Hey guys,

I recently drained and replaced the ATF in my '97 Acura 1.6 EL (Luxury Canadian-only version of the Civic). The car is mechanically identical to a US-spec '97 Civic EX (127HP 1.6L SOHC VTEC) and it's mated to a 4-speed automatic tranny.

At any rate, here is my 'problem'. I drained the tranny and replaced just shy of the amount the Honda Service Manual (direct from Honda) called for, as it seemed that the amount that came out was less then the 2.7L the manual called for, between 2.2 and 2.5L. Consequently, I put about 2.5L of fresh Honda ATF in.

I took the car for a drive, about 20KM of highway driving, then parked the car on level ground, turned it off, and checked the ATF levels. It was a bit above the top of the hash marks, which I figure is fine, as it was always high from the factory.

At any rate, I then drove home on the highway, a 5 hour drive at ~70-75mph. I stopped in town at the drive through (never turning the car off) and then stopped at the local gas station o check the tranny fluid levels...

To my amazement the levels were below the hash marks by a decent margin!
I am confused because I drove th car for 20km the night before and checked the levels and found it to be high, yet now it's low... It's not dripping any ATF, so I am confused as to why it would be low after previously being high...

Was 5 hours of highway driving to long to expect a good reading after? I have read on some of my other cars not to check after extended periods of driving... So I am leaning towards the thought that the levels are fine, it was just 5 hours on the highway that got my readings messed up?

Or would 20KM of highway driving not be enough time to warm the fluid up for a proper measurement?

 

*bump*

 

bump. i want to know this too.