[07 2.4 SE]

Honda recommends changing the 7.5Gen ATF at 100,000kms.
I see so many guys changing it much sooner why.
I drive all highyway kms and I'm not gonna touch it til 100,000kms.
Thats why I bought a Honda.
Low maintenance: Just change the oil and filter and air filter and you are good to go.
Any comments?

 

[sodaks2k]

Why wait for there to be a possible problem from NOT changing it sooner when you can easily do it?

 

[Jeff]

I know for the older 7th and 6th gens, there were auto tranny problems, so that could be why people change it sooner. I just changed mine at 47k, and the fluid was pitch black compared to the new bottles of Z1 which were bright red.

 

[cajun]

Cheap insurance on an expensive component that Honda has had issues with in the past. A drain & refill costs ~$24 and adds ~15 mins to an oil change. At 30K my ATF was dark brown. I imagine at your 100K interval the non-synth Honda ATF is going to look pretty rough.

 

[bukxanger]

agree w/ all answers!

 

[RinconVTR]

If you change your own oil, the real question becomes: Why not?

Even if you dont change your own oil, as long as the mechanic is dropping and replacing only 3qts (vs a complete Honda "flush" consisting of many drop/refills), it wont cost much more than a standard oil change.

 

[passatglx]

I changed mine at 60k. I couldn't beleive how many metal shavings were on the magnetic bolt. It shifted alot smoother after just one drain and fill plus the magnetic plug was clean again. I didn it again at 65k and there were more shavings. Its so easy to do and like everyone else said, cheap insurance esp if your car is out of powertrain warranty:thmsup:

 

[Jecht]

just because they say you can go 100,000 miles dont mean you have to.

 

[A_Boudreau]

I change mine because I don't want the same thing to happen to my 05' that happened to my 03'.

 

[hillstones]

There is no evidence to prove that changing the transmission fluid often prevents the failure that some have experienced. Not all Accords suffer from transmission failure.

 

[Skidmarcx]

Also depends very much how you drive too... if you drive like a grandma you can afford to run your fluids longer... like the others said fluid change is cheap and I'm your ride will appreciate it.

 

[ikethegreat]

I change my ATF and filter every 30k because it's a hell of a lot cheaper then buying a new tranny.

 

[Drew03Accord]

Just a few ramblings...

As stated, the fluid should be bright red. Best way to test is to pull the stick and dab it on a fresh paper-towel. If it's brown, or clear, it's past it's prime. The color tends to degrade like this... Bright red, brown, clear. The fluid should also have a "crisp" smell to it. If it basically smells like burnt oil.... well you know the rest.

Finally, it's better to refresh the fluid by periodical drain and fill, rather than wait for X amount of miles. This way you keep the fluid fresh. If the recommended interval is say - 100K, by the time you reach that number, the fluid has long reached the end of it's life-cycle and has lost much of it's viscosity. At that point some damage has been done.

Think about it...

...Drew...

 

[sodaks2k]

There is no evidence to prove that changing the transmission fluid often prevents the failure that some have experienced.

That's like saying there's no proof that changing your motor oil (dino) every 7500 miles won't cause failure. The owners manual says you can go 7500 miles OIC's. Does anybody do it on dino oil? That's why it's call PREVENTIVE maintenance.
Is there evidence to prove that NOT changing it causes failure? Yes.

 

[ikethegreat]

That's like saying there's no proof that changing your motor oil (dino) every 7500 miles won't cause failure. The owners manual says you can go 7500 miles OIC's. Does anybody do it on dino oil? That's why it's call PREVENTIVE maintenance.
Is there evidence to prove that NOT changing it causes failure? Yes.

Agreed :thmsup:

 

[hillstones]

That's like saying there's no proof that changing your motor oil (dino) every 7500 miles won't cause failure. The owners manual says you can go 7500 miles OIC's. Does anybody do it on dino oil? That's why it's call PREVENTIVE maintenance.
Is there evidence to prove that NOT changing it causes failure? Yes.

Well DUH! If you never change the fluid, you will reduce the life of mechanical parts, and they will seize over time. And if you change your oil every 7,500 miles, you will not have engine failure. I change mine every 5,000 because I do 300 miles a week, or more. If you don't change it ever, it will eventually fail. You are missing the point of the OP's question.

The question is why some people change the ATF so often. If you never change the ATF, the mechanical parts will fail, that is obvious. However, changing it more often will not eliminate the chance of a failure. A number of factors can cause a failure, regardless of how often you change the fluid. If you are a lead foot and red line it every time you drive, you will reduce the life of the transmission. When my transmission started slipping, the fluid was full and clean and the vehicle was properly maintained. The transmission failures experienced with the 7th Gen Accords had nothing to do with how often the fluid was changed. Have you ever heard of a poor design?

 

[sodaks2k]

Well DUH! If you never change the fluid, you will reduce the life of mechanical parts, and they will seize over time. And if you change your oil every 7,500 miles, you will not have engine failure. I change mine every 5,000 because I do 300 miles a week, or more.

Sorry, I should have worded it better. I wasn't saying to NEVER change the fluid, I meant changing it less often (every 100k). You yourself agree that not changing the fliud will reduce the life. So will leaving the fluid in when it's passed it's "shelf life" and useability.

And you may not have failure, but I bet you will have decreased engine life if you change it every 7500 miles (depeding on driving conditions.) I too change mine every 5k since I drive 300-500 miles a week.

You are missing the point of the OP's question.The question is why some people change the ATF so often.

I'm not missing the point at all. I answered as to why people change their fluid more often than 100k. To prevent premature failure/wear.

However, changing it more often will not eliminate the chance of a failure. A number of factors can cause a failure, regardless of how often you change the fluid.

Good luck trying to get anybody (else) to believe that. As others have stated, the time and small amount of money it takes to do an ATF change are worth it.

 

[hillstones]

And you may not have failure, but I bet you will have decreased engine life if you change it every 7500 miles (depeding on driving conditions.) I too change mine every 5k since I drive 300-500 miles a week.

Engines are much more technically advanced compared to years ago. I drove quite a few company cars, all of them from brand-new to more than 80,000 miles (more city than highway too) and the company only paid for oil changes every 7,500 miles (per the manufacturer recommended service). None of them had any engine problems, and they were all American made cars (ick!). Engines don't burn oil as fast as they used to.

 

[Jecht]

Well DUH! If you never change the fluid, you will reduce the life of mechanical parts, and they will seize over time. And if you change your oil every 7,500 miles, you will not have engine failure. I change mine every 5,000 because I do 300 miles a week, or more. If you don't change it ever, it will eventually fail. You are missing the point of the OP's question.

The question is why some people change the ATF so often. If you never change the ATF, the mechanical parts will fail, that is obvious. However, changing it more often will not eliminate the chance of a failure. A number of factors can cause a failure, regardless of how often you change the fluid. If you are a lead foot and red line it every time you drive, you will reduce the life of the transmission. When my transmission started slipping, the fluid was full and clean and the vehicle was properly maintained. The transmission failures experienced with the 7th Gen Accords had nothing to do with how often the fluid was changed. Have you ever heard of a poor design?

no one is saying changing the fluid will eliminate failure but it help prevent some possible damage related to fluid failure.

 

[BLCKFLSH]

When the Honda engineers decided to make the interval for transmission fluid change, they were influenced by so many companies that say "100k miles, before the first major service", and the ever popular "true cost to own" equation. Everyone wants low maintenance costs. When they wrote the manual, they also didn't know there would be a recall on the transmission. We now know these transmissions are delicate, and need all the help we can give them. I change my fluid every 15k miles, and changed the filter at 60k miles. I am going to keep the fluid as clean and fresh as possible. I think it will last longer, with fresh clean fluid, than it will with worn, burnt, metal particle filled fluid. Call me crazy.