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Car Forum / Honda Cars / August 2006Transmission Flush: Dealer or Jiffy Lube??
In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid was around 118,000. Is is appropriate to go to the dealer, or for cost-effective reasons, can I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? you can go any where just make sure they use OEM HONDA FLUID.. i think it cost about 7bucks a litre from honda you will need about 3Ls > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid > was around 118,000. > > Is is appropriate to go to the dealer, or for cost-effective reasons, can > I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the > fluid was around 118,000. > > Is is appropriate to go to the dealer, or for cost-effective reasons, can > I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? The manual for my wife's CR-V says to have the dealer drain the fluid, replace with HONDA GENUINE FLUID, drive the car, and repeat a total of three times. What does your Owner's Manual say regarding transmission service? If they don't recommend a flush, and you haven't abused the transmission, then I doubt that a flush is warranted. Earle > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid > was around 118,000. > > Is is appropriate to go to the dealer, or for cost-effective reasons, can > I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? ----------------------------------------- 'Flush' and Honda 'automatic' should not be used in the same sentence. You need to drain-n-fill you tranny with Honda Z1. You really could do it yourself, or buy the Z1 and have 'your' mechanic do it. Since it was done 50,000 miles ago, you could probably just do it once or twice (assuming it was done three times at the last service). Check your invoice, take about 3.5 quarts per drain. You could have Jiffy lube do it once, and do it again next oil change, and once again at next oil change . . . . . 'Curly' > > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid > > was around 118,000. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > and once again at next oil change . . . . . > 'Curly' With Jiffy Lube, you will have to bring them the proper fluid. What are the odds against Jiffy Lube using HG fluid, even if they swear up and down that they will do so? Earle >> > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid >> > was around 118,000. [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > >Earle If they change it at all. > With Jiffy Lube, you will have to bring them the proper fluid. What are the > odds against Jiffy Lube using HG fluid, even if they swear up and down that > they will do so? 99.99% odds they will use the wrong stuff. Why anyone goes to these places is a mystery to me. "There's a sucker born every minute." John In article <32f2aea373e226158d80f4fdfda97895@localhost.talkaboutautos.com>, > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid > was around 118,000. > > Is is appropriate to go to the dealer, or for cost-effective reasons, can > I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? Use the dealer, and have the dealer do only the operations specified by the factory service manual. For example, for my Odyssey Honda says to flush the transmission by doing a series of four drain-fill-drive routines. Period. You will ruin your transmission by taking it to Jiffy Lube and having them do a flush. Question: why do you want a flush? You don't. You simply want a drain and fill. It's still better off to use a dealer, or to use a local mechanic you trust. Why? Because you want them to use Honda-brand tranny fluid from the dealer. Anything else will--you guessed it--cause problems. You know it doesent take a "Rocket scientist" to change oil&filter or transmission fluid or even change an air fliter on todays hondas when i got my first honda as a kid i had gone to one of those quick lube place for an oil change myself until i noticed one day after coming home the oil leak underneath caused by an overtightend bolt that the monkey stripped! and he even overfilled my engine oil from there i learned pretty quickly from that day on. if i whant it done properly and right i had to do it myself. cant believe why anyone would in there right mind woul hand over there lovely new $30.000 Honda and put there trust in these crooks you gotta be crazy!!! before you mess with it get to know your vehicle well and do it yourself! its not only cheaper to do so. but you will also gaine a sense of satisfaction from doing it youreself -- johnin >In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid >was around 118,000. > >Is is appropriate to go to the dealer, or for cost-effective reasons, can >I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? If you use Jiffy Lube, get the fluid from the Honda dealer and tell them you want to watch them change it. If they give you any bullshit about insurance regulations or any other reason why they can't do this, take the fluid and find an independent mechanic. Better yet, just start asking around now to find a good independent. > If you use Jiffy Lube, get the fluid from the Honda dealer > and tell [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Better yet, > just start asking around now to find a good independent. Maybe people should just print out all these articles reporting on Jiffy Lube not changing fluids when its people claimed to have done so, and present them to management when making the request to watch. It seems like Jiffy Lube should be grateful for any customer right now. > Maybe people should just print out all these articles > reporting on Jiffy Lube not changing fluids when its people > claimed to have done so, and present them to management when > making the request to watch. I know for a fact that Jiffy Lube really did change the fluid in my Dodge Durango... ;-( I took my Durango to Jiffy Lube for a transmission fluid and filter replacement. I was changing the oil on it myself, but I couldn't figure out how I was going to drain a transmission with no drain plug without making a mess. They didn't have a filter in stock. Kind of odd, I see lots of Durangos on the road. The local parts house brought one over. Wrong one, obviously. Some phone calls, dealer-only part. Then they had to get authorization to buy a dealer-only part... 2000 Dodge Durango 4WD must be rare. Somebody goes to the dealer and gets the filter. My car has been on the lift for two hours, causing quite the service backup for the sole remaining lift. The manager is talking about refilling the transmission so they can drive my car off the lift when the filter arrives from the dealer. Finally, it looked like they were all done. I heard the car start. I saw the backup lights come on and go off. I instantly new something was wrong. On fast idle after having cooled down, I didn't see the body lurch at all. A few more backup light on/off cycles, and the engine was shut off. A few more tries, with different people looking on. Off comes the pan for the third time. Something about the filter was in backwards. Reassembled, everything seemed to be okay. The "best" they could do for my troubles was to give me 10% off the price of the service. They insisted no damage had been done to the transmission. I pointed out that it had been run for at least a couple of minutes with no fluid. They insisted that it hadn't engaged, so no problem. I had them make note on the receipt that it had been run with no fluid for five minutes. Of course, 50,000 miles later, if the transmission fails, they will deny any connection... but who knows. I have over 300,000 miles on a Chevy automatic transmission. If the Dodge fails at 110,000, is it inferior quality Dodge materials, or a lack of lubrication 80,000 miles ago? Next time, I had my wife take the Durango to the local tire shop. They changed the engine oil, drained the transmission, oops, no filter. Refill the transmission. Order part, no dealer in town. Take it back, replace filter, refill transmission. Two days later, it won't go into reverse. Take it back, add some fluid. A little while later, stalling, unrelated, methinks. I take it to the dealer, transmission clutch pack is shot, not releasing, killing the engine. That's $200 plus labor, some other service done anyway, $800 bill. As I type this, that seems pretty clearly like I should have taken it back to the tire place and claimed some cost against them, and I can't remember why I didn't. I think it was over 10,000 miles later. A friend called and asked where she should take her car for some diagnostic repair. All I could tell her was the dealer. I get newer cars serviced so infrequently, and when they do go bad, it seems like the independents can't solve the problem, and the dealers can, immediately, that there's just no point. The dealer is $90 per hour, the independent is $60, but he wastes time in diagnosis. I take my old truck to the local guy for things I could do myself, but don't want to, like changing the radiator. Anything that requires skill, it's off to the dealer.  Signature--- Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5 > I took my Durango to Jiffy Lube for a transmission fluid and filter > replacement. <snip> > Next time, I had my wife take the Durango to the local tire shop. <snip> Both of them probably didn't use the correct fluid either. Most chain stores use some BS universal transmission fluid and not the correct one for the vehicle. For modern vehicles, GM uses Dexron III, Ford Mercon V, Chrysler D4, and most others also have proprietary fluids. Find a good dealer or an independent SPECIALIST to service your cars. John I wouldn't tust any of thoes fast lube place's with anything but oil, and even then you have to find a good one. I've had numerous problems with pricing. They say it's going to cost X amount and it ends up being X PLUS some other sum of money for some odd reason! I once had a place tell me I needed a radiator flush and that if I didn't I could "seriously dammage my engine." I had just had the water pump replaced AND the radiator flushed about 6 months prior to this. When I told this to the worker I got a "I've been caught!" Look. She didn't say anything after that and just ran my card for the oil change. Was she trying to take advantage of me or what? It's hard to find a trusted workshop. Just make sure they are using to spec oils and go from there. SignatureBeZerK2112 http://www.automotiveforums.com Changing ATF on my accord is really fast - just change it after driving for 20 miles or so to get it hot - turn the wheel all the way to the right and there is the ATF drain plug - a 3/8" drive fits into the square drive hole - tap the end of the socket wrench to break it loose. ATF really gets hot and it tends to gush out - will severely burn you - I just keep turning till it comes out and pull my hand away. With regard to tranny flushes - I doubt they get all of the flush fluid out of your tranny - I would guess this stuff is little more than kerosene with something in it to color it or make it smell like something else. Flushing is probably a bad idea if the flushing fluid is anything but the recommended ATF for that tranny. I change my honda ATF at 30K - the recommended interval of 70K is too long - got a warning light after first 60K and I only do highway driving. > Flushing is probably a bad idea if the flushing fluid is anything but > the recommended ATF for that tranny. > <SNIP> ------------------- (power) flushing is actually forbidden by Honda, since the internal filter will get back-flushed throughout the tranny when the boob at Monkey Lube hooks the hoses up wrong. Murphy was right . . . Honda's Z1 is the only acceptable ATF to use, otherwise you spend a bunch of money later replacing the Dexron with Z1 (or replacing the tranny). :-( 'Curly' > (power) flushing is actually forbidden by Honda, since the internal > filter will get back-flushed throughout the tranny when the boob at [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > bunch of money later replacing the Dexron with Z1 (or replacing the > tranny). :-( And the flushing method recommended by Honda is quite simple: drain, fill, drive (2-4 miles), drain, fill, drive, drain, fill, drive, drain, fill. >> (power) flushing is actually forbidden by Honda, since the internal >> filter will get back-flushed throughout the tranny when the boob at [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >fill, drive (2-4 miles), drain, fill, drive, drain, fill, drive, drain, >fill. How much did you save by not buying the Honda fluid? LOL. >>(power) flushing is actually forbidden by Honda, since the internal >>filter will get back-flushed throughout the tranny when the boob at [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > fill, drive (2-4 miles), drain, fill, drive, drain, fill, drive, drain, > fill. Indeed it is easy, but more time consuming that simply hooking up a magic machine. That of course is why most shops love to sell the machine service. Personally I use the factory method with a pair of wheel ramps, a wrench, a funnel, a drain pain and a bit of my own time. Takes less than an hour start to finish. It would take me longer to drive to a shop, wait, then drive back home. Some people ask me why I take the time to do my own work. I ask them how they can afford to waste the time of having it done for them. :) John > Personally I use the factory method with a pair of wheel ramps, a > wrench, a funnel, a drain pain and a bit of my own time. Takes less [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > John IMHO the wheel ramps are not necessary for changing the ATF on an accord - just turn the wheels all the way to the left and get down on your belly and there is the ATF drain plug. When people get trannies power flushed with that machine - I always wondered how much of the power flush solvent gets left in the tranny - that has got to cause problems. High ATF prices are supposedly one of the reasons DC minivans have big tranny problems - quick change places use a low priced ATF - 3 to 5K later - KACHING - new tranny time. >>Personally I use the factory method with a pair of wheel ramps, a >>wrench, a funnel, a drain pain and a bit of my own time. Takes less [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > accord - just turn the wheels all the way to the left and get down on > your belly and there is the ATF drain plug. I will have to give that a try! Thanks! John > >>Personally I use the factory method with a pair of wheel ramps, a > >>wrench, a funnel, a drain pain and a bit of my own time. Takes less [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Thanks! > John ------------------------------------------- Here's another trick or two: When draining, use at least a six inch extension on the ratchet so you have more control of how far you slip the magnetic plug out. I pull it only as far as it needs to gush down, into the pan. If you remove it all the way it pees way over where the tire would be, missing the pan.. The extension also keeps the ratchet from being baptized in ATF, and dripping for two months after. I also remove the tire and then lower the tiny scissor jack so the car is in a normal angle before draining. A manilla file folder rolled into a very pointy dunce cap, sealed with duct tape makes an excellent filling funnel, and it doesn't get reused, so no worry about it being filthy with dust and grit next time. 'Curly' warlock162 Wrote: > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the > fluid [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > can > I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? Jiffy lubes do not have a very good tract record on transmission service. Lot of them use the same barrell of fluid fit all with a bottle of dope stuff. DIY it or Dealer or A good repair shop. As said Honda uses special fluid and sometimes special service procedures. MT SignatureMT-2500 http://www.automotiveforums.com > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid > was around 118,000. > > Is is appropriate to go to the dealer, or for cost-effective reasons, can > I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? For **** sake, use either a trusted dealer or a trusted independent mechanic. Have a look at this before you go to a Jiffy Lube type place: http://www.nbc4.tv/mechanicinvestigation/index.html John > In my 98 Honda Civic of 168,000 miles, the last time I changed the fluid > was around 118,000. > > Is is appropriate to go to the dealer, or for cost-effective reasons, can > I use the Jiffy Lube-type of place? BTW, if you go to a Jiffy Lube and they actually do the work they will 1) Use a "universal" fluid, not the correct Honda fluid. and 2) Use a machine flush and solvent, which Honda says not to do. John |
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