Advice needed for transmission maintenance

What would you guys recommend to someone with a 2002 V6 Sedan with 80,000 miles on the original transmission? Everything is shifting fine, no issues whatsoever, but I would like to keep it that way for as long as possible.

I am hearing lots of conflicting information about if transmission drain/fill is a good thing or bad thing to do as "preventative", if the 2002 transmission is garbage or if they fixed whatever the problem is, and also if a transmission cooler is worth the hassle. My regular mechanic tells me to "leave it alone", but they don't do a lot of transmission work, so who knows.

Anyways I have lucked out with this car already because besides random brake and suspension pieces I've had to replace, I haven't had anything major go wrong with it in the few years I've had it. Plus the paint and leather are mint thanks to the previous owner keeping it in the garage and hardly driving it.



Thanks guys.

Great looking sedan! Nothing wrong with a drain /refill, just never flush the trans.

Here's a good thread on how to drive the auto carefully and care for it:

http://www.6thgenaccord.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44620

Thanks RedRyder, I have been using the e-brake more and using your trick whenever I park it on an incline. Mechanic I brought it to was somewhat aware of the trans issues we have since he had just worked on a CL extensively, but he sounded a little "superstitious" about the drain and fill. His thought was that if it's working fine now, opening the thing up would mess with the whole ecosystem. I have seen that same sentiment on a few threads here too but it didn't really seem like a great move. Whatever. If this dude doesn't want my money that's cool.


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pjnofrills said:

Thanks RedRyder, I have been using the e-brake more and using your trick whenever I park it on an incline. Mechanic I brought it to was somewhat aware of the trans issues we have since he had just worked on a CL extensively, but he sounded a little "superstitious" about the drain and fill. His thought was that if it's working fine now, opening the thing up would mess with the whole ecosystem. I have seen that same sentiment on a few threads here too but it didn't really seem like a great move. Whatever. If this dude doesn't want my money that's cool.


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Click to expand...

Drain and refill with OEM fluid.

Every other oil change; or twice a year is what I do. Shifts smooth, and haven't had a problem in three years so far.

D&F, REAL Honda fluid!!!

Do it till the fluid is red!! then every 10k

Goin on 250k miles in a '00.

Also, avoid unecessasary hard driving. Give shifts a slight pause before switching to different gears.

Dang, that seems more often than the shops recommendation of NEVER. Thanks for the input guys.


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RedRyder said:

Great looking sedan! Nothing wrong with a drain /refill, just never flush the trans.

Here's a good thread on how to drive the auto carefully and care for it:

http://www.6thgenaccord.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44620

Click to expand...

+1 on that thread. I did the "getting out" part for the last year or 2 religiously. You don't really want to rest your car on the parking pawl. I found that when using this method, the car starts up with little to no jolt. I actually still use it with my current car but I just shift to N, engage parking brake, shift to P with a slight pause between each gear to ensure engagement and then I turn off the car.

Bugs me when ppl slap from P to D all in one motion or while reversing, they slap it to D while the car is still rolling backwards as if it was a standard transmission. Let the gears engage for a second people.

Tranny was still running silky smooth after 50k+ on the rebuilt and only one ATF D&F earlier this year.

Our auto is a Honda, which is basically a manual with the 'shift' crap replaced with clutches, ie:

no this:


kinda this:


which doesn't really effect you either, but makes our cars cool. you have clutch packs for gears, which when engaged have one side moving (engine) one side not moving (wheels), the engine side is connected (to the engine) by a 'clutch' that can allow movement (neutral) or not (stopped wheels in gear) or force movement (moving in gear). The torque converter:



So basically, shifting in gear with a SLIGHT movement of the car doesn't really effect it.

If you want me to talk about more, I can go into what happens when you change gear selection (R/D/D1/etc) and why you do not wait for that to happen. Basically valve style, use, and fluid movement.

The only thing you shouldn't try is PARK while moving, Your basically locking the rotating shaft to the housing, to stop it, but if you have ever tried it you get a "click-click-click-" sound until the SPRING LOADED tab goes in to stop it. You don't really cause damage (by forcing the shifter) but every 'click' you hear, is the sound of damage (usually just junk in your fluid, but sometimes severe).

I have completely disassembled several transmissions, to rebuild or 'examine'. Even new metal-belt type CVT (which, IMO, is more fancy-gokart type). Everything they are based on is first grade crap, unless you want to get into the new prius planetary type, I will have much more to say on that (former Toyota Tech).

flush => pro: completely clean tranny, con: risk gear slippage
drain/fill => pro: relubes the tranny, con: not as comprehensive as a flush