dbhalberg

I am about at my wit's end with this, and am hoping someone here can help me. A few weeks ago, my Honda's (Civic 2008) maintenance minder lit up telling me I need to change transmission fluid. Last week I went to Pep Boys, and did like the manual said, told them to use genuine Honda transmission fluid. they said they did. I get home, look at the receipt, and lo and behold, stupid me, it listed 12 quarts of Castrol Dex/Merc (whatever that is?!?) so I call them back and ask about that. They said they flushed it out, (they said they had to do it 3 times?!?) They said Dex/Merc works with my Honda and it will be fine. I wanted to doublecheck, so I made a few more calls to other mechanics and car garages at random asking for people's opinion. I actually got a good mix: someone say it's fine, another said get the fluid replaced with genuine Honda right now, another says it'll be fine for now, but next time you change fluids do the genuine Honda..etc...I can't get a unanimous answer.
I decide to drive out to a Honda dealer next day, told them the story, and they said not to worry. They changed it using genuine Honda transmission fluid, but this time my receipt only had 3 quarts of Honda ATF listed. Is there a reason they used 3 quarts and Pep Boys used 12 quarts?? Does this mean the Honda dealer didn't "flush" out everything? The Honda guy said they can't really get all the old fluid out anyway but that was normal. So now I'm worried I have a mix of genuine Honda fluid with Dex/Merc fluid.
Should I be worried about this??Someone please help and thanks in advance..

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like they did a drain & fill the last time...leaving much of 3rd party in.

mcnoople

Personally I am little biased, but I would say take it to a dealership everytime and stay away from the quick lube chain shops. You might pay a little more each time, but it is worth it to avoid headaches like you have experienced. If you develop a relationship with your local dealer you will get much better service. Many people have bad relationships with their dealers, but many go in with the attitude that the stealership is trying to rip them off.

There is no telling about how the trans will or will not be affected by the improper fluid usage. Back many years ago honda did use a dexron atf as a factory fill. The current generation of honda dw1 likely shares that same ancestry. It really would come down to the quality of the atf used. A name brand dexron 6 would likely work much better than a generic brand dexron 3. It all comes down to the additive packs and friction modifiers in the fluid and I have never seen honda's specs in writing on this.

dbhalberg

Thanks for your answer. So...should I go back with 12 quarts of genuine Honda fluid and have them flush out everything with the genuine stuff? Or leave the half genuine Honda and half Dex/Merc in?

Money is not an issue - I understand that I am a female and I'm going to get ripped off anyway, it's something I accepted a long time ago. I just need to know what I should do NOW.

dbhalberg

Thank you for your answer! So what do you recommend I do now? Should I go back with 12 quarts of genuine Honda fluid and have them flush out everything with the genuine stuff? Or leave the half genuine Honda and half Dex/Merc in?

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

Honda does not recommend flushing via machine method. A flush for Honda would be multiple drain & fills. If you have 12qts, that would be 4 drain and fills.

Maybe the resident master mechanic will chime in with a reply...... ezone ??

mcnoople

Don't call him master, it will make him dress like barbara eden from "I dream of jeanie."

he will tell you to flush it with honda atf-dw1 using a repeated drain and fill method because that is honda's official service recommendation.

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

Please....... NO !!

I would likely get the multiple drain and fills done with DW1.

ezone

Major Nelson was "Master".





Nobody posted a copy of Hondas official procedure?