With good experience of eliminating the tranny grinding noise by doing the drain and fill plus better tranny performance as we all feel, I will do this every 30k. It cannot be worst than using the old ATF and having noise.

 

There may be another thread about this but does a person HAVE to use Honda ATF? Wouldn't a person be able to replace it with Royal Purple, Lucas, etc. Would that be able to "fix" the issues with short maintenance intervals or is Honda ATF the only one a person can use? Now, maybe these questions are noob questions but transmissions are still one of those things I don't fully understand. From what I have read performance ATF helps with friction, heat, and longevity. Just looking for some more knowledge!

 

From the 2010 owner's manual.
Take from that... what you will. Incidentally, they replaced the Z1 with DW-something.

 

Supposedly Honda transmissions are somewhat different from most other manufacturers' transmissions (see the note at the top of List of Honda transmissions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), and as a result, it requires some additives that may or may not be present in non-Honda ATF -- as I understand it, most non-Honda fluid has only attempted to reverse engineer the Honda stuff.

From my own experience with a previous Honda transmission (the 4-speed in the 4-cyl Accord/Odyssey from the mid-90s), it did not like Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF AT ALL, despite Mobil recommending it for Honda applications (http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/...ZRI_ATF.aspx); the transmission would slam into gear pretty hard. You may have better luck with royal purple or amsoil, but I'm not sure...

 

Anyone with a Helm manual please state the correct torque when replacing the drain plug.
Thx

 

36 lbf*ft or 49 N*m.

 

I started running Amzoil ATF in a Honda Odyssey right after it got rebuilt by Honda, and have since put 50K trouble-free miles on it. I also added an additional in-line filter and a big ATF cooler just for grins. Shift quality is unchanged from what I can tell.

You are taking a risk by going non-oem, but most honda trans failures have one thing in common- ATFz1. DW-1 may be a fix though.

 

Yay. We agree on something. I will be using Amsoil ATF in my Fit in the near future. But rather than mix old ATF with new Amsoil synthetic and drain and fill three times, I am going to try to find a trans. shop that can vacuum extract all old ATF from trans and torque converter so that only new Amsoil goes into the trans. Don't know if that it possible because I have not asked the local shops yet.

I have only used Amsoil in all my cars and trucks for 30 years, and can't see the price justification for buying DW-1, and would not touch Z1 due to all of the Internet warnings against it.

 

Not sure I'm following your logic here. Amsoil is by far a more "boutique" and and expensive fluid as compared to DW-1. If you shop around, you should be able to find dw-1 for cheaper than amsoil.

But regardless, many transmission and even quicklube shops will have the equipment to do a transmission fluid exchange.
The machine you want to inquire about is a t-tech transmission fluid exchanger. It does not use a vaccuum or should be used in a manner where it generates it's own pressure. It should use the car's own pumps and fluid pressure to exchange the fluid.

 

Ask any parts manager at a dealer for a discount by buying a case of DW-1. I found they are willing to come down to $6 / quart => $72 + tax. This is a bit higher than the Internet price (about $65 per case), but when you factor in the shipping cost, the retail price may be cheaper.

 

Can't" vacuum" the fluid out of the converter.

 

Thanks for the info. on how to totally evacuate all old ATF. I only use Amsoil because they were the first to adapt the synthetic lubricants designed for jet turbine aircraft engines to meet all requirements of automobile lubricants. I have plenty of Amsoil ATF in stock left over from many previous vehicles, so why should I buy any Honda ATF? Especially when damage or short life resulting from the old, or the new Honda ATF is reported as likely depending on which Internet discussion you read.

I would trust Amsoil over ANY of the "late to the synthetic party" lubricants, and over 30 years of use has simply confirmed my trust in the product line.

 

Let me share some cool info:
I changed tires (175/65r14) at 35 k and front brakes at 37 k.
During my past visit to Honda dealer I have been offered the ATF change at 40 k.
Having BAD experience with their oil change (overfilled ½ qt) I rather do nothing and drive car for another 3 years than let someone mess up with it), than will get rear ended J
I would strongly recommend filling the transmission trough the fill plug (BTW, the stealership don’t have replacement washer for it - WTF??)
You may want to use 3/8 inch drive butterfly impact gun to lose the plug or use ½ inch robust extension (dumb engineers put aluminum gasket on aluminum housing)
When the fluid has little discoloration, it’s OK, most of the A/Ts I saw, had hard part failure (broken shafts and gears) despite excellent-looking ATF
The transmission noise caused by hard part wear not by bad clutches
The clutches are intended to slip during gear change protecting the hard parts from shock loading
In my past I was draining the fluid, measuring how much came out and was adding same amount (assuming the level was correct before draining!)

 

according to my printout/receipt, my mechanic put in Z1 after doing a drain and fill. Should I have asked him for DW-1 instead? I'm not familiar with the internet warnings regarding Z1.

 

Yes, my dealership has already "outlaw" Z1 for the Fits. Please make sure that you ask them to do the 4 x "flush & refill" to totally replace the Z1 inside your tranny.

 

I mean no disrespect thc, but I just called my mechanic and he disagrees. He said that the Z1 has been used for decades and he has seen no issues at all. He is aware that Honda has gone over to a different fluid in the new models. I think I will need a bit more evidence of failure before switching my fluid out from what was put in at the factory and apparently is still distributed to dealerships and mechanics nationwide. If there are any articles you can lead me to, I'd appreciate it.

 

Not sure if Honda would ever officially announce the replacement, but our local dealer technicians have already told us not to use Z1 for newer models.

Honda discontinues Z1 ATF effective 2011 - AcuraZine Community

It is your call to believe their words.

 

thanks for that thc; your post actually reassures me. I think we were talking at cross purposes. Since I have a 2007, Z1 is appropriate. It is only the new Honda models that are using the DW-1. Agree?

 

Agree and good luck with your 07 Fit. We all love these little buggers - they are great!

 

I can get behind changing the fluid over 30000, for thoe who want to be cautious. However, the idea of adding some new fluid to your spent fluid every once in a while, and then eventually you will have new fluid, doesn't make much sense to me.

You mentioned that was the advice given in the helm manual? You said the manual is factory authorized, but doesn't Honda distribute its own factory manuals to dealerships?

Mainly, I want to know, is there a better way of doing it? I've never done a tranny flush, so I'm not too familiar. Why can we only drain part of the fluid. In all other vehicles I've heard you want to drop the pan and clean it when you change the fluid, so what gives?