I have been changing my own oil in all of my vehicles since the first day I bring them home. Doing this in my HCH has been really easy, except for those dang clips.

It was time for another change this last weekend and I thought I would tackle a transmission fluid change at the same time. Got all my stuff together and set out to do the transmission first. Loosened the fill plug first, was rather easy, jacked her up and started to tackle the drain plug next. For some reason, I wanted to check the level and went looking for the transmission dip stick. IT WAS GONE!!!! I started looking around the bottom of the engine bay and found it wedged in around the radiator.

Of course the last person to even touch the transmission was the dealer when they performed the 60,000 mile maintenance.

There's even a warning on the stick to "keep dirt away". Man, you don't know how mad I was. Changing the fluid was real easy and everything after that went fine and it runs just fine.

Anyone think not having a transmission dip stick in for about 25, 000 miles would cause any damage?

Howard

 

hweldon - if you still have any of the old ATF left, you can request a sampling kit from a test lab like blackstone, and send it to them for analysis, along with some info as you stated below. You're going to want to pay attention to the level of silicon in PPM - if it's way elevated above averages, or if the testing lab states that wear has probably been elevated, I'd consider doing the 'triple flush' (drain and refill 3 times, driving a few miles each time) with new ATF. Of course, you'd want to present the evidence to the dealer, so it could be done on their dime.

Should they refuse to do that, I think that requesting an extended warranty period for the CVT (to be granted by Honda Corporate) would not be out of line, considering it was the dealer's service dept. (their representative and assign) that caused this.

 

I still have the fluid. I know you can't tell by looking, but it did look kinda clean. I already have an extended warranty to 120,000 miles and she has 83,000 on her now.

I may go back to the dealer and have them do the triple flush on their dime, and if balk, I'll try and get them to sign something stating why they won't. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Anyone know if Blackstone Labs does ATF? I know they anaylze engine oil, but I'm not sure about ATF.

Howard

 

Blackstone (& Butler, and most likely most fluid analysis labs) does do ATF analysis - I had the Accord Hybrid's fluid analyzed at 15K (and can post it here if desired).

Unfortunately, they (Blackstone, in my case) only test for the same metallurgical profile as for engine oil, so I'm not sure that it's 100% 'apples to apples', as it were. But in your case, you're looking for the Silicon level, et al, so that should be pretty easy to detect. The CVT is more or less a sealed system, so Si should be pretty much non-existent, in my view, at least.

BTW - there's a new 'CVT-specific' ATF that Honda distributes. Try and get your hands on that, if you wind up getting the fluid changed out again. It was out of stock when I went to pick some up, or I'd give you the SKU.

 

Thanks Mark,

Your information is very helpful. The Honda CVT-ATF is what I put in. It's a lot thinner than what came out.

I'm pretty sure that the dealer will deny any responsibility. I can just hear it now, "I'm sorry, it probably just fell out. That wouldn't be our fault." I'm sure that the dealer just drains it and shoots in 3.4 qts. through the dip stick hole.

Howard