Transmission Fluid Change question: Honda

[vc]

I have 2 cars. Honda Civic 2001 (Manual 126K miles) and Honda CRV 2004 2WD (Automatic-104K miles). After looking at ETCG videos , I did buy a service manuals for both my vehicles ( I did not know that owner and service manuals were 2 different things). When I go through various etcg videos and forum threads, I see 30K as rule of thumb for transmission oil change. The service manual for Civic has 60K miles (Manual transmission fluid change interval) and for CRV has 120K (Automatic trans fluid change).

Why is there a difference between what service manual change interval and rule of thumb. They are not even close.

I am getting pulled in 2 direction. Per service manual, I am ok (and should change trans fluid) while per the rule of thumb I am up the creek. Just want to decide if I should go ahead and change the fluid and take a chance.

Thanks again for your insights.

diy_newbie

Topic

[college man]

I would follow the owners manual on this. They usually list two conditions
severe and normal everyday driving. If your doing normal everyday driving
follow that schedule.

[Nick]

I would play it safer than sorry …esp with a Honda transmission …I have a 00 prelude with the auto-stick transmission that was screwed up when I bought it ….$2000.00 later than tranny works like new again BUT if your going to do it yourself ONLY use Honda fluid ….I learned this the hard way

[EricTheCarGuy]

It won’t hurt to change it early. Honda changed their intervals to lower service costs. They reformulated the transmission fluid a couple of years back and that might also have something to do with it. I think the most important take away here is to only use Honda fluid for best results. I hope that helps answer your question.

[vc]

Thanks guys for all the insight.

[JB]

I see Honda manual trans a few times a month.. you can change the fluid as early and as often as your bank account allows it wont hurt it. I will be honest though I do not replace man trans fluid with Honda fluid. I use pennzoil syncromesh, or royal purple syncromax. Granted I used those before hondas reformulation because 6sp transmissions were coming in left and right with issues. (cars used for extremely spirited driving). Tried the new Honda fluid in a couple cars drivers requested the pennz back. I don’t know if it was superstition or actually notchy feeling but they pay the bills. On autos I would follow the book and let the dealer mess with it. Too much vodo magic going on in those things now a days.

[Tom]

I can’t say enough good about what Synchromesh does for the Honda manual transmissions. Mine was a beast to shift up, wouldn’t downshift at all past 3rd gear unless you enjoyed grinding the snot out of the gears. In short, it felt like a worn transmission, on it’s last legs. I dumped the oil out of it, and swapped in synchromesh fluid, figuring that the trans felt like it was toast, so I certainly wasn’t going to lose anything by trying.

The result . .. it shifted smoothly into every gear, and would allow me to downshift all the way to 1st, and even do so in a spirited way without it grinding. The trans had 170k miles on it when I got it, and I drove it another 90k miles before it finally failed, not bad for a trans that felt like it was done on day one.

[Author]

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