I just bought a 98 four cylinder VTEC with an AT. I bought from the original older owners who took good care of the car and kept maintenance records. The car has 120k miles and the automatic transmission shifts as it should, smoothly and no clunking noises. Records show the AT fluid was changed at least 4 times.

In reading about this transmission on the internet, it seems that this transmission is prone to failure. Is this true? Anyone have any idea what percentage failure?
also, since the PO kept up on AT fluid changes, shouldn't that help the tranny last longer. I'm hoping to get at least 30k more miles out of this transmission.
thanks for any input.

 

The 98-02 accords had more transmission failures compared to other generation accords. The V6 accord seems to have more issues than the 4-cylinder transmission.

I know of people that have 300k miles on the original transmission, so your trans could last that long. I don't know the % failure rate. All you can do is proper maintenance by changing the fluid at the proper intervals, then replace the transmission if or when it fails.

 

Agreed. And since yours has had fluid changes about every 30K, I'd keep doing it on that interval. There's no "real" failure point/time in their life, unlike the GM 4L60E trans that goes out at 140 to 150K miles (very common failure point). Needless to say, I've researched it, as my wife's 00 Accord has an AT in it. Fluid changes, and adding an external trans oil cooler are ways to help extend it's life though. My wife's car has 239K miles on it, and I don't know if it was rebuilt, or replaced. But, I suspect it's original, as 1 of the PO's took decent care of it. I didn't get any records with it either. In your case, at 120K, I'd check and see when the timing belts were last done, as they should be changed every 60K miles or 6 years. I only say that, as these are interference engines, and if the timing belt breaks, you're looking at an expensive repair. Just a heads up.

 

Thanks Toecutter, the 2nd timing belt was installed at 105k miles, along with a new water pump. I drove the car for my first long drive, approx. sixty miles, and it runs very well. Transmission seems good.

 

You should be good to go then. These cars make ideal long distance cruisers, as they ride so nice. We used my wife's car to go to Texas from Michigan twice in 1 year (back in 2016). Set the cruise at 80, and turn on the AC, and just go, and still knocked down 27-28 mpg.

 

I plan to drain and fill the tranny soon, using Honda DW-1 as recommended on the forums. I noted that some folks use Redline D4ATF. Is there any preference? I will drain and fill the ATF every 15k miles as preventive maintenance.

 

Using the wrong fluid, regardless of how often the ATF is changed will run a very high risk of premature transmission failure. The thing about ATF is it is designed to have a very specific coefficient of friction (CoF), and if the ATF has the incorrect CoF, either too slippery (clutches take too long to engage) or not slippery enough (clutches grab too quickly), damage to the transmission will follow. The only way to ensure the CoF is correct is to use the ATF recommended by the manufacturer. In the case of 6th Gen Honda Accords with automatic transmissions, the only Honda fluid on the market which meets those requirements is DW-1 (which if I recall correctly, superseded Z1).

 

See the bottom line of my signature. Personally I wouldn't use anything other than Honda ATF DW1. Do the 3 quart change.

 

Will do, thanks! Luckily the PO had the services done at the dealership, so only Honda fluid.

To Toecutter, BTW, I also have a 97 Accord LX 4 door w/5 speed F22B2 non-VTEC. Great car. I wish the 98 was standard.

 

I just bought a 1999 EX w/5 speed - love that almost 20 year old car. I wonder how many miles do you guys have on your 97 & 99? My 99 has 169K.

It's impressive to see many sigs with older Accords at the households. That reminds me I should put my vehicle in my signature.