gauravsoni00

Hello Forum Members
I have a 2007 Honda Accord SE (4 cyl, 4 door sedan). Four weeks ago, I completed 62k miles and received a transmission service light on my dashboard. I took the car to Jiffy lube, where they performed a transmission fluid exchange; they flushed the original fluid and refilled the tranny with Pennzoil Dexron III fluid. Couple of days ago, after going through several forums here and on other sites, I realized that I shouldn't have allowed them to put Dexron III in my car because my car is supposed to get only Honda ATF-Z1 fluid in the tranny. It's been 4 weeks and 500 miles since Pennzoil Dexron III was put in my car; I haven't experienced any problem so far. I sometimes feel that the car is running rougher but I may be over reacting.
What do you recommend? Should I keep driving with this fluid in the tranny, or should I replace it with Honda ATF-Z1 immediately. Is it ok to wait for atleast 1 year to do the replacement; will that cause harm to the internals of my tranny, or will it be ok as long as I replace it in one year.

Second question: Jiffy Lube also flushed my original antifreeze coolant and replaced it with their recycled antifreeze (which they claim exceeds the manufacturer's requirements for antifreeze). Is it ok to drive with Jiffy Lube's recycled antifreeze for another year, or is that also a candidate for immediate replacement.
Thank you!

outersquare

ugh

last I looked, the manual said dex III was ok as a temporary substitute, but really you should use Z1 or even better DW1. Honda has a newer fluid DW1 that supercedes Z1.

I tried using M1 ATF which is a dex III fluid in a 2003 accord, at first it drove fine, but after several hundred miles, it seemed like the torque converter was no longer locking up and the rpms were about 500 rpms too high, even at cruise on the freeway. After I did another drain/fill the problem went away.

You should drain/fill the ATF back to a Honda fluid as soon as convenient. If you notice problems, do it ASAP.

Also you got small time scammed on the coolant, the factory coolant is good for something like 100K miles.

gauravsoni00

Thank you very much for replying!
When you drained/filled, did you do it three times as recommended in the manual, or did your torque converter problem go away after a single drain/fill?

Should I also replace Jiffy Lube's recycled antifreeze with Honda coolant, or is it ok to keep the recycled antifreeze in the car for a few thousand miles.

thanks again!

Notorious92rhdEG

Please, don't go to jiffy lube anymore.

Thanks.

0dyfamily

+1.

Jiffy Lube = dishonest servicing. At best, they will do the work incorrectly or use the wrong fluids. Stay away from Jiffy Lube for the rest of your vehicle's life if you value it.

Dexron III is okay only for temporary use. I give you the following example of what temporary means:

Say you're on a road trip and spend the night at a hotel. You notice a puddle of ATF under your Accord the next morning in the hotel parking lot due to a leaking ATF cooler hose. You can't find Honda ATF-Z1 or ATF DW-1 because Autozone or O'Reilly's doesn't sell it. No Honda dealer in sight. You buy a bottle of generic Super-Tech Dexron III from a nearby Wal-Mart, top up, drive into a nearby shop that replaces the leaking 3/8" ATF cooler hose for you. Now with that leak fixed, you top up again with more Dexron III (since it leaked on the way to the repair shop), and drive home.

Once home, replace that Dexron III. It's only supposed to be there temporarily. According to your owner's manual, your transmission sump holds 3.1 quarts of ATF; the total fluid capacity of the tranny is 6.9 quarts (sump + fluid held in the torque converter and hydraulic power circuits).

Your owner's manual: Click on This. Page 213 of your manual describes the fluid change procedure:

"To thoroughly flush the transmission, the technician should drain and refill it with Honda ATF-Z1 (Automatic Transmission Fluid), then drive the vehicle for a short distance. Do this three times. Then drain and refill the transmission a final time."

That is a total of four (4) drain/refills. Based on the math using an exponential dilution formula, that removes 91% of the Dexron III. For your 2.4L Accord auto trans, you need at least 12.4 quarts of ATF DW-1...just buy 13 quarts of the stuff.

Now, the Jiffy Lube "Recycled Coolant": you have NO idea what is in that Jiffy Lube garbage. It could be chock full of silicates, or reconstituted used diaper fillers, or green-tinted sewage. I think you can tell that I detest Jiffy Lube's service practices and their lousy integrity.

Honda Genuine Long Life Type 2 or Zerex Asian Vehicle Antifreeze are great choices. These are Organic Acid Technology (OAT) coolants with, IIRC, a phosphate additive. That said, I've used Prestone Extended Life in all of our Accords and Odysseys with zero problems. Whenever I've pulled a water pump during a timing belt change, there is no corrosion and the pump shaft gland seal is still in great shape, so I'll give a thumbs up to Prestone as well; I don't know if it contains phosphates, which seem to be called for by most Asian car manufacturers, but I haven't had any problems.

The Jiffy Lube guys lied. Your 62,000-mile coolant could have stayed in a lot longer. You have no idea what is the blend of recycled coolant they put in your car.

OF

0Steve@Spreen

An even bigger problem, Jiffy Lubed "flushed" the ATF, meaning they probably put it on their machine and power flushed. If in fact, this is what they did, you're going to have problems with the solenoids. Do the factory flush, get the Dexron out ASAP and hope no permanent damage done to the Linear and Shift Solenoids. Good luck

outersquare

For me, one time drain and fill was enough to remove my symptom and problems. You have to drive it around anyways to do the next drain and fill, so you can just try it once and then determine if you need another drain/fill.
I think I eventually did it twice after a couple thousand miles to be on the safe side, but each time you drain/fill less of the incorrect fluid is replaced anyways.


If it were me, I would also replace my coolant also with Honda coolant. I did not want go there, but I have a coworker who used to work at Jiffy Lube and he has nothing good to say about the place.

gauravsoni00

Thank you very much for such a detailed reply. Really appreciate it.
I will get both fluids replaced soon. No point in taking risk.

gauravsoni00

That's what they did. They power-flushed the ATF using their machine. I think I got myself in a mess by going to Jiffy Lube. Let's see what lies next for me

gauravsoni00

By Factory Flush, do you mean I should get Dexron fluid out by power flush, or do you mean I should get rid of it by multiple drain/refill cycles? Thanks.

0Steve@Spreen

The latter, drain and fill like mentioned before....

Nock91CHBsi

Coming from someone who used to manage a jiffy lube, first thing to need to find out if they added a smart blend friction modifier to your transmission when doing the "flush".
the friction modifier adds the additive packet that is in atf-z1 and has been approved by honda. I have worked in and been in at least 50 jiffy lubes none of them have done power flushes on any vehicle. The T-tec machine does look like it does a power flush but it simply taps into cooler lines and allows your transmission to pump fluid into while at the same time adding new. With the coolant I know back when i managed one the recycled anti-freeze was a OAT anti-freeze also even tho recycled met all requirements and never had one customer return with a issues and i worked at one lotion of about 7 years.. Also bring up your concerns with the manager of that location most of them will go above a beyond to please a customer, you gotta think if they where really as bad as everyone thinks they'd be out of business

GoLowDrew

You already spent a lot of $$$$. I would leave the coolant as is for maybe another 50K miles.

Sure, many will say the coolant is good for 100K miles, like the spark plug. I much rather changed them out early instead waiting too long, or for it to failed, misfire, and burn up the cat.

Anyhow, get the ATF done again properly, and leave the coolant. Not that big of a deal.

That's too much $$$ spent already.

GoLowDrew

Most major brands you buy don't have silicates now. Ok, I have not looked at everything on the marketplace. When I did find replacement coolant, I read a few of the major brands, and all of them (now) don't have silicate.

This information may be passed around too long on the internet. And time to let it die.

Almighty-Si

Honda doesn't approve of any fluid with modifiers of any sort. It was stressed at school to use ATF-Z1 NO SUBSTITUTES.

Also no use of ANY machines to do transmission flushes.

DELuth

Jiffy Lube, Walmart and all of the quick lube places are awesome! I love them! About half of my money comes from going behind quick lube places'. They are amazingly good at screwing up Hondas.

Deererainman

I plan on using Dexron III as a flush, going to run approx 3 gallons thru the trans, to displace Antifreeze. Guess what happened.

0dyfamily

That is a good idea. I had suspected coolant contamination in our 1998 Accord LX, so I DIY replaced the radiator (which had a crack in the top tank anyways) and ran about 3 gallons of generic Dex III through it. It's on ATF-Z1 (4x drain/refills) right now and had an annoying shudder that Lubegard Red took care of. When our stash of ATF-Z1 (about 2-1/2 cases) runs out, we'll switch to Valvoline MaxLife Dex/Merc Synthetic or their MV Import Synthetic.

Just turned 200,000 miles, original tranny. We love this car.

All Honda ATF's are heavily friction modified, whether the old ATF-Z1 or the newer (and thinner) ATF DW-1. I don't know what they do for bearing surface friction modification, but as far as the class of chemical compounds that modify clutch surface friction goes, Honda appears to trend towards using those compounds that promote enough clutch slip during engagement to yield a buttery smooth shift. Just my observation after having tried other ATF's on the market.

OF