The 01 owners manual says to use only Honda brand pwr steering fluid, automatic tranny fluid, and antifreeze. How important is it to follow that information?

Will non-Honda fluids in those items make a detrimental difference?????

Thanks

 

that is also what they say for the 90 accord, but i don't listen to that and everything is running fine. everything on my car is factory except the filters and i have approx. 300K miles.

 

I did notice a difference in my auto tranny when I used honda atf. Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't using honda's p/s fluid a big deal or p/s fluid thats not necessarily from honda but made for honda/acura?

 

Anti freeze do what ya want to; P/S fluid is a Honda only specialmixture.
Use only Honda P/S fluid
You can use Dexron trans fluid, butI promise that Honda Z-1 ATF has better lube and cleaning properties. I've rebuilt enough Auto trans to know without a doubt that Honda trans fluid is a much better choice. The shift valves are metal to metal .001 of an inch fit, so when the generic trans fluid builds up 'varnish' on the valves they delay shift or will actually stick and not shift the trans.
The original Hondamatics back in the 1970's actually had sperm whale oil in the trans fluid. The finest[smallest molecule]natural lubrication in the universe.
You change trans fluid every 30k miles and pay an extra $10 to ensure the trans will live a long life;whats the problem with that?
$10 extraevery 2 years doesn't really seem unreasonable to me, considering the cost of a trans rebuild is over $1200
"The stingy man Pays the most"

 

my 04 accord has 33670k miles do you think i should change the trans fluid already. the manual says like 70k miles to change. but i want to know what you think , you have more experience than the manual hondadude

 

I would definitely if it's an auto. I was told to do it once a year since the autos have such problems.

 

sounds like a good idea it cant hurt, my friend has an 04 odysseyhe just changed it at 40k miles he says it was the worst hes ever seen[ dirtyblack, stinky] probably do it myself

 

Does your friend know that the torque converter doesn't drain? You only get about 1/3 of the total fluid when you drain. If it's bad, he should do a couple more drain/fill cycles until it comes out clean.

 

Yeah man, just do it yourself. It's like 40 plus tax at the local dealer here and for the fluid and a new washer its just a tad over 20. Just be aware that the drain bolt is a bitch to remove.

 

so then how do they drain all the fluid at the dealer, i know they dont reccomend flushing