Transmission oil changed following A123 -- 3 quarts appears to be insufficient?
 

Hi everyone,

I was at the point of needing an A123 service on my HCH II. I purchased Mobil 1 0W-20 and oil filter + 3 quarts of CVT fluid.

For the transmission oil change, I followed the instructions here, and everything went perfectly, EXCEPT the level is just about touching the dip stick, and is definitely not between the two lines no the HOT side (even after the engine has warmed up completely).

Has anyone had this experience before? I hope to wait till tomorrow morning, and check again... just in case I did not check at the right time. The car drives beautifully following the work today!

Here is what I did:

1) Raised the front of the car that had stood in the garage overnight on jack stands

2) Removed the engine cover panel

3) Drained the CVT fluid, lowered the vehicle to normal height, and continued to drain the CVT fluid; then raised the car back up; replaced drain nut

4) (Unrelated step -- drained engine oil, changed engine oil filter; replaced engine oil drain nut with new washer; filled engine oil -- 3.2q -- I expect to keep an eye on the level, and fill 0.2 q more if necessary, this is related to Steve Villantro's advice about filling only as much as is necessary)

5) Filled 2.5 q of CVT fluid ... no go; tried starting the engine for a bit, no go (i.e still no oil on the dip stick); went for a drive around the block, still saw no oil on the dip stick;
-- Ended up filling the entire 3rd quart into the CVT dip stick opening -- finally, now the oil was touching the bottom COLD line

Thoughts?

(Again, yeah .. I will check tomorrow morning, to see if the CVT level is good ... if not, I need to buy more CVT fluid to top it off, perhaps I'd drained more than 3q? Not sure)

PS: I also look forward to whether the mpg remains as good as before, if not better :)

Re: Transmission oil changed following A123 -- 3 quarts appears to be insufficient?
 

The spec. qty. at drain/replace is 3.0 quarts. I believe that's what you put in, according to step 5. I've done that at least twice now with ours, and that always leaves it slightly over the cold side full line, when the car's sat overnight and is fully cooled. Unless all the raising and lowering during drain (overkill imho) has managed to wring a bit more out, 3.0 quarts should be good. Again:

Let it sit overnight, check if it's at or near full mark on cold side. Do be sure to be on level ground. If still low, top up a bit.

In my experience the hot check method, outlined in owners manual, does not work, will result in subsequent level well over cold side top mark.

Re: Transmission oil changed following A123 -- 3 quarts appears to be insufficient?
 

Thanks for your response!

That is exactly what appears to have happened - I checked this morning, and the level is bang in the middle of the cold lines, and just about touching the lower hot line on the dip stick. Hopefully, all is well.

Perhaps that was overkill - I've always tended to do that IF the drain nut is on the front side of an engine or transmission, since some sludgy oil may be sitting on the bottom of the tray. In my transmission's case, it went from dripping a few drops a minute to pouring out for a few seconds when I lowered the front of the car.

Yeah, the hot check in most cars is a bit of a lottery. I think in the HCH II's case, it's almost like one is in Las Vegas. I plan to leave it the way it is. The engine oil too seems to be ideally filled with 3.2q.

Cheers,
-ag

Re: Transmission oil changed following A123 -- 3 quarts appears to be insufficient?
 

The dealership would typically have the car on a proper hoist, horizontal, when doing changes, fwiw.

I think you're good. Even up here in Canada we get US quarts of the CVT fluid. Now I just bang 3 in, and don't put much stock in the levels. The first time 'round I went nuts trying to do the hot check, putting in more, then basting it out. As far as I can see the Honda instruction is dis-information.