First of all, whats up everyone? I've been lurking on here for months, never really had the need to post just read and learned alot of intresting stuff. This is a great site, you guys seem to be the smartest people when it comes to honda/acura information. Alot of other forums you get dumb answers, and wrong information.

Well neways, I have a 1997 Acura 2.2 CL, but I figured this would be the best place to post this. Considering the 94-97 Accord is basically the same exact thing motor/transmission wise.

Heres the story:

About 2 years ago, my tranny went out on me, a few days later and 1500 dollars poorer i had a rebuilt transmisson by this place called AACTION. I never really raced, I occasionally floored it but nothing too crazy. I figured it must have been from the previous owner neglecting it

Ever since then I've always driven it more conservative, basically always **** around 3k-3.5k and only floor it once in a while. I also started changing the fluid with Honda ATF every OTHER oil change. I know its a little too much, but I figure I'd rather do it too much then not enough. It's not that much money to do it every other time, so I figure it will be better in the long run. I've also installed a small hayden transmission cooler, in hopes of that helped also in the future.

So last week, I go to this new shop cause I saw them offering a sweet deal on an Oil Change. I usually go to the same place which I've been going for a while but this place looked intresting, and I've heard good things from my friend. So I go there and tell them to do a tranny drain/fill because I'm going to be doing alot of driving this summer. He asks me if Valvoline is alright, I said yea sure. I THOUGHT he was talking about the engine oil, but he meant Valvoline Maxlife ATF.

After I found out that he put that in, i was really upset. I know the transmissions are sensitive, and like Honda ATF. I explained to him it's only suppose to use Honda ATF, he showed me on the bottle that is says ok for "Honda ATF z1" but I was still very skeptical. He kept telling me it's fine, and not to worry about it. I did alot of research and haven't heard anything good about this fluid. It says higher standards then OEM for cars with 75k miles or whatever.

Anyways, I was really mad and upset after using the wrong fluid, and didn't know what to do. I don't want to spend another 1,500 getting it rebuilt again. So I went to Honda, 3 days later and got a case of Honda ATF (12 bottles for 50.00).

The next day I went to my friends house we jacked up the car took off the drain plug drained it out and refilled it (2.5 qts) and then I drove around for like 5-10 minutes. Did it again. Drove around for another 5-10 minutes, and did it again. I did it 3 times in total.

Did I get most of the old fluid out? Is driving around 5-10 minutes enough to circulate the fluid? I was concerned I was just taking out the fresh shiit. I was thinking of waiting like a month and doing another drain/fill at the shop because I still have 3 qts left, and they shouldn't charge me much if i supply the fluid.

Also when I did the last train and fill, I saw orangish metal particles in the drain pan, but I only saw this the last time.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give you all the info. Thanks in advance, I love you guys...

 

Sounds like you did an excellent flush of your transmission. 3 changes gets you to about 90% new fluid. I think you will be fine. Not sure what the stuff was that came out in the last flush but it should not be in your transmission for sure. Never new this maxlife was recomended for hondas either. I think you did the right thing to flush it out. Don't want to spend another 1500 dollars right.

 

Sounds flushed to me too ....but as often as you are changing the ATF I don't think you needed to flip out over having the Valvoline ATF in there.


Modified by alotawatts at 3:28 PM 6/17/2005

 

Yea your probally right, but im really **** about **** like that. I've seem people say using the wrong fluid is instant suicide to a tranny. I still don't feel that confident about having even a LITTLE of the fluid in it.

The thing I dont understand is, how can Valvoline safely say it's ok to use in honda applications, when people says its dangerous? Has anyone used Valvoline instead of Honda for a long period of time?

In about a month, I'm going to do another drain/fill hopefully my tranny will still be working fine by then

I just figured I'd ask some of the Honda/Acura experts there opinion to this matter. Thanks again. Is there any honda/acura techs on here or people who work at transmission shops?

Im still trying to figure out if my tranny is shifting harder now, or if its all in my head. And wtf were those metal shavings!!!

 

Relax man... Its ok How many miles do you have on the engine and how many on the new tranny? I doubt you hurt the tranny, It doesn't sound like you drove very far on it. Valvoline is probably fine in your tranny, I bet it breaks down faster.

 

I have about 75k on the engine, and around 15-20k on the REBUILT tranny.

 

With honda AT's I really try to use only honda atf fluid...I don't blame you for flushing out the valvoline stuff and it sounds like you did a good job flushing out the valvoline atf. This is why you go to either a trusted mechanic or you do it yourself.

The honda fluids I use are: PS fluid, and ATF. As for everything else (not much left ) I use whatever I have been using for the past 7 years.

 

do you use honda engine oil ? honda coolant? honda brake fluid ?? if no to any of these why not???? ...As long as tranny fuild meets honda atf z1 it is ok to use , it is just other companies trying to make a living and as long as it is labeled it is ok to use,, otherwise they are going to get sued by many many people for false advertising .......the fluid they used it was ok trust me on this 1

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deserthonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do you use Honda engine oil ? Honda coolant? Honda brake fluid ?? if no to any of these why not???? ...As long as tranny fuild meets Honda atf z1 it is ok to use , it is just other companies trying to make a living and as long as it is labeled it is ok to use,, otherwise they are going to get sued by many many people for false advertising .......the fluid they used it was ok trust me on this 1 </TD></TR></TABLE>

deserthonda Knows his stuff He is a good person to get advice from.

Do they only recommend to use only Honda ATF because you dont want to mix and match?(Is Honda ATF really better than every other brand?) You dont get it all out every time you drain it so I would think you dont want two different kinds in the tranny.