Hello,

New guy here. Just picked up a used '95 Honda Civic with 1.6 L and AT transmission. It has 210,000 miles and I want to do a little maintenance on it. Is Honda ATF fluid the only kind I can use? The dealer wants $8 a quart + $75 for a drain and refill.

The local "quick lube" will do a drain and refill for $40 and stated they have a compatible fluid and have done many honda civics.

Also is a flush recommended? The Honda dealer didn't recommend a flush and the "quick lube" stated they do them all of the time on Honda Civics.

I'm not sure what to believe.

Also, if I decide to do it myself, how much fluid do I need to purchase?

Any help here would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Do not drain and refill. This is not good b/c it only removes something like 1/4 of the fluid. Alot of fluid is inside the tranny, i.e. clutches, servos, etc so if you really want to get new fluid in your trans get a flush. I've heard that flushes aren't too hard to do your self. Take the hose from the rad cooler and put it in a bucket. Add tranny fluid to the other hose and stop when new fluid is coming out of the hose. I've never actually tried it before but when I asked my shop teacher thats how he said to do it w/o a machine. As for Honda fluid or not, I would use Honda fluid. The AT is a complicated hydraulic system. It has passages and if wrong fluid is used, the fluid will not flow correctly. Its kind of hard to explain since ATs are very complicated but Honda designed thier trannies to work with Honda fluid and Honda fluid is what you should use. It different for oil and rad fluid b/c these aren't hydraulic systems. The AT works on fluid pressure to move various parts of of the transmission. A different fluid with different viscosity will cause pressure changes in the tranny and may cause problems in teh trans.

 

What about using the Lubegard transmission additive? Anyone here used it?

The shift points seem a little late (i.e. higher RPMs before it shifts).

Some reading on the 'net tells me this additive might help.

 

royal purple is a great product to use, its a little more expensive but it is worth it. i know that on my 00' si they only use motor oil in the tranny not sure if your year does also. but in any case royal purple makes AT fluid