Here I wiped the engine's dipstick on a paper towel, under 'E'. I wiped the trans under 'T' but you can't see it well, so there's a pic of it draining. This is the darkest the oil or ATF should look! This is at about 12 months & 7,000 miles since I changed them both last time. It will take your effort to get one to go that long between changes! Oil choice is also important. I used to use Mobile1, but found Castrol Edge to be a LOT better. Also weight matters. They recommend 5W30, accounting for efficiency. I would rather have longetivity considered, so I run 10W40.
The trans, it is a Honda trans, so ONLY USE -REAL- Honda fluid! Automatic ours are -WAY- different than anyone elses! The manuals are very different too, again, ONLY USE -REAL- Honda MTF in those!
This is the worst ATF should look, btw. You are changing about 3 qt, but the trans holds about 9! This is a 'D&F', drain & fill. The standard way Honda recommends. Some shops do a 'flush', or something. I have done them because I work for shops, on customer cars. I will never do one on my own car though!
Honda says to do the ATF @ 15k, but they also extended the warranty for our transmissions. But, I change it when I think it needs it, about half that many miles. I haven't had a failure yet! At ~twice the mileage the extended warranty went!
<edit>I realized I forgot about covering the filter! I use Honda filters. ONLY Honda filters! (except one Honda motorcycle, because it can not use one! Really. More on that later
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