2007 Honda Accord Cpe - Transmission fluid conundrum

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I have a 2007 Honda Accord coup Lx 4 cyl with 138,000 miles. The transition fluid has never been changed and I was thinking about changing it. My concern with so many miles that if I change it the new fluid could soften the seals and cause it to leak. Would it be a good idea to change it or would I do more harm than good?

2

How is it that you are thinking of this maintenance item on a 15 yr old car? How long have you owned this car? You have never done it before? 3 yrs ago? 8 yrs ago?

3

Transmission fluid I am guessing??

Itā€™s not the seals I would be worried about, matter a fact, I would tend to think the old dirty ATF would do more damage to seals then nice clean fluidā€¦ Dried out hard seals tend to leak more then soft seals unless you are meaning something elseā€¦

The issue starts when you have a lot of friction material worn and mixing in the fluid that helps the clutch packs to grip and not slip, then you remove that fluid and now there is no longer any or much left friction material left and now it starts to slipā€¦

Changing your fluid cannot cause any damage by itself, if everything is fine inside the transmissionā€¦ The issues start to appear when you change the fluid if your clutches are already worn or damaged from use. If you go and replace the fluid after they are already worn out. this can cause slippingā€¦

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4

I expect OPā€™s best bet is a routine transmission service. If that precedes a developing transmission problem, that problem was likely to occur soon anyway. Ask your shop if it is advisable to do a pan drop, clean the inside of the pan, & replace the transmission filter, before installing fresh fluid.

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5

Honda, no pan, drain and fillā€¦

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6

I donā€™t know if the I-4 is the same as the V-6, but the transmission on the latter is filled and drained three times to get most of the old fluid out. I did that with my 2005 V-6 at about 40,000 mile intervals and the transmission ran like a champ when I sold it at 187,000 miles. Thatā€™s Hondaā€™s recommended change method, btw.

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7

Honda transmissions strongly prefer Honda transmission fluid. Very important.

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8

My vote is to change it using OEM Honda fluid.

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9

One more vote for changing with factory fluid (not ā€˜compatibleā€™).