Hello all,
2009 Fit Sport coming up to 36000 miles. Had the brake fluid changed a while back, but now thinking it may be time to change the auto transmission, coolant, and power steering (?) fluid?

I think I now have all of the fluids covered, and if and when I get this done can anyone tell me if they go ahead with the "flush" or "flush with chemicals" or just a basic drain and refill?

I don't go to the dealer, rather an independent repair shop but they work on a lot of Hondas and are familiar with the "special" Honda fluids if needed, I think that the coolant was one of them.

Beyond the regular oil/filter/rotate tires the only things I have had done are new tires, cabin and engine air filters, and the change of brake fluid. Correct me if I am wrong but is there anything else I need to worry about with my current mileage? I think that the maintenance minder thing will tell me when it is time to replace coolant and transmission fluid, not sure about the power steering fluid, but when it is time I am curious if the "power flush" stuff is necessary.

Thanks for any info I appreciate it!
Mike

 

There's no power steering fluid (it's electric rather than hydraulic).

The normal maintenance schedule does not call for either coolant change or automatic transmission change until after 100K miles when going by the MM.

There is some advantage to doing a drain/fill on the transmission to start using the newer Honda DW-1 ATF. It performs better than the older spec fluid (less noise, smoother shifting) but there is no talk about this increasing the life of the transmission. Personally, I did a transmission drain/fill at about 30K and perceived an improvement. Keep in mind each drain/fill changes less than half the 6 quarts of ATF. Power flushing is not recommended by anyone except a shop that owns a power flush machine. A simple drain fill should not cost more than $50; it's easier than an oil change (the filter is not a maintenance item). But many shops, especially Honda dealers, overcharge for this service. A quart of DW-1 is about $12.00. You do the math.

I don't feel strongly about more frequent maintenance than called for by the MM and owner's manual, but there are those that do. Doesn't hurt anything but your wallet.

 

Steering is electric, so no fluid there. Brake fluid is every 3 years, so that was done about right. Coolant you're probably ok to wait on it, though drain and fill is pretty easy and can't hurt if you use the proper fluid.

For the transmission, Honda says its not needed till somewhere past 60-100k. That said, a fair number of people think it should be done much sooner, every 30k or so. Because a dead transmission is so expensive to fix and is one of the more likely things to go, I'd drain and fill it every 30k or so. It should be a drain and fill and not a flush and is easy because of where the drain plug is.

 

Steve and Malraux,

Thank you very much for the replies. I did not realize that the steering is electric so one less thing to worry about.

The shop I go do charges $ $69.95 for "transmission flush with additives" but changed that to $89.95 because of the special Honda fluid.

They are $49.95 on $49.95 for "Power Coolant Flush" which is described as "power flush coolant system, includes chemicals and anti-freeze." and $19.95 for a "Summer Coolant Flush" which states that it is a drain and refill with up to 2 gallons of anti freeze.

As far as I can tell they did not offer a simple drain and refill on the auto transmission.

So, from the looks of it, it probably would not be a bad idea to get the coolant drain and refill as it sounds like the flush is not needed, and see if they can just do a drain and refill with whatever special Honda fluid (the newer stuff mentioned) is needed for the transmission.

It also sounds like there is no great hurry, and I plan on shopping around for prices or waiting on coupons. Thanks again for the advise, and please let me know if I am correct in my understanding of your answers.

Mike

 

In short, yeah, that sounds about right. The power coolant flush is more appropriate for cars that go way too long and have the coolant fluid break down. Regular drain and fills keep the fluid "fresh" enough not to need that. For $20 for a coolant drain and fill, that's certainly not a bad price. double check and make sure its a coolant compatible with Hondas.

Transmission drain plugs are relatively rare in cars, so they might not have an "on the menu" price for the process, and it takes a bit longer to do relative to the flush process. Regardless, Honda says only drain and fill, not flushes.

 

Awesome, thanks again for all of the help!

 

Basic fluid guideline...

Coolant - Drain and fill every 5 years/60k mile

Brake fluid replacement - 3 years/60k mile

ATF - Drain and fill every 2 years/60k miles for first time then every 30k afterwards. (which is a catch 22 if you look in '07/08 and '09/'10 manuals)

I personally recommend doing ATF replacements every 2years/30k miles especially if the vehicle came from the factory with ATF Z1. The ATF DW-1 that replaced Z1 provides much smoother shifts (like mentioned above) and doesn't break down as Z1 if you do a lot of spirited driving.

In addition to that, an ATF drain and fill on a Fit uses approximately 3 quarts of ATF... I'd recommend getting 4 quarts to be on the safe side of things incase you do need to top off/add ATF after driving the vehicle and getting the fluid to operating temperature.

 

Thanks Hootie

 

ATF fluid change. The radiator is used to cool the tranny fluid. To change your tranny fluid in its enterity, disconnect the tranny return hose from the tranny, should be the left hose. Attach a short piece of hose in the radiator nipple and put the other end in a empty gallon clear plastic jug. Start the car and let it piss out 1-2 quarts then shut it off. Refill with new fluid what you took out thry the dip stick hole or the large tranny fill bolt on top of the tranny. Redo this procedure until the fluid you are pissing out comes out the new fluid. Usually this is the amount of the tranny's total capacity no matter what vehicle you are doing.
I have used this procedure on ALL my cars that have a tranny oil cooler. Works like a charm! I have never had a tranny issue from doing this. In fact, my Pilot's radiator FAILED internally which mixed the coolant/tranny fluid. All the Honda dealer did to flush the tranny after the car was fixed was to drain the tranny some 3 quarts twice via the tranny drain bold on the tranny pan. The tranny fluid still looked like a strawberry shake and they gave me the car back that way!!! I ended up running some 2 1/2 cases of new tranny fluid thru via my method and now 10,000 miles later the tranny is fine. Otherwise I would be putting a new $4000 tranny plus labor in if I had left it alone.