vartok

I finally got around to doing a drain and fill on my 93 LX... now i have no idea the history of the tranny, but im guessing its the orignal, so it would have 194k miles on it. I pulled the drain plug and this is what was caked on the magnet...



Also this fluid looked almost black as it was coming out:




so my question is... how bad is this? also since it is that dirty, do i need to drain the trans cooler too? and yes, i am refilling it with honda ATF, but i only have 4 QT...

Former User

The original ATF may never have been replaced. You should do three consecutive drain-and-refill cycles (at least) to clean out as much gunk as possible. Do some driving between each cycle. And do clean the metal from the drain plug each time.

vartok

but what about the trans lines? or should i not touch them

Former User

Gunk around the cooler lines should hopefully be cleared by multiple drain-and-refill cycles.

vartok

ok, well the next drain and fills will have to wait till next payday, the 4 QT was all i could spair... $8 a QT is a bit much

Former User

To save money on multiple drain-and-refill cycles, consider using Valvoline MaxLife ATF, which is Honda compatible. I can buy it for $4 quart at Walmart. It seems to work fine in my 00 Civic EX.

vartok

actually, im not really that worried about it. I got my manual transmission in the mail today... so i have a back up... i may or may not do more drain and fills... depends on how it acts... it is shifting a bit smoother now. I just need it to hold together untill this summer... maybe later, im not sure, depens on how money goes, i still am a few parts short for the swap

Former User

Makes sense. I assumed you planned on keeping the automatic transmission.

vartok

Yeah, not sure how long I'm going to keep it. I may just drive on it til it blows so that I have more time to get the swap together. But as always, thanks for the help ron