Rep Power: 119

Hello everyone, I have been meaning to mention this for a while, but I have been quite busy. A lot of people are understandably afraid to use non OEM ATF in their Honda for fear of doing damage, so I decided years ago to take one for the team and test it out in my 05 Civic with a BMXA trans.

Ever since I saw Valvolline Import Synthetic ATF in stores, I have been using it. I don't remember exactly when it came out, I think about 10 years ago IIRC. I think the car had about 60K on it when I switched to Valvoline fluid, Honda ATF was used the previous service.

When I flushed the trans and converted to Valvoline Import ATF, I didn't notice any major differences in the way it shifted or performed compared to OEM Honda fluid, which seemed like a good sign.

Fast forward about 10 years, my original trans finally failed after 243K hard miles, almost 200K of which were on Valvoline Import Synthetic fluid, which was always drained and refilled at a maximum of 30K miles, usually closer to 25K miles. Our logic was always fluid is cheap compared to transmissions, which is why it was changed so often. And by the way, I have done things that may have contributed to the demise of the transmission, so it may have lasted even longer if it was used as it was intended to be used.

Also, I have not split the case on that transmission down yet, but I removed the end cover to inspect the inside of the trans for deposit buildup and wear, and it looked great to me. As you can see, the teeth on the visible gears looked like they were in excellent condition, and I saw no signs of deposit buildup.

So after about 200K trouble free miles on Valvoline Import ATF and considering how nice and clean the inside of the old trans looked, I would say that it is a very good fluid for these cars. I would say this fluid is at least as good as OEM fluid and likely better since it is a full synthetic fluid, and it is the fluid I chose to fill my replacement SLXA trans with because in my opinion it's a great combination of price and quality. I'm sure there are better fluids out there (Like Amsoil), but they cost 2-3 times as much and it's hard to say whether using one of those fluids would really extend the life of the trans.

I am not a mechanic or a transmission expert, I am just a regular car guy. Also, this is a sample size of one, so it's possible that this fluid may not work this well in your transmission. Also, it's possible that my transmission would have lasted just as long or maybe even longer with OEM fluid, but I have no way to know that. Besides, almost a quarter million miles on a Honda transmission is a pretty long life IMO, especially considering all this trans has been through.

So here are the pictures I took of the inside of the old transmission after it failed. I expect to have more pictures in the future after I split the case, but for now this is what I have. Let me know what you think. I think it looks excellent, but I have nothing to compare it to other than pictures online.