I have a 2011 base Fit, and finally at 85k miles the maintenance minder displayed A123. I've been following the MM and only doing service when it suggests, so this will be my first ATF change. I've been taking it various dealerships & let me tell you, Honda Dealers do not make it easy to follow the MM that's for sure, gotten into it more than a couple of times with them LOL.


after a recent alignment one dealership suggested i replace my water pump as preventative maintenance (don't worry i'm not going to do that).

 

I am fortunate as my dealer does not try to over sell. Tranny should be done every three years. Now there is a lot of discussion on here how it should be done. When it drains it only does about1 quart so adding new just dilutes the remainder. For complete drain this should be repeated 3 times. My dealer says just doing the one is sufficient.

I also have my brake fluid replaced every three years. Oil and filter every year as I am a low mileage.

Ten + yrs and still ticking.

 

I have seen nowhere in my manual that the transmission fluid must be changed every 3 years... Where does that come from?

(might be a good practice, this is not what I am telling...just would like to know where it is written)

 

Save yourself some money and change the trans fluid yourself. It's s pretty simple procedure. I personally prefer using the oem Honda atf fluid. Go to the dealership and buy the fluid you need from the parts dept and also buy an aluminum sealing washer for the drain plug. Raise the car and remove the drain plug on the side of the transmission and drain the hot trans fluid into an oil drain pan. Replace the drain plug and tighten it using the new washer. and then lower the car to a level surface, Your owner's manual will tell you the amount of fluid needed for this type of drain and fill. Don't overfill the transmission!

You also mentioned getting a front end alignment at the dealership. You can get a better price from an alignment shop, and a better job I think. An alignment shop does alignments everyday all day, where the dealership does them less frequently- if they even have an alignment rack. Some dealerships will farm out alignments to an alignment shop and then tack on a fee to the bill for the service.

 

Drat. Can't find it. As my first one was back in 2014 and second done in 2017 I must have read it somewhere. I will be having it done again early next year with my oil and filter change.

 

yeah, i was gonna mention when you say "should" that's not per the owner's manual. i am gonna change it for the first time in 8.5 years because this is the first time the MM displayed a 3 letting me know it should be changed. the owner's manual says to follow the MM.

not saying it might be a good practice to change it every 3 years, but i've been only following the MM. For others who decide to follow the owner's manual and MM, i just want them to know that the first time the MM told me to change my transmission fluid was after 8.5 years and 85k miles.

 

yeah, the transmission fluid change seems pretty simple (and so does the air element filter & the cabin filter). and i mean oil changes aren't that hard.... but i don't have the space to store all the pans to collect the oil / transmission fluid and it seems a hassle to then dispose of those fluids properly. idk.

for the alignment, the dealer charged me $60 + tax. The other option I was thinking of having it aligned at a local goodyear tire place, but i figured that maybe the dealer would be better because they deal specifically with hondas in case there are any tricks to aligning hondas. maybe that's stupid, but i figured it would be better than a tire place that deals w/ all brands. LOL.

but good advice! thanks.

 

Please note that a dealer's ATF change for $100 or so, may only be to drain out 2.5 qts (what comes out when drain plug removed) of the total 6.1 qt capacity (lots inside the torque converter, etc).

I've been changing the ATF on a '09 CIVIC (130k total) and my '11 FIT (81k total) every 30k miles / approx every 3 yrs. Rather than give the dealer $100 and only get 2.5 / 6.1 = 41% of the ATF changed out, I buy a 12 pack of Honda DW-1 for $90 and a new drain plug washer. I drain / refill / drive 20 miles / drain / refill / and so on until I put the new drain plug washer on and refill for the last time. That process gets you up into +90% of the ATF is new.

Yes, 3 yr old ATF is black / brown and has a odor, whereas, the new DW-1 is candy apple red and not much of an odor. With each successive draining, you can see it's getting cleaner / more new ATF. Seems like a waste to use 2x / twice the ATF than the AT's capacity but you have to look at the results and price. If a dealer did it that way (4 drains / 4 refills), and they had a tech driver your car 20 miles to circulate the ATF, it would cost you in excess of $600.

This next time, I'll change the external filters.

 

I worked the simple automatic transmission fluid drain-and-fill on our 2013 Fit a few days ago and found something interesting. Several years ago when I drained the fluid with the car on level ground and not replacing the filter, 2.6 QT drained out. This time I had the front of the car elevated on ramps during the fluid drain and not replacing the filter, 3.1 QT drained out. That's an additional half quart out by elevating the front of the car.

I did the car's very first fluid and filter replacement (a simple drain-and-fill) at 60K Miles after buying the car used. The fluid looked horribly black and the magnetic drain plug was thick with swarf. I've since done two more simple drain-and-fills since (at 63K Miles and at 88K Miles) without filter change and things looked good after each, with the fluid dark but not black and the drain plug showing very little swarf.

Seeing this, I'll probably stick a simple drain-and-fill every 25K Miles. Next time I'll change the filter. I use Honda ATF DW-1 Fluid.