I have 2012 Civic with 30,000 miles on it. I am considering getting a total transmission fluid exchange at a local shop that I have used several times before for other things. Does anyone know of any problems with allowing a machine to change out 100% of the fluid? Seems silly to me drain and fill, when you still have 75% of the dirty fluid in the system.

 

From what I remember in the past with trans flushing, shortly after this started becoming a money maker for shops, these flushed transmissions started to fail.

Buy a case of honda fluid and just drive the car then when it gets hot pull the plug, then drive the car for a few days and do it again.

If your fluid is dark now refresh it until it looks new or close to new.

Buy Honda fluid it worked the best, when I tried a brand name the car hung in gear and shifted rough.

 

RTFM.

 

Honda suggest just a simple drain and fill every 30k miles.

 

I do a drain and fill every 10K miles, along with an oil change. Cheap, quick and easy. I did it with our former Accord and at 140K miles the trans worked perfectly. BTW, the most important drain & fill you can do is at 10K. It gets rid of the friction materials sloughed off by new clutch discs breaking in. It will be dirty fluid. After that, it will always be relatively clean. bk

 

AV911,

I have RTFM. I know what Honda does. My question was not about Honda and what they do, it was if anyone has had experience with a total transmission fluid exchange. Thank you for your advice, but like I said I have RTFM.

 

I work at valvoline instant oil change as an assistant manager. We do transmission flushes with a machine very day. We have never had any cars come back with transmission problems. Only car we will not dare to do flushes on are cars with over 150k miles and have never flushed the transmission before. We have had customers tell us that they ha slight slipping of the transmission, and after the service the slipping stopped. So I see no reason why you Should have any problems

 

Service News from Honda February 2006
Flush Systems: A BIG Taboo
Not all systems use solvents, but ones that do can leave solvent in the system that dilutes the fluid and degrades its performance. Flush systems with filters can filter out important additives and hurt its performance as well. Any system that has been flushed by a system is not covered under warranty. Ive replaced a transmission thats had its transmission flushed. The fluid looked like V8 veggie juice.

 

With Honda ATs they are not to be flushed via a machine. Hondas run at lower pressures than other ATs. Drain and refill is the best tactic. If you want to clean the insides use SeaFoam Trans Tune. This will aid in removing any sludge/varnish and will not damage seals or cause any undue wear.

 

Do not powerflush a Honda transmission. Honda had a TSB on this for years. All it does it blow the dirt and debris out of the internal trans filter and into places it shouldn't be. Remember this is a transmission without a removable pan or filter.

 

couldn't agree more!