My main experience has been with manual trannies,
but just got an AT car - so I'm claiming ignorance.

Car is 1997 Accord AT purchased Oct-2011 with 188,000 on car
and just installed replacement engine with claimed 86,000 on it.

The seller was an independent mechanic shop that had installed the engine.
On test drive noticed the AT had nice firm shift points, but as part of the purchase I had him do
an AT drain & fill, twice (@ 2.5 qts per), separated by a 5 mile drive. Initially the magnetic drain had a good amount of filings
stuck to it; selling mechanic said the amount was normal.

OK - so this is the AT fluid that he used - the house Oreilly Auto Parts brand that on the back label

references many, many vehicle brands and specs.
For Honda it references "Honda Z-1."

Is this OK for '97 Accord, the owner's manual just states Honda ATF.
For the last 2000 miles the tranny has been working fine and shifts just like it did during test drive.


Unless people have had negative experience with this AT fluid, I plan is to wait and do a drain and fill every ~15,000 using Honda ATF in future.

Thoughts & experiences? Thanks.

 

I'm suprised your trans is still working properly...

 

My guess is you're going to be just fine. You'd think that seller being a mechanic would know a thing or two about what he was doing. Besides, cars made in the 90s are a lot less sensitive IMO. I had a 97 Saturn SL2 which had its ATF changed a few times at Jiffy Lube (who knows what they put in there), and it never had a tranny problem.

 

x2-on a 97.......if this was a 4th gen...maybe.

 

even with the 4th gens still issues if not using honda fluid. I have had 3 autos in my cb7. If I put ANYTHING other than honda ATF the trans would not function properly....sometimes not even engage into gear. But I'm done with autos for good. lol Iv only had 2 cars with auto trans. blew the auto trans just so I had a reason to do a 5speed swap

 

I hear ya...that is why I had the "maybe"...