Hi everyone I have a problem with my 1997 Honda Accord 4 cyl.When I got the car The guy i bought it from said he just flushed the tranny. When I heard that I was kind of leary about it because I have heard your not supposed to flush the fluid. I have been told numerous times to drain the fluid , fill and repeat about three times.

When I'm driving it and I slow down for a curve and I hit the gas after I pass the curve it seems to always downshift real quik when it doesn't need to. It will do it when I have the tranny in d4 or d3 but not in 2. It seems to me that the trans isn't slipping but it is shifting prematurely

When I check the fluid and I take the dipstick out the fluid on the dipstick is black. If I but the dipstick back in and take it out right away the fluid is the perfect pinkish red color. Should I drain the fluid and refill it like three timeseven though it was just flushed or should I do something else?

 

I would def drain and fill a few times with proper Honda fluid.

 

This may be a quirk of the 94-97 Accords. My 94 EX will do this occasionally on a turn at speed followed by acceleration. As you press the gas pedal, it downshifts. It doesn't seem to happen as much as when I first bought the car (100K miles) and now has 245K miles, but does happen.

good luck

 

I have an independent mechanic that works out of his house and he is very good. He said that his freind that is an expert at transmissions says that you don't have to use Honda certified tranny fluid in a Honda. He said that all your doing is paying a couple of extra bucks for something that says "Honda" on it when it is basically the same stuff they use in domestic cars. He has never had a Honda come back to him because of using the wrong fluid. Is he way off base on this or not? Like I have said in other post I'm not to familiar with Hondas but I do want to keep my car running and driving good so I would like to here from you guys who know better on what I should do. Thanks alot!

 

If you do a search on this site you will see it mentioned 100's and 100's of time to use only HONDA Fluid in the auto trans.

My Auto with just over 100k miles on it shifted flawlessly.

One day I blew a transmission cooling line and lost most of the transmission fluid.

Since I was far away from home I filled it up with Dextron III (says Honda compatible)

Since it still shifted fine and I didn't want to spend a bunch of money to change out the new Dextron fluid to Honda fluid I left in there.

Well a few months later, with no warning at all, the transmission stoped working completely, leaving my girlfriend stranded on the side of a dark country road late at night.

That transmission never worked again, I ask you, is it worth it to you to spend a few extra dollars now to get the correct fluid?

 

No one has done a scientific study that conclusively proves Honda fluid is better than other non-honda fluids. The general recommendation arrives from numerous anecdotal reports of better performance w/ Honda fluid.

If you want to use something else, that is your perogative.

good luck

 

I will TELL you, yes, it is worth spending a couple extra bucks so that don't happen that is why I asked you--I knew you would point me in the right direction Thankyou!