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DIY Transmission Service (Filter + Drain)

69933 Views 98 Replies 57 Participants Last post by  lemoned, 
mrkeith
7
Transmission Service DIY (Filter + Drain)

<OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER>
I do not care about your 56k modem.
If you drive a nice Legend, then you should
be able to afford a modern internet connection.

Many of you may encounter trouble understanding my English
because I write clearly. That too is your problem, not mine.

I cannot be held responsible for your negligence.
If you screw up your transmission, do not blame me.
</OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER>

Safety is key. Ensure that your Legend is properly lifted
with the e-brake tight, weel wedges in place, etc.

Crawl underneath your Legend and locate the transmisision pan.
It is directly in front of the y-pipe, behind the oil and differential pan.
Position a bucket on the ground to catch the flow.

Stick your ratchet into the drain plug (on the passenger's side)
and crank it loose. Allow the fluid to completely drain, then screw
the plug back in the pan after wiping any debris from it.

Now let's unscrew the pan. Fourteen (14) screws hold the pan in place.
You can safely unscrew all of them because the pan is fairly secured
in place by two snap pins. Be sure not to lose the snap pins!

The fourteen screws:


A transmission pan snap pin:


The transmission pan is removed (the filter is visible on the right):


The transmission filter is held in by an additional three (3) screws.
Remove them and pull out the filter.
Following is the used filter juxtaposed the new one:


There were few metal shavings caught in mine:


Following is the new filter:


Before reinserting the new filter, make sure to affix the circular gasket
on the filter's top!

Remove the old gasket from your oil pan.
You may have to shave off stubborn pieces with a sand block.
The pan's surface to remount the new gasket should be perfectly flat.

Clean out your oil pan with a cloth if necessary.
I drain and fill my transmission almost every oil change,
so my pan did not require scrubbing ;)
Your mileage may vary.

Place the snap screws in the pan and fit your new gasket around them.
(the snap screws are not depicted below)


Snap the pan back onto the transmission and screw everything back together.

Finally, you should be able to replace 3.5 quarts of Honda ATF.
(trust me; use Honda)

I drafted this write-up rather quickly.
There may be mistakes.

Please post any further questions that you may have.
I will try my best to answer them.

Good Luck,
k.h.
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L
You photos of the filter appear to of a filter and not an OEM screen. What you need to add is that if you replace an OEM screen with a filter you shall have to replace that filter every 3 years or so depending upon mileage driven.

If a Legned owner wished to perform a screen replacement once just to inspect for any large shavings, this one time replacement of an OEM screen should suffice.
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mrkeith
After reading your response a few times over,
I think you are claiming that my replacement filter is of
a lesser quality than the OEM one.

I doubt that is the case because both parts seemed to be
exactly the same from visual inspection. If there is any difference,
it would be within the internals of that flat region.

Both parts are screens if you want to get technical.
Neither part has a paper filter, like you might be thinking.

k.h.
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G
Nice writeup! I talked to you about changing fluids on my car awhile ago. After this DIY, I am aware that I should change the filter also. Its about time I change it since my tranny shifts pretty hard.


And if anyone has ever been in his car and wonders why there is no 1st to 2nd hard shift, the answer is above. He keeps his car clean (no pun intended :D)
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L
khoerling said:
After reading your response a few times over,
I think you are claiming that my replacement filter is of
a lesser quality than the OEM one.

I doubt that is the case because both parts seemed to be
exactly the same from visual inspection. If there is any difference,
it would be within the internals of that flat region.

Both parts are screens if you want to get technical.
Neither part has a paper filter, like you might be thinking.

k.h.
Click to expand...
I admit that I have not removed the trans pan and looked at what Acura terms a screen. In my case it would be moot as I have owned the vehicle since 35k miles and I religiously change A/T fluid. Usually, there is a difference between a filter and a screen; the filter having a much finer mesh. You've seen both. If the filter has a finer mesh, then the following applies. If not, disregard.

By removing the OEM screen and substituting an aftermarket trans filter, you are creating more maintenance for yourself. If the OEM screen has a larger mesh than the filter the filter will occlude faster and thus require fairly frequent (3/30k) replacement. I believe that there was some wisdom in Acura installing a screen and a magnetic drain bolt. Replacing the screen with the filter may limit easy inspection of amt of particulate (or shavings) due to normal or abnormal wear. What would be deposited upon the magnetic drain bolt is now trapped by the filter. I would only do this inspection/screen (not filter) replacement 1x on a vehicle having over 50k, and not knowing its history. Just to rule out shavings. If I remember correctly, didn't someone post cleaning a screen and just reinstalling??
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mrkeith
Thank you for the compliment GSteg ;)
In fact, my transmissions shifts hella smoother now that the filter was replaced.

I am serious about the parts being exactly the same, though.
The OEM screen look to-the-t of the aftermarket one.
See for your self in the pictures.
Both screens were thinish. I suppose one could clean off
their OEM screen, but why? Just replace the entire screen and gaskets, too.

I am beginning to think that this whole argument not to replace
the screen stems from cheapness.

k.h.
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mrkeith
GSteg--You may want to try Gill's 3x drain and fill before cleaning out the pan.
I tried that on my other coupe and it worked like a miracle.

k.h.
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C
When you took out the undercover of the tranny for the first time was there a lot of sludge/dirt inside? At what miles whas this approx.?

My Legend has 230 000 km (=150 000 miles) and I have put in Trans Max Z automatic fluid.
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G
oh btw, where did you buy the filter at and how much was it? I think this is my next weekend project :D
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mrkeith
There was not much sludge in my transmission
because I drain and fill it nearly every oil change.

I don't recall where the filter was purchased.
Search google.com.

k.h.
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Kenso
The filter is around $38. It is item #1 in this link.

Trans filter
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B
good stuff khoeling. Maybe i'll do that while replacing my control arm
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SBWooder
You da man Khoerling, great DIY, this settles any dispute of whether it is worth changing the filiter or if we even have one. :) Great pics and good instructions.




Chris (Mr. Wood)


Frost on Ivory
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R
Thanks for the great pics, I've been having some small tranny problems on my '91 so I'm going to give this a shot and see if it helps. ~$51 for the parts from AOA so it's easy on the wallet and at 200k miles my tranny will appreciate it.
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mrkeith
Post or AIM me if you have any further questions.
After replacing the filter screen and performing the drain and fill
a few times, you will have one of the happiest shifting Legends on Earth ;)

Thank you for the kind remarks, guys.

Cheers,
k.h.
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9
how often should this filter/transmission oil be change?

I believed the manual just called for darining the fluid at 60K?

might be a good Saturday project

thanks!
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W
khoerling said:
After reading your response a few times over,
I think you are claiming that my replacement filter is of
a lesser quality than the OEM one.

I doubt that is the case because both parts seemed to be
exactly the same from visual inspection. If there is any difference,
it would be within the internals of that flat region.

Both parts are screens if you want to get technical.
Neither part has a paper filter, like you might be thinking.

k.h.
Click to expand...
I'm a bit worried about the difference between OEM and aftermarket parts. I know that the exterior of the parts are exactly the same (by looking at your pics), but are you sure that the interior is the same? For example, a Fram or Purolator engine oil filter is the exact size and shape of an OEM engine oil filter, but the actual filter filiament within an OEM filter is of a much better quality.

I'm worried b/c I don't want to put in an aftermarket filter and then later only having to replace it again.

And, yes, the price is an issue. If I can spend $30 for an aftermarket and it's the exact same part (both externally and internally), then I'd rather save the money by not buying an OEM filter for twice as much as the aftermarket one.

Great DIY though, I'm inspired to do it. I'm just a bit concerned about the quality of an aftermarket part.
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mrkeith
rich29_cal said:
I'm a bit worried about the difference between OEM and aftermarket parts. I know that the exterior of the parts are exactly the same, but are the interior the same? For example, a Fram engine oil filter is the exact size and shape of an OEM engine oil filter, but the OEM's quality is much better.

I'm worried b/c I don't want to put in an aftermarket filter and then later only having to replace it again.

And, yes, the price is an issue. If I can spend $30 for an aftermarket and it's the exact same part (both externally and internally), then I'd rather save the money by not buying an OEM filter for twice as much as the aftermarket one.
Click to expand...
From visual inspection of what internals are visible, they are the same part.

k.
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B
Extremely good DIY Keith, a mod should sticky this ASAP IMO.
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W
First of all, again, I appreciate your DIY a great deal. Just for my information only, are there regions in the filter that you cannot visually inspect?
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