Manual transmission fluid change info (6th Generation)

[Heat]

Here’s some information on doing a manual transmission fluid change in a 6th generation Accord (‘99 LX), other generations should be similar. The owner's manual in my car says to change the transmission fluid every six years or 90,000 miles under normal conditions - it should be changed at least this often. To start, get the tools you need which are: 1. Manual transmission fluid, you will need a little more than two quarts so buy three quarts. Use Honda MTF. 2. Replacement crush washers, from the Honda dealer (about $1.25 for both). 3. A 3/8” socket wrench, a 17mm socket, and a universal joint / extensions help too. If you have never changed it have some penetrating oil handy too. 4. A funnel with a hose to get the fluid back into the fill hole - you can buy a tranmission funnel from your local hardware store pretty cheaply. A funnel designed for automatic transmissions will work well for this job. 5. A jack (the Honda jack works fine) 6. Some small jack stands. First, from this thread: http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2258360, a diagram of the manual transmission housing: Originally Posted by TouringAccord it is straight forward, not hard to do. … Here is a diagram of your tranny housing. #15 is the fill bolt, #17 is a crush washer. #12 is the drain bolt, #16 is a crush washer. You can access that by jacking up and supporting the car then removing the passenger side wheel. I use a hose inserted into the fill hole and attached to a small funnel to fill the tranny with fluid. The crush washers you want are #16 and #17, about $1.25 for both after tax at your local Honda dealer. Print out this diagram, will make things easy at the dealer. Jack up the front right side of the car, remove the passenger tire, put jack stands under the car. Loosen both the drain bolt and the fill bolt. The drain bolt hooks directly up to a 3/8” socket wrench, the fill bolt uses a 17mm socket and this, for me, was a pain in the neck. Took about 45 minutes and several squirts of penetrating oil before I finally got it loose. Once you have them loose, remove the lower one and drain the fluid out. Should be about two quarts worth. Lower the car to "normal level" with the tire still off and see if any more fluid drains out. Replace lower bolt. I had to remove my jack stands for this step since they were too high. Remove the upper bolt, put the funnel in, and slowly add the fluid until you see fresh fluid dripping out (have newspapers on the ground to catch the drippings). You should add a little more than two quarts worth of oil. If your front right side is jacked up too high, you won’t be able to add the full amount of fluid so it’s kind of important to lower it to "normal" height - look at the car from the front to see if the passenger side is level with the driver's side. The need to have the car level is also why you can't use ramps, unless you also lift up the rear of the car with jack stands. Changing the manual transmission fluid is more difficult than an oil change only because it is harder to get to the bolts, but the principal is the same. Remove a bolt to drain fluid, replace the bolt, add new fluid. On the pictures, the link following the thumbnail is a direct link to the full-sized picture. http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4900/mtfluid.jpg http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/3...fluiddrain.jpg http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/5...luiddrain2.jpg http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9577/mtfluidfill.jpg http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/2323/funnely.jpg http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/5180/plugs.jpg http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9893/toolss.jpg

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[TouringAccord]

added to the FAQ

[jweller]

let me add that you should always remove the fill bolt before you remove the drain bolt. If for any reason the fill bolt is stuck and you can't get it removed, you are in a bad situation if you've already drained the fluid.

Excellent write up though

[Heat]

Thanks for the kind remarks. I'm hoping that people don't put off this job because they don't know what to do - this is relatively easy work once you know where the two bolts are and how to get to them. If you can change your engine oil you can do this job.

And speaking of loosening the bolts... I was under the car today (the day after the transmission fluid change) changing the engine oil and noticed that the fill plug *is* accessible from underneath, just not with a socket. So... if you think the plugs may be stuck and you have ramps and a 19mm wrench laying around, pull it up on ramps and loosen (but don't remove) both bolts. There is maybe 20º or 25º of play in the wrench on the fill plug, enough to loosen the bolt. I wish I knew this yesterday, would have saved me a lot of time.

The link below the thumbnails is a direct link to the full sized photos.



http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4...nderthecar.jpg



http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/6...onfillplug.jpg

[Radial GT]

The fill plug on my 93 accord is a 17mm. If you happen to have the swivel head rachet headed wrenchs, it is pretty easy to get to. Cheers. This is one thing I was able to do today. The front hub assembly removal is not going so well...

[nus_dogg]

Good Job. Its fairly simple. 17mm box end wrench and 3/8th Rachet will get the job done fast.