Hey all... My mom has an aging '91 Accord which has been kept up fairly well except that she has flushed the tranny one time in the 14+ years she's had the car. It still performs well and she doesn't drive it hard, but she has been complaining that it is hard to shift in/out of park and reverse. Though this is probably related to the shift cable rather than the fluid, I have wanted to flush the tranny out for some time. However, I am a bit wary that it may cause more harm than good. I have an '89 Acura Legend and our automatics were a little problematic, especially if they had been neglected. Flushing them out would release so much crap that had been building up that things would get clogged up and kill the tranny quite quickly. Sometimes cleaning out or replacing the solenoids would fix the problem, but I don't really want to gamble with an old car that we would total if the tranny dies. Are there similar issues w/ the 90-93 Accord transmissions? I would probably do a few flushes w/ Dextron III then switch to genuine Honda ATF for the final fillup. Any tips or suggestions are appreciated!

 

General consensus seems to be to only drain and refill w/ Honda trans fluid. You can do this 3-4 times sequentially to replace most of the system trans fluid.

Difficulty in shifting out of park can be caused by brake light switch not working (no brake lights!) orshift lock solenoid has become misadjusted or has failed (will require manual over-ride to shift).

You can download a 90-93 manual from the Online Manuals note in the DIY section for details of diagnostics.

good luck

 

I would only drain & refill. Power flushing is always a bad idea on Honda AT's. As you said, it can loosen up stuff that should not have been loosened in the first place