The.Bounty.Hunter.

First off, this is my daily driver car and plan to keep it a long time. So I want to take good care of it as much as possible. I bought my 08 TL used with 26,626 roughly miles on it. I don't know what the other owner did as far as maintenance but it runs good. So I need some advice, I live in San Antonio, TX the Acura dealer charges me $184.00 roughly for the A13 service, however that's with me including my own oil and oil filter. Now is that a good price?

I use Mobil 1 5w-20 fully synthetic oil and M1 M1110 oil filter, wish I could use there ATF fluid but heard it's not compatible, they sell them for 8 bucks a quart

My car has 66,461 miles on it, again I don't know if the previous owner changed the tranny oil

Bearcat94

IMO, if that is a 3 x 3 drain and refill (which is essentially a "replace"), then yeah, that's a decent price.

If it's a 1 x 3 drain and fill, then no, it's too expensive.


3 x 3 Fluid = ~$72
Rotation = ~$30
Oil/Filter Change = ~$15 (no parts)

= ~$117, leaves ~3/4 hour time for the trans fluid change and that seems about right at ~$70.



Otherwise they're saying a 1 x 3 drain and fill is taking an hour at $115/hr. On a rack, it's a 15 min job.

The.Bounty.Hunter.

Hi there thanks for the reply, well they said it was drain and refill.

Just wondering if there was any other tranny fluid I could buy maybe for less $ that is compatible, wanted M1 but they don't make that or do they?

Bearcat94

Yes but is it ONE 3 qt drain and refill or THREE 3 qt drain and refill.

It's not worth doing if you're not doing 3 x 3.


And yes, there are definetly other compatible ATF fluids. I'll bet if you buy Honda fluid at the local Honda dealership you'll save a buck or two a qt.

The.Bounty.Hunter.

Thanks I'll make sure and ask

csmeance

It depends on the exact servicing that was done.

If it's 184.00, then probably 10-15 dollars of that is shop fees, then another 10 dollars for taxes meaning it was about 160 dollars in work.

The Dealer rate for the A1 service varies from place to place, some dealers charge 49.99 while others charge close to 139.99!

Also the transmission service cost can vary WILDLY because of the various procedures and fluids used. For example, my dealer can use a machine to drain out ALL of the old fluid and put in new fluid by disconnecting a few lines and hooking them up to the fluid exchanger. They charge 129.99 for this and also because they use some aftermarket fluid. However if you want a fluid change with Honda Z-1 or Acura DW-1 and do it via the gravity drain and refill (known as 1 x 3 or 3x3) then it's 79.99.

The machine method can be VERY bad for the transmission depending on what type of machine is doing it. As well running some unapproved fluids like mobil M1 are bad, but sometimes an unapproved fluid like Redline Racing Type F can be a whole lot better for a transmission!