I have an 02 Accord, the generation with all of the AT problems. Bought the car at about 80k and I'm almost to 95k. I've heard conflicting suggestions on whether or not I should flush the fluid. Is there any truth to the notion that doing an AT fluid flush can actually pull metal fragments through the transmission causing more harm than good?

The main reason I'm asking is that I'm going to be driving across the country - from Pittsburgh to Seattle which with deviations for sight seeing, will be in excess of 2600 miles. I'm trying to get the car in the best shape possible prior to shoving off.

 

I would just drain and fill.

I usually drain the tranny, take the cooler lines off and flush the cooler out, then reattach them, put drain plug back in, add fluid, and call it good.

 

If there are metal fragments floating about your transmission you have other things to worry about.
The theory with older automatics that never have been flushed is the friction material from the clutch packs that is suspended in the ATF may be removed. If the clutch packs are worn enough the removal of the suspended friction material may cause the transmission to slip.

Ye Olde rule of thumb I've heard over the years
Red and smells fine go ahead and change it.
Brown but does not smell burnt leave it, friction material suspended in fluid.
Burnt smelling, regardless of color, change it as the fluid is breaking/broken down.

 

I think you should be fine, but regardless of fluid exchange or not, your transmission will probably still slip. It won't necessarily harm your honda, it's honestly worth a shot.

 

Bingo

Drain and Refill is the method to use

 

Ok i work at honda dealership and we sell both a drain and refill service (for like preventative maintenance and such) and a trans flush (when the trans fluid has been looked over and not changed in a while). Now, just for information sake, the 'drain and refill' does not get all of the fluid, you still have a large amount of fluid in the torque converter, trans cooler, and the respective lines. So the 'flush' will take care of this, or at least thats the idea. The problem with a flush, is that the machine is using cleaning agents that contain chemicals that break down the seals around the accumulator and servo's, which act as the devices that engage the gear sets into gear, and cushioning the application of said gears. So when they blow out, they will either slam into gear very harshly or just not go into gear whatsoever. Also, many machines send the fluid into the transmission at pressures that are way too high for what the transmission normally operates on. Especially hondas, which operate at a lower psi range. Now at work, no one uses the flush machine. We all do, depending on the extent of the damage, many drain and refills. Basically drain it, fill it, then let it 'drive' on the lift for 10 minutes or so, turn it off, and repeat the process. Numerous times I have had the typical 6th and 7th gen accords come in with nearly black fluid, shifted terribly, and I would drain and refill about 4 times, and throughout the entire job the fluid went from dark brown all the way to pink and after wards drove 5-10 times better.

Just some food for thought.

 

you mentioned drain and refill four times please explain how this is done

 

It's very similar to changing the oil. Pull the plug in the trans to drain, replace plug (and crush washer), then refill with appropriate amount of fluid.

Different engines have different fill amounts and fill locations.

In the 6th gen V6, I believe the drain and fill gets about half the fluid replaced. So if you do it twice (with some circulation in between) you've replaced roughly 75% of the old fluid with new.