We will cover the why and how to prevent your honda transmission from breaking. Honda makes some great reliable and fuel efficient cars. They are fun to drive and reliable. Unfortunately as they go over 100,000 miles their transmissions start to slip and fail. We regularly get requests for quotes from people wanting to replace their Honda or Acura Automatic Transmission. As you can imagine putting in a new transmission in a 10 to 12 year old car can be quite costly. Here we will discuss a little bit about why they fail and how you can prevent your Honda transmission from breaking in the future.
How Honda Transmissions became unreliable
In the 1990’s Honda transmissions were reliable, but were criticized for their hard shifting. Those 1990’s transmissions rarely had problems. In the early 2000’s Honda released new transmissions that were smooth shifting and gave their cars a much more refined feel. These new more refined transmissions were much more problematic and would regularly fail after 100,000 miles.
What causes the Honda Automatic Transmissions to Fail Prematurely?
The newer more failure prone 2000+ Honda Automatic transmissions are a lot more sensitive to the condition of the automatic transmission fluid. The added smoothness when shifting is the result of the computer slipping the clutches more between shifts. This causes the clutches to get hotter and wears out the transmission fluid faster with the increased heat. The other problem with the newly designed Honda transmissions comes from Honda using an internal filter that is not serviceable. Not serviceable, means the transmission has to come out and must be disassembled in order to change that filter. This means that when that internal filter gets clogged with cutch material you are guaranteed to start having transmission problems.
What You Can Do To Prevent Your Honda Transmission from Breaking
Thankfully there are some things you can do to make sure your Honda Automatic transmission lasts the longest.
- Have the transmission fluid changed every 30,000 miles. This is a quick service where the transmission oil drain bolt is open and about 1/3rd of the fluid drains out. Then the car is topped off with genuine Honda Automatic Transmission Fluid. As stated only about 1/3rd of the fluid is drained out through this method but it keeps the transmission fluid from getting old and overheating or clogging the internal filter.
- Installing an external inline filter on your transmission lines. Since the only filter is internal and can’t be changed easily then another alternative is to have an external inline filter installed. Since most models did not come with a factory external filter you can modify and existing line going from the transmission to the transmission cooler in the radiator to have the filter in line. You can see the link for a genuine inline Honda Filter below.
- Installing an auxiliary transmission cooler. In general heat kills transmissions on any make and model of car so an auxiliary transmission cooler is a great idea if the car is driven hard or regularly carries heavy cargo. It is technically a modification so it must be performed by a shop that knows what they are doing. By doing this your transmission will run substantially cooler, which will also lead to a longer service life.
Out of all the things that can be done to extend the reliable service life of your Honda Automatic Transmission, doing the 30,000 mile fluid flushes is the most reliable and easy to do. Just make sure to use genuine Honda ATF and make sure the fluid is properly topped off after the drain and fill. Doing these things can greatly extend the service life of your transmission and even if you have to pay for our shop to do these services, it is a lot more economical to have these services done than replacing your transmission when you car goes over 100k on the odometer. If you have any questions feel free to Contact Us @ Tolima’s Auto Center.
