OMG I forgot I have one of those things lying around the garage from my Boat Experience 8 years ago (draining a mercruiser sterndrive's crank case is similar).

These cost about $25 bucks and hook up to the battery.* Absolute no brainer. Thin transmission fluid would be a snap. d'oh! And I paid Honda $108.


*that mityvac looks mighty, but something like what I linked might be more practical. Just drain into an empty milk jug and take it to the neighborhood jiffylube for disposal.

 

Yea, if you have an alternative extractor, im sure that will work too. I've just had bad experiences with cheaper extractors that fail after a biy.The Mityvac mentioned has a dispense feature which makes draining slightly less messy. Disclaimer: somehow I have the top rated revew on amazon, although it works for me, others have gotten units that didn't have an o-ring seal and suck properly. Read revirws and decide

 

Did anybody use the Locas auto tranny fit fluid and if it does anything? Its label on the bottle seems to say that it fixes everything, slip, noise, rough shifting, etc. Does it?

 

Although Lucas makes some well respected stuff, I wouldn't put any additives in the transmission. Honda is pretty specific about only using their fluid (with its own additives).

Really I don't think the factory fluid and the flushing noise is a problem. Don't create one.

But there's nothing wrong with changing to the newer Honda fluid, and it might actually work a bit better.

 

Most people here by definition have a new car, by definition as this car is not that old. I think they'd prefer to try to fix things properly rather then kludge it.
Try at least something basic like changing the fluid.

 

I just bought a 09 AT Sport a couple weekends ago. I was quite irritated at hearing this "noise" the first week. You guys have describe the low grind noise I'm experiancing to a T. I'm really hoping a 4X flush with DW-1 will fix my prob. My Fit hase 81K on it and I have no history on what has been done to the transmission. I have the ATF filter in hand and am waiting on my fluid to arrive. I found it for $6.95 a qt from a Honda parts dealer on eBay.
My plan is to change out the filter after the 4 flushes?
I'll let you know how it goes.

 

For those who are still trying to figure out if the "drain and fill" with new ATF DW1 will solve this noise problem, I would say that mine works after this process in two weeks now. Initially it had a very low and short noise the first couple of days, now it is completely gone.

 

I have an 09 , 77k on it. I changed my fluid at 50k, then at around 66 honda said it was overfilled and took an extra quart out.

The noise started again around 76k. So I decided to change the filter and fluid.

Glad I did.

Plug had a fair amount of sludge on it and the pan had what looked like glitter.

I made sure to follow the honda service manual when refilling to get the right amount in. Basically you wait until the radiator fan kicks in twice, then you check the level within 60 second to get an accurate reading.

Doing this I ended up putting almost 3 qts so I worried, but the dipstick said its perfect. Could be because I changed the filter out, allowing more fluid to come out of the drain area...

Could the shavings I saw be the result of too much or too little fluid? I would hate to think a dealership can read levels properly...

 

I did the same and it needs almost 3 qt. 2.6 is way below the low mark.

 

My 09 Auto does this as well, it's already had the fluid changed once before. Should I try to put the new DW-1 in it and see if it fixes it?

 

I went straight to DW1 and it seems to work after two days driving around. May be the new ATF has an improved formular.

 

Thanks I will order some and see if it helps.

 

I hate to report that the 4x ATF flush didn't wholly fix my problem. The car does shift much smoother and that has reduced the likelihood of the "sound", but it still does happen at the right speed/RPM. The sound does seem to be shorter than before when it does happen. I was surprised at how brown my ATF was the first drain. I thought I had pulled the wrong plug for a sec. Anyways, thought I'd give an update.

Ras G

 

At 32000 miles, my ATF was looking on the borderline between red and brown. At that time, my transmission seemed to shift a little firmer. I wouldnt call it hard, but a bit firmer.

I did the 4 times drain and flush and the transmission went back to shifting exactly as it was when I got it off the lot.

I believe Honda should re-write the maintenance manual to say that every owner should do a 4 times drain and flush at 30,000 miles or a drain and fill at every 7000 miles. In any event, I think the ATF should be changed much sooner then what the manual states. Its not that expensive doing it yourself at every oil change (1 time drain and fill) and if I were buying my car all over again thats what I would do for maximum life of the transmission.

**VERY IMPORTANT** Check the transmission fluid when its hot meaning you drove the vehicle for at least 5 miles. Make sure the transmission fluid is exactly between those two marks on the dipstick. No more, no less. The fluid level is very important.

 

I didn't do the 4x flush, but I did have my transmission flushed once with DW-1. The noise went away for the first week after the flush, but soon came back. Last week I had scheduled an appointment with my local dealer's "transmission specialist". I've gotten to the point now where I can almost always replicate the sound in sport (paddle shift) mode when shifting into 3rd gear, but can only do it about 10% of the time in drive mode. I took the mechanic for a ride in sport mode, and he heard the noise a couple of times. I was unable to replicate it in drive mode. He said to leave the car with them and he was going to call the Honda Service Center in California to see if there have been similar problems reported and see what the fix is. Later that day he called me and said that the problem is I was in too high of a gear and needed to down shift. Basically, I think Honda told him to give me a BS answer, and that they know it's a much bigger problem that they don't want to fix. I argued with the guy for about 15 minutes on the phone asking him why it's making the noise in drive mode, etc, etc. He said since he didn't hear it in drive mode, that he can't confirm that it's doing it. This is the 3rd time I've taken the car into the dealer (first two times were with different dealers) for this problem, and all three times I've gotten the work around with a BS answer. I'm so frustrated with Honda that I'm considering just getting rid of the car. Honda's just about lost me as a customer.

 

Well, that is the problem as far as I can tell. It does happen when the transmission upshifts too early, bogs down a bit and then either the RPMs go up enough to make it stop or it shifts back down into 2nd. That's not a useful answer, though, as it either shouldn't be shifting that way or it shouldn't be making the noise. The only way I can find to keep the noise from happening is to accelerate aggressively, but that really shouldn't be necessary and even then the problem still happens sometimes because it seems the transmission just really wants to get out of second as soon as possible.

It's enough that I'm really getting irritated by the shift pattern and am considering trading up for a 2012 Sport with a stick shift. Might be more fun anyway. I imagine the problem is worse on the base model (which I have) because it's geared more for fuel economy (i.e. short shifts) than performance. My problem has definitely gotten worse and I think I've now heard it in other gears as well. If I don't trade it in soon I'll be taking it to get the 1x drain and fill to see if that helps at all.

 

Mine went away completely, 2,500 miles ago @35K with a single drain/fill performed by the dealer for $108.00 (yeah, I got took).

When it occurred, it was going up a slight incline, slight acceleration, shifting 2nd-3rd. Engine cold light had just turned off. Ambient temp was probably 45F. Lasted less than a second, did not repeat for the day of driving. At first I thought it was a heat shield vibrating. It wasn't loud (radio on can't hear it), and it wasn't "grinding." There was no sensation other than the sound. I'd been hearing it for a couple months under these conditions.

Still think it's fluid rushing from an area of pressure to lower pressure. Probably caused by the torque converter lock-out mechanism. More spirited acceleration, and the converter stays engaged so you don't hear it. Once the transmission fluid is at operating temp it doesn't happen. The newer DW-1 fluid seems to get rid of it as well as providing smoother shifts.

I wouldn't worry about it. How many Fit transmission failures have you read about here or anywhere (I have yet to see any)? Honda had design problems 10 years ago with accord/odyssey transmission in their v6 applications, and they fixed them out of warranty. They didn't hide from the problem.

If I felt the need to change my transmission fluid every 7k miles, I'd feel the need to get a different car or walk.

 

im at 3k ima flush mine at 12k that how ive alwasy done it to be safe my boi 91 accord auto accord runs liek a champ runs rich a lil no big add oil lol but tranny runs good as shit he flushes every 13k

 

Can I get a translator in here stat?! Oh god I feel old. I may have to off myself.

 

You're not the only one. I got a headache just trying to read that and another post of his/hers!