I have a honda 2000 civic lx bought it froma friend 1 yr ago has 79,750 miles on it and I checked the transmission fluid this morning and it‘s a light brown color-I thought transmission fluid was suppose to be pink or red. Well not having any problems with the transmission but I know I should have it changed soon since it‘s dirty. But my husband can‘t do it till next weekend he is not a mechanic but does do the oil changes and smalll things like so, he says changing the transmission fluid is simple, so my question is will it be okay to wait till next weekend and how hard is it to change the fluid and do we need to change a filter?? I know we have to only use the honda transmission fluid. Thanks guys!!!!
Personally my experience had been normally simply draining refilling the ATF fluid every 25,000 to 30,000 miles works best! In fact we have always owned 5 brand new TOYOTAS (and one, a 1993 Toyota Camry LE we gave away with 211,000 miles when my wife got 2005 Highlander 6 cylinder AWD all have made it to at least 150,000 miles with no ATF or transmission problems simply by draining refilling the ATF fluid, actually I do it more frequently after the vehicle reached 100K mile plateau like every 2nd or 3rd oil change. But again, most experts recommend every 25,000 or 30,000 miles and then I was surprised that most service stations charge like $30 when it is such an easy DIY task of simply opening the drain plug, measure how much came out and then refill like 2 to 3 quarts of ATF according to the manufacturer specifications via skinny ATF tube. Older vehicles used to use DEXRON III ATF but newer ones use more sophisticated ATF that it is extremely critical not to refill with wrong ATF, otherwise troubles begin and TRANSMISSIONS are expensive to overhaul fix and often times never the same that people give up and trade-in as lessons learned experience. Hope the Above Info Helps Best of Luck
its not a problem that the fluid is slightly discolored. That happens over time as the dyes in the oil darken from the heat generated by the transmission. As long as the fluid doesn't smell burnt.you'll be okay. there is no filter inside that transmission. there is a drain bolt similar to your engine oil drain plug that you unscrew to drain the oil. You will get about 3 1/2 quarts out. The only way to get it all out is to flush the trans but its not worth it. you are right in that you need to use the Hondamatic transmission fluid only. you can only get that at a Honda dealer. The factory recommendation on the fluid change is 100k so its not a problem unless as I mentioned the fluid smells burnt. Otherwise, no worries. hope that helps
You should have NO WORRIES, it is not near as important as the oil changes. To get the max life out of your car though, go with the severe service intervals for all your maintenance. This usually means trans fluid drain and top-off ever 30k. Very easy to change - pull drain plug on side of transmission case - usually a 3/8 socket drive size. Leave it to drain. Replace plug and top off with the correct amount of ATF. My accord takes exactly 2.5 quarts. Note: For regular ATF, yes use Honda brand. But, I recommend Amsoil synthetic to all my customers. I have 3 Hondas that all have Amsoil - 95 Odyssey 230k miles, 94 Accord wagon 227k miles and 94 Accord sedan 281k miles. Synthetic stays much cooler and thus does not breakdown and turn brown like your current ATF. Temperature is the reason for failure in 90% of transmission issues. To switch over, just drain and top the ATF at each oil change. You should have it mostly switched over after about 4 changes. After this, you can easily go 60k on the ATF drains. The synthetic oil and the extended life oil filters are rated at 25k miles though I usually only double the Honda interval of 7500 with 15k changes. This makes it just as cheap to use the expensive synthetic. ($7/qt and $9 filters) compared to 3k oil changes with regular oil ($2/qt*5 and $3/filter*5).
