Tranny Swap - Need Advice

h8crew · Jul 21, 2012

Hey everyone. Just bought a 2001 Accord V6 EX with auto tranny and lo and behold, it needs a new tranny.... of course. Well I found one with less than 60K miles on it for $500 from a scrapper and will be doing the swap early next week. The tranny is in the old car now (so it hasn't been sitting with no fluid) and they're taking it out for me. I just wanted to know is there anything I should know while I do the swap? We were planning on tipping it over and doing a complete drain and fill including the torque converter. Is that wise and should I do any type of conditioning etc? Just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I should be aware of or should avoid doing.

RedRyder · Jul 21, 2012

Just don't flush it. Drain and fill of both the tranny and the converter is a good idea, just make sure you have the correct specs on how much fluid they should both have. Unfortunately, mileage is often irrelevant when it comes to these trannies going bad, so since you haven't had the opportunity to drive the donor car and check the tranny for yourself, it may be a good idea to change the solenoids. But that might be something you could wait on, to see if they're bad.

Some will recommend starting out this transmission's life in your car with a tranny cooler as well.

h8crew · Jul 21, 2012

Thanks Red. Luckily the donor car was rear-ended so it means it was still being driven when it was scrapped. I know that doesn't mean much with these transmissions, but I think it will up my chances by a small margin.