Do it yourself or dealer?

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:43:24 -0700, jim beam
> wrote:

wrote:
>> On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:12:04 -0700, jim beam
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Hello, Group:
>>>>
>>>> Need to change my transmission fluid (been almost 100K), the shop
>>>> charges $100 for a transmission flush, so could I do it myself my much
>>>> cheaper, and is the hassle worth it to save the money/
>>>>
>>>> I own a 98 4cyc EX Honda Accord, and I've never changed my
>>>> transmission fluid myself.
>>>>
>>>> --TJ
>>>
>>> do NOT allow them to flush. seriously. just drain and fill, like it
>>> says in the honda workshop manual. easy to do yourself. do it two or
>>> three times, leave a week or so between each time.
>>
>> And this is long overdue so either do it yourself or pay $300 and do
>> it 3 times by the dealer, otherwise you can kiss you transmission
>> goodbye.
>
>i think that's a little over-doing it nick. friends of mine drove an
>accord 360k miles, automatic, never changed the atf. if anything, the
>fact that they didn't probably helped compared with garages that insist
>on flushing with non-honda fluid which /is/ known to be a problem.
>
>should he change? sure. will it fall apart tomorrow if he doesn't?
>absolutely not. and the transmission on my friend's accord was still
>doing strong when they got rid of it.
>
>
>>
>> I'm a little more cautious and change the washer each time I do a
>> drain an fill...runs me an additional 1.50 for each one.
>>
>>
>>

I don't know but I don't want to chance killing my transmission if I
can prevent it with $20 of fluid every 30k miles. BMW says that you
never need to change the fluid, and I've heard of failures around
60-80k miles on some of them.

I usually only do one drain and fill every 30k miles instead of what
some others do which is a drain and fill every 3 times. Also you may
want to have a look at the driveaccord forum as people have been doing
drain and fills in their Gen 7 Accords and Gen 8 Civics at 15k miles
as there were some issues with the shifting of 3rd gear. Some have
said that it has resolved the problem but only to appear again after
another 15k miles.

wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:43:24 -0700, jim beam
> > wrote:
>
>> wrote:
>>> On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:12:04 -0700, jim beam
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Hello, Group:
>>>>>
>>>>> Need to change my transmission fluid (been almost 100K), the shop
>>>>> charges $100 for a transmission flush, so could I do it myself my much
>>>>> cheaper, and is the hassle worth it to save the money/
>>>>>
>>>>> I own a 98 4cyc EX Honda Accord, and I've never changed my
>>>>> transmission fluid myself.
>>>>>
>>>>> --TJ
>>>> do NOT allow them to flush. seriously. just drain and fill, like it
>>>> says in the honda workshop manual. easy to do yourself. do it two or
>>>> three times, leave a week or so between each time.
>>> And this is long overdue so either do it yourself or pay $300 and do
>>> it 3 times by the dealer, otherwise you can kiss you transmission
>>> goodbye.
>> i think that's a little over-doing it nick. friends of mine drove an
>> accord 360k miles, automatic, never changed the atf. if anything, the
>> fact that they didn't probably helped compared with garages that insist
>> on flushing with non-honda fluid which /is/ known to be a problem.
>>
>> should he change? sure. will it fall apart tomorrow if he doesn't?
>> absolutely not. and the transmission on my friend's accord was still
>> doing strong when they got rid of it.
>>
>>
>>> I'm a little more cautious and change the washer each time I do a
>>> drain an fill...runs me an additional 1.50 for each one.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
> I don't know but I don't want to chance killing my transmission if I
> can prevent it with $20 of fluid every 30k miles. BMW says that you
> never need to change the fluid, and I've heard of failures around
> 60-80k miles on some of them.

it's usually a little higher, but yes, that particular manufacturer
/very/ tightly controls product longevity. no drain plugs there.


>
> I usually only do one drain and fill every 30k miles instead of what
> some others do which is a drain and fill every 3 times. Also you may
> want to have a look at the driveaccord forum as people have been doing
> drain and fills in their Gen 7 Accords and Gen 8 Civics at 15k miles
> as there were some issues with the shifting of 3rd gear. Some have
> said that it has resolved the problem but only to appear again after
> another 15k miles.

maybe - the later generations have had all kinds of problems. but from
a technical viewpoint, and assuming there's no mechanical problem,
there's no real reason to change the oil too often. it's filtered and
the drain plug magnet traps all the large particulates, etc. my crx,
which had had no discernible transmission maintenance before i bought it
at 103k miles, had brown fluid when i changed it. but beyond that, it
was fine. and there was only a little particulate matter on the magnet.