So, I was unaware that most people are changing the atf much sooner than the MM and I'm at the 60k mark where the atf service reminder has come up. I'm going to be flushing all the old stuff out and changing the filter, but wanted to know if I need to worry about premature wear with most people changing at 30k and most dealers apparently recommending that as well.

My husband and I do the service, so I wasn't able to hear this recommendation from the dealer and they didn't say anything the one time I was there for the valve spring recall.

 

why worry if you followed the MM? has the transmission been giving you any trouble?

change the fluid and then go to a 30k schedule if you want.

 

No, it drives fine. If anything, going through the gears when parked is a little clunkier/noisy, but other than that, drive and gear shifting is fine. Guess I got worried because there are a lot of doom and gloom posts about following the MM for this particular service and troubles with automatics in other Honda models at low mileage milestones. Also have gotten acquainted with a few independent Honda techs who's jaws dropped when I said I haven't changed the atf yet.

 

You should be fine...if you do alot of stop and go in the city driving with lots on ramps and accelerating to highway speeds, consider going to a 30k severe service for all your fluids.

since replacing fluids are so much cheaper than repair from overextending current fluids.

 

Yeah, I'm going to be changing the atf more often after this as I drive over a pretty big hill to and from work every day. Most of my miles are highway, but I live in L.A., so there is a considerable amount of stop and go miles on my car.

 

There has been VERY few reports of any problems with the USDM Fit auto (but a lot with the CVT overseas) the few reported were a simple to replace switch. Your car should be fine.

 

ATF does not age like engine oil. The are no combustion by products to dilute or contaminate it. It is basically a closed system so outside contamination is minimal. There is an anti-foaming agent that wears out over time but 60 K is hardly enough time or miles or time to reach that point. The only other thing that will age ATF is overheating. A transmission that is parked for extended periods (months) will sometimes accumulate some moisture condensation. If it is a regularly driven vehicle then that moisture is evaporated off and will not cause any problems.

So just change it on the schedule recommended by Honda and do not worry about it.

 

Unless you are doing the ATF drain and fill yourself, paying someone like a mechanic to do it at 30,000 miles is a complete waste of time and money. At 60,000 you should be thinking about it, not necessarily doing it. Mine went for 94,000 before I changed it out after I bought the car. There still was some red in the fluid at that mileage. I did my "Toyota" Vibe's ATF change at 60,000 miles even though it wasn't due until 100,000. The local Toyota mechanic said that he believes (as do I) that the recommended 100,000 mile ATF change recommendation is a mistake and that he has been able to rectify many Toyota transmission issues simply by changing out the fluid. I would never wait until 100,000 and I'm sorry that the first owner of my vehicle neglected to change it out on (now) my car. However, it seems to shift and perform just fine now that the old stuff is out. The other major advantage of changing ATF out early (60,000) is that you can confidently flush out the transmission instead of just doing a drain and fill. Flushing gets "all" the fluid out from atop the torque converter and eliminates most/all of the dirt. Since mine went for 94,000, I had my mechanic do a drain and fill only and will have to do that for the rest of this car's life. To do a flush at such a high mileage could dislodge "varnish" from the side walls and actually introduce more particulate matter into the transmission gears, thus prematurely killing the transmission. Again, if you are doing fluid replacements yourself, you can do it as low a mileage as you want because it is much cheaper to do it yourself and you have the time and talent to do so.

 

Yours is the first instance of anyone I know seeing the elusive ATF service indicator. I assumed it would pop up after 100K. 60K is the noted mileage for "severe service" outside of normal MM indicators. How frequent oil changes does the MM call for? (just curious).

And no, you're fine. More frequent ATF drain/fills are obsessive.

from the manual:

 

Don`t worry about this, first time i change atf on 90 000 km)) now i have no problem with transmission, but when i do kickdown and drive 140-170 km\h I smell burning oil..i don`t no what it is) sorry for my english

 

s'ok, no one drives more than 120kmh here anyway

 

Had to look back at the records we keep to find when the MM typically comes on. For the last 40k miles, the engine oil MM alert comes up roughly every 9k-11k miles. That's quite a while now that I pay attention to it.

 

That's pretty normal for a longer daily commute (oil change interval). It's interesting it flagged the transmission at 60k for an ATF change. The shop manual infers it checks transmission temp and other use cycles but it's nice to see it working.

 

Well, it says it in the owners manual to do it at 60k then 30k, so I would have changed it either way. I take it a lot of Fit owners simply do not get this alert at 60k?

 

I would change "all" the atf, as well as the filter. Adding new fluid to old fluid, just doesn't make sense to me.

 

Look, I know that there is a lot of "doom and gloom" posted on this forum for people that go by the maintenance minder. But take it from this DIY '09 Fit owner with 118K on the motor, which I purchased brand-new - I have not had one single problem with my Fit. NOT ONE. Nothing! And all I do is what the maintenance minder tells me to do. I beat the h e l l out of this car on the road, but I make sure to do every single thing that the maintenance minder (and the service manual) tells me to do and the car has always ran fine as a result. Of course it makes me a little nervous, because I am old school. We didn't go 10,000 miles between oil changes back in the day. But I am also smart enough to know that Honda knows what the f*&k they are doing after several decades of making reliable cars, so in the end I decided to do what they say. The result has saved me a buttload of cash and provided me with a very reliable vehicle. I don't think that I did my first transmission fluid change until about 70K. Why? Because that is when the maintenance minder told me to. 30K later, it told me to again and I did it. I just went to the dealer, bought the fluid, changed it, done.

Trust me - do what Honda tells you to do, and you will be ok.

 

Haha thanks for the reassurances

 

None that I'm aware of. It's not just a mileage based calculation by the MM, but the owner's manual and shop manual don't give up the secret.

There are a lot of ocd people here (I'm one of them) but I agree that the Honda engineers know what they're doing. You can always do more maintenance than they specify, but it kind of defeats the purpose of buying a reliable economy car. If I wanted to do maintenance obsessively I would have gotten a German car.

 

Agree with all that following MM is what Honda says we should do.

But. I do what I believe is best for the car...If I am spending extra money on unnecessary maintenance (cost of parts only ), so be it. It's worth the peace of mind I get... and because I enjoy doing them as a hobby

For example: on 09 Fit Sport auto that has less than 45K miles,

- I changed the ATF (6 qts) way before MM would indicate such, as I feel it's a cheap insurance to prevent premature(unlucky) transmission failure. BTW, the suggested replacement interval for severe maintenance schedule (per online manual) in Japan is 38K miles, and then every 28K miles after that.

- I change the filter along with the oil when MM tells me to change only the oil. Sometimes, I change the oil before MM indicates 15% life remaining when my wife tells me that engine doesn't feel as smooth as she would like.

- I checked the spark plugs and coils even though MM didn't indicate such. BTW, they were good.

- I rotate tires every 5K miles because it's free at tire place I bought the tires from.

- I also clean and spray rust proof paint on the underside if I see any sign of rust as I live in one of the rust belt states

 

If I had bought a A/T Fit (Bought a M/T) I would change "all" of the fluid, if it turned color and smelled, different than the new fluid. If things are wearing out, in the trans, it causes slippage, excessive heat, and burned fluid.
If all looked well, I would change "all" of the fluid at 60,000 miles. I've had a head time searching about newer Fits having a trans filter or not. Some one posted about replacing the trans in line filter, that was somewhere below the battery.
I would definitely change the filter, with a total fluid change.
If the filter is inline with the cooler, I would drain the transmission, and get out 1/2 +/- of the old oil. Refill with new oil.
Remove the filter. Use some hose and piece of tubing as a connectors, and extend the 2 lines that were on the filter.
Put the 2 hoses in a bucket.
Have someone start the car for a few seconds, in order to see which hose the fluid is coming out of. Then shut the engine off. And top off the new fluid.
Leave that hose in the bucket. Plug the other hose, if any oil comes out.
With a funnel in the atf fill, (Usually the dip stick tube)
and quarts of atf ready to pour, have someone start the car, and as old fluid comes out the hose, into the bucket, pour new fluid into the fill tube, at the same rate it's coming out.
I would put in 4 quarts and see if the fluid coming out the hose looked good.
If ok, install new filter and drain any fluid needed to get the correct level.

As I said, I don't have an a/t Fit. I have worked on many a/t's, and know that draining all the fluid is the right way to do it.