I bought one used a year and half ago and am super happy with it. Rides great, and the snow feature works wonders. It’s surprisingly fast too. Bought it at 10000 miles and it’s on 60000 now. Should I get the transmission fluid changed?
Thanks,
Ansel
As an added question, what are the problems with the ZF transmission everybody mentions, because I haven’t experienced anything bad. Only reason I got it and still knew about the problem is because when I bought it the KB value was 32,000. (It’s an elite) I got it for 16,000
The manuel might say something but good thing to do it sooner than later if the manuel says 80k then do it at 65 you know for Nissan do it at 30k. I would do it now but i am not an expert so take the word of the moderators that hopefully will answer. The Pilot's are good cars, though their transmissions are somewhat weaker so make sure to maintain it correctly.
I would do it now anyways though
Any honda transmission fluid should be changed every 30k miles at least.
Nothing mechanically wrong with the ZF that causes it to be unreliable. ZF is actually a really good transmission producer. With that said, the transmission has gearing ratios that don't increase evenly as it upshifts and goes through the sequence. So it may have a harsh upshifts at gears 3 and 7 I believe. I also uses dog clutches at those points adding to jerky shifting. This is why Honda moved away from the 9-speed in the Acuras, Odyssey and Accord and developed a 10-speed transmission in-house. As for the fuid, just pull out the dip stick and check the color. I'm not sure if this going to be the same cherry red ATF, since this isn't a Honda unit.
Thanks, very helpful
My brother owns a 2017 Honda Accord V6, and the owners manual suggests changing the fluid every 105,000 miles. Change with OEM fluid only, never flush a honda's transmissions, even if a service center suggests flushing. Scotty warns against flushing, and I asked the parts department while buying the OEM fluid and they told me to never flush either. Just empty and refill.
Honda's procedure to change is open the drain plug, refill the trans, take the vehicle on a short drive, and repeat 3 more times for a total of 4 drains and 4 refills. About 3-3.3 quarts empty from the trans each drain.
I would suggest doing at least one drain and refill now, and then doing another on the next oil change. Even if the manual recommends every 100K, it't better to do it sooner then later. It's easy to do yourself, I sound it best to measure what came out, then I poured that amount back into the transmission through the dip stick. There is also a fill plug, but the dip stick is much easier to get to and use.
