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I spoke with Firestone (the people that do my wife's tires and alignment) about flushing my transmission this morning, and the manager said he can't flush the transmission because my car (98 Honda Civic EX coupe) was over 100,000 miles. He said o take it to Mr Transmission and see if it can be flushed or not, and he can't guarantee it won't do more harm than good.

Should I just use the DIY here since I just got the car to save money, or should I bother taking it to a "professional" and see what the deal is?

As it stands now there's not anything wrong with my car. But preventative measures are far better than paying for neglect later.

 
Rep Power: 244

I'm a believer in doing it myself because I know what fluid is being put into the transmission...speaking of which, choose a fluid that meets Honda specifications such as Honda ATF-Z1, Castrol Import Multi Vehicle or my favorite, Mobil 1 ATF (newly changed formula that is recommmended for Honda's). I figure I can afford a more expensive fluid as I'm doing it myself and will save on labor. According to the factory service manual, a drain and fill requires 2.9QT. Don't overfill to 3.0, in fact do about 2.75 and check the level after driving the car to fully warm up the fluid).

Do a drain and fill on a level surface (don't raise the front of the car) and repeat two more times (after driving over 40MPH for a few minutes to get the torque converter to kick in after each drain/fill). After three times you have replaced the fluid (or at least enough of it to consider a complete change per the Honda factory service manual). The tools needed are incredibly simple...a drain pan, a funnel and a 3/8" ratchet. The drain bolt is on the bottom most portion of the transmission, and you refill at the dipstick hole.

 
Rep Power: 235

You dont "flush" your tranny, you just drain and refill as ScottDR said. I just changed mine with Amsoil Syncromesh. Easy do it yourself. Just use the DIY located on the site.

 
Rep Power: 811

usually firestone sucks, but they are right about this.

 
Rep Power: 235

Hahahaah so true

 
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Thanks so much guys for the advice.

 
Rep Power: 244

You are welcome! And a side note 'over 100,000 miles' cracked me up. Like that is a lot of miles. Please.

 
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i snickered too. i told him the car only really has 13,000 on it lol