I just bought an '07 EX with 28,500k on the odo and in my mind it should get a tranny fluid change at 30k. The dealer says the maintenance minder will tell me when to do the fluid change and that should be at @ 45k.

I've done a search but didn't find anything about this specific mileage. 45,000 seems like a long time before the first fluid change. I've always done this at 30k in every vehicle I've ever owned. I'm not comfortable with this. Should I go with what the dealer said or go with my gut?

BTW, this is my first Honda so I'm not familiar with the Honda way

If thats what makes you confortable....go with your gut feeling. If your dealer won't take your money for a fluid change.....find one that will.

The MM will show a code 3 when the fluid needs to be changed.This should occur around 60,000 miles for the first change and every 30,000 miles after that.

 

Thanks. I sure don't want to spend money I don't have to but I also want my tranny to go 200k.

The main reason I wonder about my "gut" feeling is that it is based on old thinking that may not apply with my Honda & newer technologies that I am likely not aware of.

 

If you have the owners manual it will refer to maintenance intervals. I just did the 60k mile service on my wife's Acura RSX and the trans fluid was part of that at 60k. The fluid looked fine on its way out so I suspect it could go much longer but it will never hurt to change fluids more often than needed. Well, it might hurt your wallet after a while but that's about it lol

 

Yup...go with your gut. 30k seems fine to me. I find Honda recomendations to be overly optomistic.

It is an easy 3-1/2 quart drain and fill, so its not like doing it early will make much of a cost difference over a 200,000 mile (or more) lifetime.....but it could save a small fortune in tranny repair/replacement.

Will

 

its alittle more than that... auto transmissions have torque converters.. this is basically a "clutch" of auto trannys'.. and they hold WAY more fluid than the actual transmission has.

for instance, i work for a major utility company, and we do our own in house mechanical repairs.. and our vehicle of choice is FORD.. (for some great reason).. anwyays, Rangers, F150's.. super duty's, you name it..

the Ranger's transmission only holds 3.5 qts. the complete trans system including the torque converter holds 10qts. thats more than double.

sure, dropping the AT pan bolt, and refilling it is better than nothing.. it should be flushed.

at my location, we have a machine that holds 16qts of any oil of your chioce.. once you connect it inline iwth the vehicles transmission system, it pushes new fluid in, and old fluid out. similar to this..

infact, i felt soo strongly about this machine, and what good it could do, i convinced my dad to invest the 30 bucks in trans oil, and we did it on his 98 camery.

and this was the actual fluid recovered from his car, along with some fresh oil that went back in..

my dads camery had 150K.. and it was never serviced before, but the next day he called me, thanking me for bringing his transmission back to life.

please service your transmission, they're lots of little valves, and passages that can be gummed up by debris, and sludge.

 

So is it better to do a transmission service or flush???? I had a 97 Camry once, and I did transmission service every 30,000... then during my 105,00 service, flush the transmission and then I started having problems with my transmission.....so finally I had to sell it because it was giving me a lot of problems.

 

I had a 97 Camry once, and I did transmission service every 30,000... then during my 105,00 service, flush the transmission and then I started having problems with my transmission

Keep it simple. Frequent fluid changes work great, with little chance of harming the vehicle or your wallet. (Glad to see you've got a Honda now :wink: )

 

no, i agree.. 30K services are great.. but waiting 100K is unacceptable.

im just showing the extremes... i hope no ones car gets that bad. but if it were, a simple drain and refill won't cut it. with or without filter.

problem with the ranger trucks, the AT filter is in the pan. its another 45 mins of labor just to change the filter.. the honda gods won with me, when they put a external filter.

anyways.. if your on top of your E services.. i bet only a trans filter replacement should be sufficient. 1 qt of trans oil isn't going to do much in a 10qt system.

 

anyways.. if your on top of your E services.. i bet only a trans filter replacement should be sufficient. 1 qt of trans oil isn't going to do much in a 10qt system.

Your numbers are confusing.
The E holds a bit more than 7 quarts total in it's system. A "simple drain" replaces about 3.5 quarts. Replacing about 1/2 the total capacity of the fluid would seem to make a noticable difference.

I do the drain and fill every 25-30k miles. I replace the trans filter every other drain & fill. Even that is prolly overkill.


BTW...on my old Bronco II I drilled and tapped the trans pan when I had it off, so that future fluid/filter changes would be easier. There was a good thick spot in the corner, but it can be done in the thin crappy pans they have now by welding a nut or washer to the pan. Mine got used very hard so the fluid was done every 15k miles.