since I can accelerate as slow as I want at 4:45am to avoid the constant 1-2 shifts. The transmission only has so many shifts in it. Each time I avoid that 1-2 shift, that's how much longer it will be before second gear is worn.

If anyone has a safe place to do it, try a test. Take off as hard as you normally do from a red light but don't let up, keep the pedal at the exact same position and you'll hit 120-130mph eventually.

leedogg

I do a fluid change every 10k miles - both oil (synthetic) and a single ATF drain/fill. Works for me. I will do the pressure sensors every 70 - 100k or so

oneglory

I'm exchanging the unknown fluid in mine for DW-1, am I not doing it fast enough between intervals?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sbnx6d911q7dxjb/acura.gif