I suspect a lot less than half the transmissions are junk. We just hear all the complaints. Still, there's a LOT of complaints. But a lot of auto-trans Accords on the road too.

 

Good information. Thanks to all who took the time to post. Anybody know how many qts I would need of DW-1 to refill the transmission? I think I will leave it alone for now since know problems but I may make it part of my 100K around the corner.

 

Im not sure how many quarts. It will say in the owner's manual somewhere if you have it. If you really need to know I have a helm manual at home and I'm sure I could find it somewhere. I'll probably be reamed for saying this, but if I had an automatic 98-02 accord and had not had any trans problems, I wouldn't touch the trans. Period. There is a theory that even draning and refilling can loosen up things in there that were essentially "holding everything together" and the trans would have been fine if you had left it alone. Again, this is just my personal opinion so take it with a grain of salt. I know Honda recommends changing it at intervals, but they are the ones that put a crappy trans in these cars in the first place...

 

Drain and refill is around 2.5 quarts so buy 3. I dont know about this new fluid, I have always used the old stuff. Can you mix the two? Because when you drain and refill you are only getting about half the fluid out.

Just saw an image of the new fluid (DW-1) bottle says for "newer honda cars."

 

^ I forgot about that. I think the trans holds something like 5 quarts, but like you said, it won't nearly all come out through the drain hole by gravity alone.

 

I'm pretty sure the tranny drain and fill will take 3 quarts. According to Honda the DW-1 fluid is fine to mix with the old Z-1 fluid. I don't think Honda is even selling Z-1 anymore (discontinued), unless the dealer still has some in stock. Sooner or later, you are going to have to switch to DW-1.

 

I think the total fluid is like 7 quarts, but less than 3 can drain out. The torque converter can't drain unless you dismantle the transm. So if the fluid comes out dirty, you'll want to repeat another time or 2.

 

I bought an 02 Accord ex V6 when it was new, gave it to my sister 2yrs ago and now it has over 150k miles with original fluid in it, and the trans still shifts perfect. Let's see how long it would take for my young sister to blow the transmission up :-). The trans on 98-02 Accord is not the strong point, however if you drive it normal and not a race car they could last sometime.

 

If you don't have one then install a transmission cooler.

 

they all come with trans coolers