It doesn't take me an hour and I don't have a lift. Plus while it's draining the tech can do something else like rotate tires or work on a different car.

 

That's not how most repair shops work. Their computer software has a set number of hours for each kind of job. For example, an oil change will be 1.0. The tech gets paid for 1.0 units of work, and you get charged for 1.0 units of labor (you'll get charged more than the tech gets paid because profit).

If the tech gets the job done in less time than that, great. Usually though it takes them longer. They're not paid (and you don't pay for) how long it actually takes, they get paid (and you pay for) what the system says it should take.

This prevents techs from dragging jobs out intentionally to get paid more, and it prevents techs from rushing and possibly doing a shitty job just to get you out the door.

 

I know how book time works. But in any case this is maybe a fifteen minute job.

 

If this takes 3.6 quarts, is the "partial change part" the other .4 qts., or is there more in there somewhere that
doesn't drain out? Is THAT the part Honda approves of? The guy made it sound they were just going to swap
a little out. All of my driving is considered "severe condition" temperature-wise.

 

No, the capacity is much more but only some comes out when you drain it. And that's okay- some people will drain and refill, drive to mix, then drain and refill, and repeat...

Which is overkill.

 

Thanks. I might try this myself. I am looking for youtube videos that
apply to a 2015.

 

I know the drain plug is ⅜ female, IE the drive end of a ratchet wrench, but mine is in so tight (my fault from 2 yrs ago ..) that it won't budge. I gave a few taps with a mallet and a hammer but no go. I don't want to really bang on my good ratchet for fear of damaging it. Can't seem to find a ⅜ SQUARE head Allen wrench anywhere, only hex wrenches. Any ideas where I might find ⅜ square, 90 degrees? Thanks. Jeff

 

How about buying a cheapo ratchet and banging on that?

 

Buy a 3/8 inch drive breaker bar. There are 2 types. On one type, the 3/8 inch drive part slides along the bar, so you can put it at either end, in the middle, or anywhere else along the bar. The other type has the 3/8 inch drive at one end, and you can angle it so that it is perpendicular to the bar, or at any angle you want.

 

At duckylady, the CVT hold about 6 quarts of oil. There is no practical way to drain all of it out unless you remove the transaxle from the car and completely disassemble it. The spec for replacing the oil under normal circumstances is 3.6 quarts. That is how the normal oil change procedure works: roughly 3.6 quarts drains out; roughly 3.6 quarts needs to be put in.That is the only oil change procedure. There is no time when you add less oil. There is no time when you add more oil unless perhaps when you remove and replace the transaxle, or perhaps when you have detached the axle shafts from the transaxle. Honda is adamant about saying the unit requires Honda HCF-2 oil and no other CVT oil will do. Older Hondas can use "HCF-1" I think they call it. Valvoline now has a product that they say is fine as a replacement for HCF-2 – but it costs only a little bit less so personally I would stick with the Honda labeled product. 4 quarts of Honda's HCF-2 is about $60. 4 quarts of Valvoline's product is about $50. At chiefengineer – most often you cannot trust sales people to give you accurate info. They tend to tell you what they think will influence you to buy the car, They tend to be very imaginative in their ability to make things up. To get correct info you should go to Honda's official service literature on line, which requires a paid subscription. By no stretch of the imagination is the Fit's CVT a "sealed unit." It has a drain plug, a fill hole, and a peep hole into which you can put a dipstick but it doesn't come with a dip stick. You just find a stick and you measure hte oil level on it with a ruler. Apparently some people seem to have used the peep hole as a fill hole but if you do that you have to be especially careful not to overfill the CVT. Honda says to change the CVT fluid when the maintenance minder tell you to. From what I hear it does that more or less at about 60,000 miles but I think 50,000 would be better. Some other manufacturers claim their CVTs do not need fluid changes for "the lifetime of the vehicle." But they don't tell you what the lifetime of the vehicle is. Indeed, if you do not change their oil, their CVTs will normally keep working until their warrantee period is over. Nissans tend to have CVTs that last only 60,000 miles. I guess that's the lifetime of a Nissan vehicle. However it appears that their CVTs can last over 200,000 if their oil is changed every 30,000 miles (I would not buy a Nissan vehicle made within the last 20 years). So it seems that the CVTs that are said to be maintenance free actually need more maintenance than the Fit's CVT, which Honda acknowledges needs periodic oil changes.

 

Ratchet is not the right tool to break loose.Instead, you can use a breaker bar to break it loose, THEN use a ratchet. Breaker bar with swivel head works perfectly. Check this video out it might help

 

I realize this thread is about changing ATF in a CVT tranny but my manual tranny Fit has the same kind of drain plug. I think I can help those who have trouble removing the plug. Talking about the square female hole in the center of the plug which you need to use a 3/8" breaker bar or ratchet drive to remove. As another poster said, strongly suggest hammering on a breaker bar rather than a ratchet drive! My 2007 Fit Sport manual trans. was on the road for 15 years in the rust belt before I decided to change the manual tranny oil. With all the road salt used in Western New York, the drain plug was pretty corroded. That means the super tight fit you may have experienced for the 3/8" drive is even worse than most of you might have when you don't live in a place where they salt away snowfalls of less than six inches :-( But dealing with rusty stuff on a car is another topic.

Once I realized this oil drain plug was in REALLY tight I knew just getting about 10% of the depth of the breaker bar end hammered into the plug was only going to bugger it up making matters worse, I came up with another approach. Clean out the square hole with a small flat file. It took some patience but I was able to remove the surface corrosion and keep trying the fit until I was able to tap the 3/8" drive almost all the way in. Only then should you reef on the darn thing to get it out. I'd say mine was in there with over 100 foot pounds of torque. Think lug nut tight. I had to use a foot long cheater pipe on the end of my breaker bar because I'm a 79 year old weakling not as strong as in my youth ;-)

 

Hmm, I was planning on doing it this way. Im my mind, a logical approach would be to drain the CVT, fill up the specified amount, then let an eventual overfilling drain from the peep hole until it stops

Shouldnt = stop draining indicate that the CVT fluid is at the level you want it to be?

 

I think your best bet would be to drain and refill with the 3.6 quarts Honda recommends and not worry about overfilling or running out the peep hole or whatever you want to call it.