Reddit reviews Honda 08200-9008 DW1 Automatic Transmission Fluid ATF - 6 Pack

The 1999 TL had the 4 speed automatic. Do NOT do a flush, it will ruin this type of gearbox, there is a MUCH better, more delicate, correct method.

These gearboxes are notorious for shifting hard when the friction modifiers in the gearbox fluid have worn/failed. The fluid requires a 30K change interval once the car has over 60K miles.

I will bet you $100, if you follow this procedure the gearbox will shift like brand new again, assuming the clutches aren't already lunched (which if its not slipping they probably are fine).

Go to Amazon, and get 6 quarts of DW-1. This is Honda's newer revised gearbox oil. Don't get auto parts store stuff, it won't have the correct additives for Honda's type of clutches.

go to your local auto parts store, get a drain pan, and a 3/8inch ratchet, along with a funnel and that has a long fill tube.

Get the car up on ramps and remove the gearbox drain plug, what will drain out is some extremely dark looking ATF, roughly 3 quarts worth.

Once drained, refill the gearbox (through the dipstick hole) with 3 quarts of the DW-1. Take the car on a short, slightly spirited drive. You will already notice a night and day difference in gearbox behavior, however, it won't be perfect. This is because you only drained about 3/4 of the fluid in the gearbox, and what is happening is the left over old fluid that was in the torque converter will be mixing with the new fluid.

After 10-20 miles everything should be mixed around pretty good, put the car on the ramps, rinse and repeat. Drain the gearbox, the fluid should look a little bit darker than it was before you poured it in, this is good.

Once drained again, refill with the remaining 2ish+ quarts (Add two and top up with the third) and button everything up. Also, the gearbox plug has a magnet on the inside end, inspect for solid chunks or pieces, there may be a little bit of a sludge on the end, this is okay, clean it off and reinstall it.

Your gearbox will shift butter smooth, its not uncommon for honda 4 speeds to shift a little bit abruptly at low speed, but overall it should feel much better than it did.

If you keep driving it as is, eventually the clutch packs will fail and the gearbox will need a rebuild.

If anything, if the gearbox is too far gone you spent ~$50 finding out it was terminal, which is relatively speaking a drop in the pond.

Honda, in the 80s and 90s, had a reputation for making strange automatic transmissions.

They are heavily based on their manual gearboxes, but they are mated to a torque converter instead of a clutch, and an automatic shifting assembly which can up and downshift fairly quickly. The result made for an efficient, lightweight and small gearbox. The drawback was that it needed to be maintained differently.

This gearbox has special clutches inside of it which requires a type of fluid the only Honda makes, as cars aged their owners would either a) not know how to maintain the car properly or b) do the fluid changes at the right intervals, using a "universal" aftermarket fluid (Valvoline, Mobil 1, STP, Castrol).

Trouble with this is, using the wrong fluid at the right intervals was worse for the gearbox than not changing the fluid at all.

Honda's suggested service interval was 60K for the first one, then every 30K subsequently after that, and they only require a simple 3 quart drain and refill, so the service was fairly cheap ~$50.

The reason for the frequent fluid changes was due to the transmission having no filter, this saved materials costs to the consumer and labor for that matter, but it meant the fluid needed to be changed twice as frequently.

When I acquired my 2005 Honda civic, with its very similar 4 speed automatic to yours, it too was shifting hard up and down, it wasn't terrible but it wasn't right, the hotter the gearbox got the worse the shifts would be.

Heres what I did, and what you should do;

1. get 6 quarts of Honda DW-1 Fluid I bought this very thing off Amazon, its legit.
   
   
2. Get a 3/8inch Ratchet. The drain plug on the transmission doesn't require a socket of any kind, the Ratchet will hook straight up to the plug. The drain plug faces the passenger side of the car right next to the subframe.
   
   
3. Get a Funnel with a long nosel
   
   
4. jack car up or drive up on ramps
   
   
5. drain gearbox oil, it should be about 3 quarts that will come out, there is slightly more than this in the transmission, its in the torque converter which cannot be drained, this will be addressed with a 2nd drain a fill.
   
   
6. after draining, reinsert transmission drain plug and tighten, you do not need to he-man this back on, snug it up and give it a firm final turn to ensure its in place.
   
   
7. refill transmission, 3 quarts is what it should take, but for good measure put in two and check fluid level, continue to top off until full with the 3rd quart.
   
   
8. test drive, take the car on the road, get on the expressway, do about 10 miles.
   
   
9. repeat drain and refill process with the other 3 quarts that are left over. This is done to ensure that any remaining old/incorrect fluid that may have stayed in the torque converter gets removed. After the 2nd drain and fill the car should drive SIGNIFICANTLY better.
   
   If you do this process, and the shifting situation stays the stay, or gets worse, than the gearbox needs a rebuild due to failing clutches.
   
   a Throttle position sensor or any other sensor for the ECU to figure out how hard you are pushing the engine would throw a check engine light, is the check engine light on? If it isn't I would start with the fluid service, I am going to hazard a guess you have never done it in the past.