dragonle87

Hello, I have a 2000 Honda Accord LX 4 Cylinder & it has about 127,000 miles on it already & i was wondering is it necessary to do an engine/transmission flush?
I heard from other ppl that performing a transmission flush will ruin the transmission as for the engine flush i don't know anything about it...so are there any suggestions out there???

tpot90

Deff change that oil!

Have you owned the car since it was new? Do you know the maintanance records such as engine/tranny oil changes? Every car is different, but auto tranny oil should be changed about every 30,000 miles, depending on the type of driving you do.

Some recommend anywhere from 30-60k. Manual tranny oil has different maintanance intervals, but check your owners guide or with the dealership to make sure of the intervals that it needs to be changed at.

If you are the original owner & havn't flushed it once, I'm suprized the factory tranny is still running!

A_Rotary_Guy

IMO, engine flushes are worthless and bad. Much of the time the flush material can get into the rod bearings and displace the oil, causing the bearings to shred. This happened on my old Cavalier that I tried to do an engine flush on. The engine components have much tighter clearances than what the tranny does, so even that small amount of flushing stuff can cause issues. Also, if you regularly change your oil, you shouldn't be having to worry about "sludge" build up or any of that crap. You'll only see sludge on engines that are very very neglected.

Transmission flushes are believed to be good and bad. It all depends on who you talk to. It's a known fact that transmission fluid should be changed every 50k, and sooner depending on how you drive. Honda themselves do not recommend tranny flushes, but instead draining, filling, driving, draining, filling, driving and repeating that process a few times. Also, IMO, I do not recommend any type of additive in the transmission or oil. Your tranny fluid has the correct friction modifiers in it and adding to it isn't going to help, same way with engine oil.

aasaa666

Flush is a No No on this car. Trans Flush NO NO NO. 98-02 Accord auto trans are bad as it is and with that much miles on it you better just go to the dealer ask for 3 quarts ATF-Z1 and a drain washer and do it yourself. Just drain and refill. You dont want to risk all that debree inside the trans to come off the seals and cause leaks or worst case senerio the debree breaks off and cloggs not only the trans solenoid screen but the internal filter. Its not common part requested at all but honda does have an inline filter. These generation trans craps out so fast this is pretty much the highlight for this generation or Accord along with the 2nd generation Odyssey.

As far as engine flushing, take the advice from A_Rotary_Guy on that one.

All fluids just drain and refill, and change your crush washer too. dont forget to torque your bolts to spec.

kawgomoo

gots to agree there. i worked at a honda dealer for while. never saw a flush do anything but make the company money. ive seen the machine freak out and fill the motor completely full till the solvent ran out the intake tube.

trans flush HELL NO. honda softened up the line pressure to make the cars shift smoother because of complaints of hard shifts. people dont realize hard shifts make the trans last. smooth shifts is just slipping of the clutches in the tranny.

change your fluids regularly. if you are worried about it change everything, and 2 weeks later change it all again. youll be fine.

never use ANY thing but factory approved fluid in the trans, no stop leaks, trans restore nothing like that, ever!

i only change my engine oil when i need to pull the pan off my car, or add when its low. my accord has 350,000 miles on it. i treat it like crap and it just keeps going.

A_Rotary_Guy

A lot of service shops will recommend a trans flush, but only for the reason that most of them do not guarantee that the car will still function correctly after it's done. I called my local Honda dealership a few days ago and asked them about a transmission flush. They used the same machine and process that we do at work, which didn't come as a surprise. I then asked them about any guarentee that the vehicle will still function correctly after it's done and he said the only way they'll warranty it is if you've done tranny flushes on the car every 30k miles since the vehicle had 50k or less on it. Obviously a trans flush can hurt an old vehicle that's never had a done, but on a vehicle that's relatively low miles, it shouldn't be a problem. I also agree, no additives or cleaners in a tranny, especially Honda's auto tranny. Just use the gold old Honda ATF.

businessmanph

i personally do mine ever 15k.

YeuEmMaiMai

you can most definately use a trans flush machine that relies on the transmission's internal pump to change out the fluid These are the ones that hook into the cooler lines. Problem is most places that have the machine do NOT have HONDA trans fluid to put in there. You definately want to stay away from machines that do a forced flush (ie pressurized fluid through the system while the car is off)

I did it on my 94 honda when I got it at 80K and it still runs fine with over 160K on it now

A_Rotary_Guy

80k is quite a bit less than most of us have though. I agree though, I always figured the tranny flush machiens that used the tranny's pump pressure shouldn't cause any problems since it's not overpressurizing the system. The only concern I had with it is that all the detergents in the new fluid may flush the seals out.

YeuEmMaiMai

that was the first time it was changed in 7 years lol

aries331

[QUOTE= i only change my engine oil when i need to pull the pan off my car, or add when its low. my accord has 350,000 miles on it. i treat it like crap and it just keeps going.[/QUOTE]

Glad it works for you, that's magic of owening a Honda.

Bev&Jun

I have a 2000 Honda accord LX, and I was told I need a engine flush because I have gunk inside and it's clogging my fans from working. My engine does not make a knocking sound and my oil comes out clean when I check it, but with the fans not turning on my car over heats. I'm reading that an engine flush can ruin my engine.. Very confused, I haven't drove my car in almost 2 months. Please help, what's the best solution..

MAD_MIKE

This is incorrect, sort of.
Thermosensors that activate the fans are in the cooling system. Now if your coolant is old and grungy then the sensors may be so heavily coated that the thermo sensors are unable to function properly. If your coolant is not Blue, Green, or (God forbid)Orange then the coolant is in dire need of a change. But this would be called a coolant flush. Not an engine flush.
Properly flushing an engine will do no harm. It will loosen grime and any particles trapped in the sludge, but with a proper oil filter and oil change soon after a flushing, there should be little to no concern.

With the fans not coming on it may be a faulty thermosensor, faulty fan relay(s), faulty fan timer, or dead fans. Highly unlikely both fans are dead.
Turn your AC to ON and open the hood with engine running, one fan should be on.
This link applies mostly to 90-93 and 94-97 cars but it may be useful in helping diagnose the same issues with your car.
http://techauto.awardspace.com/overheating.html

holmesnmanny

When doing an engine flush, prepare for the worst and if you see the oil light come on immediately turn it off. I can just imagine gunk being loosened up and getting stuck inside the oil filter and you oil starving your engine. Just be sure to immediately drain the oil after you put the oil flush in there and keep an eye on the oil light at all times. Do not drive it. Just let it idle for a few minutes and then drain it.

Clevor

Well so much for the integrity of my local Honda dealer. I told them I heard a tranny flush (on my 2000 Accord EX) will screw up the tranny and that Honda no longer recommends this, and they told me they know nothing about it.

My tranny shifts fine except for a delay in getting into D4 in the mornings. It seems I have to warm the car up for 1-2 minutes, or if I rev to 2000 rpm+ a couple of times, D4 engages OK. No problem at all during the day unless the car has sit for 8+ hours. I do not get a flashing D4 light. The dealer charged me $140 to do a comprehensive tranny check and told me nothing is wrong and the trans fluid looks OK. I wanted them to check the solenoid screens but they did not bother and even the drain plug was lightly torqued as I left it. So they checked the fluid by the dipstick???

I did not have a flush done but changed 4 qts Honda fluid on my own. The problem actually got worse. Before it would engage D4 easily going home from work but now, there is a bit of a delay. So there is some truth to not changing fluid on a high mileage car (154,000 miles). I installed a Magnefine filter and hope things don't get so bad I get slippage.

mclasser

Engine flushes are a big no-no and are only pushed by shady quick lube shops. Honda memos explicitly forbid such flushes. If your engine has grime, do several short interval oil changes using a high detergency oil like Pennzoil and a good filter.

Is this the first time you changed the fluid? Are you the original owner. I'd do a total of 3 drain & fills with 250-300 mile drive cycles in-between each one using DW-1. This way the fluid replenishment and cleaning will be a nice gradual process.

Clevor

No, not the original owner. Bought it last June with 153,000 miles. The tranny was fine until around November when weather got colder. So far I have changed 4 qts and still contemplating doing another drain and flush.

I know there are some check ***** in the valve body. I suspect there is grit or clutch material preventing the seating of one check ball, so the fluid drains out overnight and I have to run the engine for awhile to get fluid circulating and the pressure up. You would think changing the fluid might help.

When I took off the drain plug, I was shocked at the amount of sludge around the plug (maybe 1/2"), but I understand this is normal. I don't think the original owner changed fluid much.

I am really upset what a waste of time the dealer mechanics were. For $140, they did not even bother to check the solenoid screens.

MAD_MIKE

The problem with Honda ATs is that there is no pan to remove, thus there is no easy way to remove/replace/clean the sump pickup screen. If the fluid is not normally changed the worn clutch material can buildup in the sump and plug the pickup. It is a common way the transmission stops functioning that has high mileage and never had the fluid changed. If the fluid has never been changed you will need to change it post-haste. And then regularly drain/refill the sump every 10k miles.