I recently bought a 94 Accord with an auto transmission. It has 180,000 miles on it. The last time the transmission fluid was changed was 80,000. I want to change it again but i have some concerns. I know the fluid was not changed with honda fluid first of all...and I have heard that doing a flush at high miles is very hard on the tranny and not reccomended.....But I have also read that NOT using honda fluid is very bad for the transmission...So im wondering if i should get it flushed or drain/refill with the dw1 atf. Any input on this is greatly appreciated.

 

Please post questions like this in the General Tech section....I moved this one.

I would drain and fill with Honda trans fluid. Might do up to three, drive a few miles between changes.

 

I did two drain and fills at 170k on a 96 accord that did not have honda auto fluid in it, the transmission seemed to shift a bit better afterwards. When you do a drain and fill your only changing ~2.5 quarts of the fluid basically taking the plug out and wiping it off and putting new fluid back in. I cant imagine causing damage doing this.

 

I wouldn’t use DW-1 on a 94. I believe that tranny used Dexron III from the factory. DW-1 is supposed to be backwards compatible but I don’t know about that far back!

My 98 came with Z1 in 98, and I find my car does better with the “Valvoline Import” which is a (can be used in) Z1 applications in my case. For your car I would probably go with a Dexron IIIh or the Valvoline Import but not Dexron VI.