Ways to prolong the life of our AT tranny

Cip

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update: so i changed the tranny fluid. must've been the first time because damn that bolt took me nearly 2 days to try and take off! lol. anyways, the old fluid came out pretty black. shifting is a bit better and my car doesn't jerk when i cruise at 45mph (thank god). still idles with a vibration and i noticed that the WHOLE engine moves when i shift from P to R :wtf2: so i'm guna have to double check my mounts next off day, quick question though: is there only 3 engine mounts? front and both sides?

also here is what my old tranny fluid looked like https://flic.kr/p/qsBXfv
 

xci.ed6

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Well, those with 2 trans mounts, 4 total.

Be prepared to d&f soon, gotta clean that gunk out.

You used a new crush washer, right?

The Honda dealer gives it to me free when I buy atf.
 

SupraGuy

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This is the first automatic transmission that I've owned in many years.

However, back in my teenage years, I had some Chev V8/Autos, and as far as I was able to determine, internal to the transmission, there was zero difference between neutral and park. The difference in those transmissions was that the gear selector in "park" would allow a pin to slide out and lock the driveshaft in place, whereas in any gear other than "park" that pin would be retracted.

I helped a friend replace that pin after he put his car into park while it was still moving. (Engine stalled, and he put it all the way to park to attempt re-starting it)

So all this business of using neutral instead of park when stopping/starting out makes no sense to me at all. It has nothing to do at all with the transmission bands, the torque converter, fluid channels, or clutches. Well, not unless Honda transmissions are fundamentally different from older automatic transmissions in a way that is needlessly complicated.

I'd be seriously amazed if the behavior of "Park" needs to be different from "Neutral" in any way that the extremely simply mechanism of a locking pin (not unlike the one that locks your steering wheel when you lock your ignition) cannot manage. After all, it's not like putting your standard transmission in gear when parked, where it locks the output to the flywheel, since you can start and run the engine (even rev it) in park and it applies no pressure against the brakes.

Fluid change: That makes sense. Doing that more often than the owner's manual calls for won't hurt. I should probably do this very soon, since it probably hasn't been done appropriately. This is one thing that I think almost all owner's manuals will specify should be done more often for "towing or heavy service."

Fluid cooler: Probably won't hurt. A thermostatic switch similar to the ones for engine oil coolers is probably a good idea for temperature regulation, depending on the kind of flow expected. I seem to recall that my old GM transmission cooler ran the fluid through the hot side of the radiator. I guess that way it can't get too cool, but also won't allow it to get too hot. If there's a factory cooler, I'll keep it, but I don't think that I'll add one, since the temperature regulation is important, too.

Fluid filter: There are other sources of grit and grime in hydraulic lines than wear detritus from the transmission, and that stuff can cause problems, too. I see no way in which this would harm the transmission, unless it ends up restricting fluid flow. If you install a filter, be prepared to change it is all. Again, I probably won't do this, but would consider it on a factory cooler line.

I hadn't considered using D3 instead of D4 much. I probably would have used D3 for towing or something, but I do a lot of highway driving, so it's probably not really practical as a way to save the transmission for longer service for me. My daily commute involves speeds from 70-75mph as well as city light-to-light.
 
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