Hi all. I have a 2012 Honda Fit.

I'm going to replace my ATF oil, and I am trying to figure out which is the transmission return line? I couldn't find a picture of it.

In this image I took, I think the left-circled line is the "hot line" (does anyone know what the technical term for that is?) and is the right line the return line?



Also, based off the "Noob ATF Drain/Fill + "flush" thread, what is the point of draining the ATF from one of these transmission lines? Is it just to get some of the old transmission fluid drained within the torque converter and such, which cannot drain from the removed drain bolt area?

I ask, because based off that thread we use around 6 quarts total, which seems like a lot, but I am a noob, so I wouldn't know. I figured maybe just letting the ATF drain from the removed drain bolt would be sufficient, like doing a regular oil change?

Moreover, I am going to replace the transmission filter as well, so is it best to replace it after doing the transmission line drain and refill?

Thank you very much!

 

Just a do a drain and fill from the transmission drain bolt. You will get about 2.5 qts drained and repeat when you feel necessary. I do a drain and refill every oil change just for piece of mind.

 

Good to know. It would still be nice to know the answer to my questions just so I can learn these things.

I forgot to mention that my Fit has around 78k miles, and I have no idea if the previous owner ever had the transmission oil drained, prior to me buying this at 37k miles. I am worried that slipping will start happening if I drain from the torque converter and such.

 

Your diagram is correct. Yes we pull from that line to dump the fluid from the torque converter. Gets the majority out of it like a professional fluid exchange machine. You’ll never get all of it out with the dump and fill and repeat method.

 

OK, thank you very much, sir! Very helpful.

 

OK, something wrong is going on with my car now. Whenever I get to around 30 MPH a knocking begins to occur on the driver side. Even when slowing down to a stop the knocking will still occur at times. It feels like it's underneath my gas and brake pedal, and I can feel the knocking while I hold my steering wheel. It's as if something is caught on the end of something that is spinning, and that caught item is hitting something else as the spinning item rotates, thus making a knocking feel and sound.

This is what I did for draining the transmission: I drained the transmission fluid from the drain bolt, and went ahead and disconnected both the hot line and return line (I figured why not?). I left these freely open to drain for about two days while cleaning bolts and such, which drained about 3.5 qts total. Next, I ended up replacing the transmission filter, so I disconnected the battery, without a device to store the codes, removed the engine air cleaner assembly, then replaced the filter. After, I reconnected both hoses, put the drain bolt back in, and refilled about 3.4 qts, which maybe is not enough (?). I have yet to do the second portion of the "Noob ATF Drain/Fill + 'flush'" yet, where we drain from the transmission line, because I figured maybe just re-filling the transmission and taking it for a drive will allow the new transmission fluid to get into the torque converter and such, thus effectively cycle out any old ATF. Maybe I should not have done that?

I'm a DIY novice, so I don't know what's going on. I do plan on draining from the transmission line though.

Now, in terms of checking to see if I poured in enough ATF, I let the my vehicle run for about three minutes, and the two radiator fans never even came on. I turned the A/C on, then they kicked in, which I turned off the engine right after, then waited about sixty seconds, pulled out the stick, wiped off, re-inserted, and checked again, and the fluid was roughly in the correct area.

Also, I did work on my brakes the other day, and removed the brake hose from the caliper on the passenger-front side, which drained out brake fluid, and I have not done a proper brake bleed yet - after re-connecting the caliper all I did was just topped off the brake fluid reservoir with new fluid for a temporary fix. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Any ideas, gents? Thank you.

 

Did you pull the calipers? I would start by inspecting all brake related pieces.

I doubt it has anything to do with your noise, but I would also inspect ATF level. Always go by the dipstick, not how much you remove.

 

I briefly removed the brake hose from the front-passenger side, but I had no means to fully stop the hose from draining out brake fluid, so I put the caliper back on. I'll have to check the brakes again. Would an un-bled brake system cause something like my problem, based off what I did with my brakes?

I did check via the dipstick. I did the recommended method: turned the vehicle on for about 3 minutes, as mentioned the radiator fans never turned on, so i figured 3 minutes was probably sufficient amount of time, turned the car off, waited for about 60-90 seconds, removed the dipstick, wiped it off, put it back in, took it back out again and saw the fluid level was right in the center of the recommended area.

Thank you for reading my long post and giving your 2 cents.

 

You removed the hose and didn't bleed it after reattaching? You def need to bleed the whole system. Is that the cause of your noise? Not sure. But I would start there.

 

Yeah, didn't bother with bleeding the whole system. Lolz. I am debating whether or not to get new calipers, because there is a ton of rust in the piston on both calipers, so I have a haunch there is rust and pitting where the piston moves in-and-out, and I damaged the rubber seal when trying to clean the piston the other day. Thus, I'm not really using my car much at the moment.

Problem solved:
Oh, goodness gracious. I figured out what the problem was: I did not fully torque the four lug nuts back on my driver-front wheel when working on the brakes the other day. THEY WERE BASCIALLY HAND-TIGHTENED ON THERE! I put the wheel back on while the car was still on the jack stands, but completely forgot to tighten them to 80 ft-lbs after lowering the vehicle. I even told myself to not forget to tighten the lug nuts! I am a moron. I could have seriously hurt others and myself. Sigh. At least I figured out the problem (thank you Jesus)! Man.

Well, lesson learned: always double check the work when re-assembling parts back together, and do things one-by-one.

On a lighter note, I just checked the quality of my old transmission fluid, and it's not as bad as I thought it was! I thought it was pure black, based off how it looked when coming out of the transmission, but nope. Thus, based off of either 40k-77k miles (depending on if the stealership ever replaced it prior to me buying this Fit at 37k miles), the old stuff doesn't look too shabby. It definitely needed to be changed, however.

Moreover, I am no longer hearing the grinding noise the torque converter has possibly be causing for five years when I hit around 20+MPH.



Question is: was any damage done to that area of the wheel? I drove in this condition for about twenty minutes total: ten minutes to one place, stayed for an hour, then ten minutes back home.

 

Glad you're safe!

Can always remove the associated wheels again and inspect the studs and their threads, as well as the wheels and their holes.
I've done it too.

 

Good idea, thanks.

Such a small mistake that can lead to such a large catastrophe.