All,

I apologize if this has been covered before, but my searches haven't really given me much in the way of answers to my questions. I have heard horror stories of Honda putting transmissions designed for 4cyl. cars in their V6 Accords from 98-02, but I was wondering if they had fixed that issue for 03-07? We just got my wife's '05 V6 sedan last August and it's been pretty good for us so far (minus a slight braking issue). It has 98k miles on it and has been exceptionally well maintained its whole life. It still shifts firmly and is strong in acceleration. I just did a 3x drain and fill on it to change it over to the new DW-1 tranny fluid available from Honda. It made a nice difference in shifting quality and smoothness. I just would like to avoid replacing the transmission anytime within the next 3 years or so before we trade it in on something a little larger for the arrival of children. Thanks in advance for any insight!

 

Just from my experience on here, the 03-07 transmissions did not have the problems that the 98-02 had.

 

That's good to hear. Like I said, we just need this car to last us about three years or so until we are able to get something like a CR-V or similarly-sized vehicle. Thanks for the feedback!

 

The 03-07 automatics are all weak, imo, so I take extra good care of mine (drain and fill every 15k miles). Still going at 89k miles, and I too just switched over to the DW-1, and it does seem to work a little better. Good luck

 

Well, that's not as positive of information as I was hoping to get, but I greatly appreciate your honesty. We bought the car at 84k miles and it has about 98k on it right now. When looking at the owner's manual, I couldn't believe it actually said that Honda didn't recommend a tranny fluid change until 120k miles. That's flat out neglect in my book! Now that I've done the 3x drain and fill, I'll be doing one drain and fill every other oil change from now on. We'll be taking it on a road trip in a few weeks from western PA to Portland, Maine to visit family. We'll see how it handles the long haul. Thanks again!

 

The normal interval is 120k miles, but they cover their *** by saying to check the level and condition of the fluid at every fuel stop, and add or change if necessary.

 

98-02 accord, 99 to 04 Odyssey and 99-03 Acura TL had many issues with auto transmissions. However i bought an 02 accord brand new back then, it now has 150k on it, the tranny still shifts beautiful like the day i bought it, now we gave it to the sister. I didn't even change the fluid in it yet even though i should. 03 up accord is a little better when they went to 5sp auto. But they're still not bullet proof, i had built a handful off them. Watch out for the 3rd clutch pressure switch and overheating torque converter. Which are very common problem with Honda/Acura 5sp auto.

 

Thanks for the info. On a side note, I drive an '07 Ridgeline RTL and couldn't be happier with it. I bought it used with 75k miles on it and it is close to 100k now. It still looks and runs brand new. I did the changeover to DW-1 on it as well and most of the shifting quirks that the RL is known for went away. It has a 5AT as well, but it's a bit of a different design from the rest plus it has a dedicated tranny cooler. Knock on wood, but I haven't had a single issue with it yet and the previous owner didn't either. In its lifetime, it's only needed fluid changes, brake pads, tires and a new battery. From what I've read, it seems the quality of Honda vehicles has diminished over the past few years. Moreso in the fit and finish category along with slipping reliability ratings. I'm glad we currently have '05 and '07 Honda respectively. It seems we missed the beginning of the decline of quality.