Kaliona

Just picked up a 1990 Civic DX 5 speed and have to change the right front axle. I know I have to drain the tranny to do this job and the owners manual recommends SAE 10W30 or 10W40 when refilling the tranny. Motor oil? This is new to me. My wife has a 2004 Pilot automatic, and I use only Honda's transmission fluid in that. Should I just stick with the recommended motor oil or use a Honda blend tranny fluid in this Civic? I'm sure the motor oil will be fine (cheaper too) since it's spec'd in the owners manual. Just wondering what all you other Civic owners are using.

.Manny.

iTrader: (1)

I personally use Honda Genuine Manual Transmission fluid. I use one qt. of MTF and one qt. of Syncromesh if there is a slight grind present.

D16SiHatch

either honda mtf or 10w-30 should be fine. and mixing it with some pennzoil/gm synchromesh isn't a bad idea either. if you do have a grind present try and get the gm synchromesh with friction modifier, it's great stuff.

hatchet_honda

HMMM ive changed many axles in a manual trans and never drained the fluid...its not gonna come pouring out..least it never did on me

D16SiHatch

perhaps you were just changing the driver side axle which goes into the intermediate shaft. if you were to pull the passenger side on a b-series, or either side on an unequal length axle d-series, then oil is definately going to come pouring out.

Kaliona

Thanks for the replies guys.

SIred91

This is INCORRECT. The only reason it would come pouring out is if the trans was
overfilled or you tipped the car. That goes for BOTH B and D series.

Tyson

should be just a few drips for an axle. i usually dont bother to top it off myself when i just do an axle change. usually one axle to be replaced, so that side is jacked up anyway.

D16SiHatch

i've always been told to drain the trans fluid before pulling the axle, i guess i just never questioned it since it seems like it'd be an advisable thing to do. i just pulled up AllData and even it sais to drain transaxle fluid before pulling the axle. that being said i can tell just by looking at the trans that if it is properly filled, and the car is level, it should not come pouring out. it just never occured to me to question or look at where the bottom of the fill bolt is, relative to the opening for the axle.

Hondaisok

I've changed 3 or 4 axles on 91 civics and never have drained or lost much fluid. If you have the side jacked up enough, its not going to run out anyway. I think the manual said to do that as a precaution.

SIred91

You 'should' drain and refill just for a precaution to getting dirt or whatever inside when
you push the axles back into place.....I drain and refill AFTER the axle has been replaced.

lived dreams

Just my two cents from what i did when i swapped out my axles. I drained and refiller with Honda Fluid. I was also told by the dealership that the 5 speed transmission fluid is made with honda's version of syncromesh. Here recently (3 years later) i blew my tranny due to some other problems with my transmission. What i did find out is that when i drained my fluid (yesterday) I was pleased to see my 3 year oldtranny fluid crystal clean.

Frederick_Est87

I am actually going to do this today. In my BMW I used Royal Purple MTF, my BMW shifted way better. Best thing I ever did to the tranny. Hopeful this will bring life back to my Honda tranny as well.

crxblues

Honda MTF and nothing else.

BSeriesRescueteam

I use 10W30 Motor oil. Doesn't leak out, shifts clean.

Frederick_Est87

Ok, I just looked under my tranny, ready to do this. But I can't know if the drain and filler is what it is. It is true that both of these are not actual bolts but you need some SQUARE shaped socket to undo these things?

sanimalp

it is the same size as the end of a 3/8 ratchet. just don't put a socket on the ratchet and it fits in the square hole.

Frederick_Est87

Both the filler and drain holes are like close together then? I mean, not next to each other, but i have read where the filler hole is so hard to get to that most people skip it and fill in either the reverse light or speedo hole. Maybe cause I have a different engine and I can access the hole better?

Frederick_Est87

Here is a pic of what I am dealing with. Already drained. My fluid wasnt black or anything, could still see through it. No metal deposits or anything. The drain hole is the bottom bolt thing in the pic.

But here is the problem with filling it. If this is the hole that you do fill it up with, the tubes I have don't fit. See why? The metal thing that protrudes almost all the way over the filler hole! And by the size of the filler hole plug I thought it would be a big hole! But damn, what is that thing in the way? And I am trying to find a hose small enough to inject my MTF in there.

Edit: Upon reading my post, it seems to me this must be some sort of censor thing. Either speedo or reverse light. So I probably have the wrong hole. Where is the filler hole? Visually?

BiG ChOr!Zo

iTrader: (1)

i used honda mtf from the dealer and refilled the tranny by taking off the speed sensor and used a funnel and have not had any problems...i first tried using a hand pump from autozone but it was nearly impossible to use

Frederick_Est87

You can access the speedo sensor hole from the top of the engine then? Ill try that.

BiG ChOr!Zo

iTrader: (1)

its on the top of the transmission...just follow the speedometer cable from the back of the cluster to the top of the tranny and take off the bolt and remove the speedsensor...refill tranny and then put back on speedsensor and retighten bolt and test drive...!!!

sde780

Speed sensor wouldn't budge for me when I needed to drain / refill the tranny fluid. I literally took mallets, vice grips, everything to it and it wouldn't come out

BiG ChOr!Zo

iTrader: (1)

looks like you needs to eat thee can of spinach

Frederick_Est87

I lifted the boot of that speed sensor enough to expose the bolt I needed to get to. Used I think it was a 18mm wrench, and just pulled on it really hard.

I used Royal Purple Synchromax. Shifted better right away. But it will take a few days before it gets really good. Still some grinds present with just less than 10miles of driving with the new fluids. Expect some time before it gets good as I just stated.

Btw, I bet that pic I took was of the reverse light sensor?