Hi Scotty,

Honda Accord Sedan EX V6 VTech/Leather

VIN: 1HGCG1655WA803568

250 000 KMs

I’m a 33 year old refrigeration mechanic (HVAC) and gas fitter living in western Canada. Your videos have invigorated my curiosity and enjoyment of working on cars. In high school I built janky old DSM’s as a teenager and took them on dirt roads until I totaled one. Lesson learned. Sports cars are expensive

Anyway, I had a customer who couldn’t pay their Air Conditioner install bill in full so they gave me a 1998 Honda Accord V6 EX/leather with 250k KMs on it.

Car has been beautifully taken care of and everything works on the car. One owner. Maintenance schedule has been followed. AC works. All dash lights and little things work. New timing belt. New battery. New rubber. Car is green and has near perfect leather. A book with all work done at Honda or local shops was included. I told them the car would pay $500 of their bill as it was apparent that the transmission was done during the road test and with what my code reader displayed. I could also hear a bad wheel bearing.

I was going to part the car out but now it’s being driven by a lady who is living in my house until she finds a new place. Car was able to be driven in D2 for a while until the reverse stopped working. 

So, I had the transmission rebuilt by a reputable shop. Then, I did a wheel bearing, replaced distributor, wires, plugs, dropped rad fluid and fill, new map sensor, oil change, and did full brake job - my labor.

Car runs perfectly smooth and fires up instantly. Rides well and has lots of power. Shifts well. Now the car is worth about $4500CND to me (without my labor). I agree - probably stupid and expensive decisions but it gave me some stuff to do. Shop told me to come back after 500km and 1500km to do checks on transmission. They apparently tightened some connections and checked fluid. 

Short version: other than changing the transmission fluid in regular intervals and maintaining the entire cooling system for the car - what can I do to extend and maximize the life of the newly rebuilt automatic transmission? Would a different transmission cooler be a good idea to have installed on the car? I’ve seen articles that detail installing an external tranny cooler and filter. What about transmission slip additives? How many KMs should I get the fluid changed if being anal?

Any other advice or warnings about this particular car would be great! 

Feel free to roast me about putting money into a 25 year old car. 

Thanks for your videos!