[rickywli]

I bought a 2007 Honda Accord LX 4 cylinder with 45000 miles in 2010. I was the second owner. It was a leased car bought in an auction.

Since I didn't know that much about cars I did a drain and refill 1x on the transmission fluid at 72000 miles. My mechanic at 72000 told me that the fluid was dark and magnetic had a lot of shavings on it.
I did 1x drain and refill on the transmission fluid last week at 90,000 miles.

Now I hear that you are supposed to do a drain and refill at 3x1 at 30000 miles or a 1x drain and refill at 10,000 miles.

I am afraid my transmission will have problems at 100,000 miles and I think I should sell it soon.

My dealer tells me at 30K they are supposed to do 1x drain and refill only.

I am going to do another drain and refill at my independent service next week.

What is everyone's opinion?
Should I sell the car?
When will the automatic probably fail due to my ignorance?

 

[Drew_ski_]

well you could do a 3x drain and fill to make it about 80-90% all new fluid.

another suggestion is to replace the ATF filter

and lastly at least on the 2003 AT there is a train of thought that replacing the 3rd and 4th pressure switches will help a lot and that those switches were the cause for some failures in 7th gen 5AT.

that is all the knowledge I have. I say if you are due for maintenance DO IT! you don't want to end up with me because now I don't have a transmission and if my warranty doesn't cover it I'm screwed lol.

you should also try and use the search button as much as possible there is a lot of good info on here about transmissions already

 

[RickBlaine]

Whoa there!!! Take a breath....

Your Accord's 4 cylinder/Auto trans is a very well-engineered machine.

The owner's manual (SEVERE CONDITIONS) originally called for a transmission fluid "replace" at 60,000 miles or 3 years, THEN every 30,000 miles or 2 years. You do read your owner's manual, right? Their definition of "replace" is 1 drain and fill.

So you really are on schedule. However...

Asking for opinions on when you should change your trans fluid will result in the 40,000th thread of people saying they do it every other oil change, or every 10,000 miles, or 3 drain and fills every 30,000 miles, or 1 drain and fill every spring, or when the moon is in Jupiter, etc....

Honda has since revised their recommended trans fluid exchange.

If you do it yourself (easier than an oil change!) it is cheap. You can do 1 drain and fill (this will replace 43% of your fluid) every 10,000 miles, or 3 drain and fills (this will replace 82% of your fluid) every 20,000 miles. Either will make you a maintenance freak.

Just do 2 additional drain and fills this week (to compliment last week's 1 drain and fill) and you will be in top shape- having replaced 82% of your fluid.

Don't sell it! Now if it was a Chevy I'd be amazed it was still running....:wave:

 

[Drew_ski_]

this is when I was getting ready to do maintenace

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=137626

this is a week later

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=139114

 

[Drew_ski_]

I would also suggest listening to Rickblaine he always has sound advice:thmsup:

 

[namegoeshere]

Now I hear that you are supposed to do a drain and refill at 3x1 at 30000 miles or a 1x drain and refill at 10,000 miles.

I am afraid my transmission will have problems at 100,000 miles and I think I should sell it soon.

You're afraid your transmission is going to have problems because of hearsay and not based on how the transmission is shifting or on the fact that the majority of 7th generation automatic transmission problems were on the V6 and not the I4?

My dealer tells me at 30K they are supposed to do 1x drain and refill only.

I am going to do another drain and refill at my independent service next week.

What is everyone's opinion?
Should I sell the car?
When will the automatic probably fail due to my ignorance?

The owners manual states:

Repalce transmission fluid

Driving in mountainous areas at very low vehicle speeds or trailer towing results in higher transmission and transfer temperatures. This requires transmission and transfer fluid changes more frequently than recommended by the Maintenance Minder. If you regularly drive your vehicle under these conditions, have the transmission and transfer fluid changed at 60,000 miles, then every 30,000 miles.

If you don't drive the car under those conditions, then Honda says you can go longer before changing the transmission fluid.

Those of us with the I4 who change the trans fluid more frequently than what Honda recommends do so because (1) it's cheap preventative maintenance, (2) we don't believe it's good to go 60,000 miles or more between changes, (3) the Honda ATF Z-1 fluid which it was filled with is of terrible quality which is why Honda now uses and recommends ATF DW-1 fluid, (4) are paranoid about our transmissions going out based on what has happened to the V6 auto trans Accords, even though transmission problems on the I4 are practically nonexistent.

You've probably changed the fluid out more times than what the majority of owners have. You're worrying about nothing.

 

[RickBlaine]

I would also suggest listening to Rickblaine he always has sound advice:thmsup:

Thank you sir, I am blushing....but I get corrected and learn things here too.

And I hope things go well tomorrow when you call the warranty company....:thmsup:

And namegoeshere has good points- I have a friend in the auto business who gets cars cheap because owners never read their unopened manual. True story, a Camry owner traded in his 3 year old Camry (mint condition) because it didn't start twice last week. The battery was weak and it is getting colder in Chicago. This moron thought he was unloading a lemon because he "heard" batteries should last 7 years! I should have knocked on his door and asked him to turn in his "Man Card".

 

[Drew_ski_]

Yea I hope so too. we'll see I still have some faith in warranty work at least until I get my response lol.

Camry story= a lot of people I just wish I could find them before they send it to a dealer or something.

 

[rszappa1]

The only weak point of the tranny with the 4 is the carrier bearings... You will hear the howl when they start going bad usually after 150,000 or more miles. Some have no issue some do.... After they begin to howl you will start to get a leak on the axle seal on the tranny...