[size=14pt]who knows where I can get the Honda Genuine ATF Z1 in Nigeria ?[/size]



Please, I've had this Honda accord 2003 for some months now but recently started giving probs.
First, the check engine light came on and when I did a diagnostics, the following DTC codes came up,

p0506 - Idle control System RPM low,
p2122 - TPS/Pedal postition sensor/Switch D circuit low input
Switch E circuit low input

The guy who did the diag suggested we clear out the codes first and see if it will come back, which we did.

Some days later I had to take a journey of abput 8 hrs with the car (the first time am doing such)
and suddenly along the way, the car started jerking when either accelerating or deccelerating
and after sometime the reverse just stopped working. Which makes the gear, the prime suspect.
Long and short , we had to bring the car back to lag. after we had just reached Ife.

Please, I'l need expert advice on what can be done to this car. I really dont think I have that much money now to dump on this mechanic guys who are masters of trial and error.


Note: that when I stop the car and it cools for a while, the stuff works well until I have moved it for a while again before it starts acting up.
Thanks expert input will be greatly appreciated

I actually changed the gear oil about three weeks ago, Am wondering if that can be the cause of the problems.
Any response , please ? ?

What type of oil did u use? that might have been your problem.

Thanks Kunle A for the response,

I actually had to leave town without the car so I had to ask someone to check the exact name and grade of the fluid.

Its the Mobil ATF 220 premium.

Has anyone changed transmission fluid for Honda (automatic transmission) before, what fluid did you use ? and does anybody know where I can get the ATF Z1 transmission fluid.


Thanks once again Kunle A

If you knew you would have left the old oil there. I drive a Honda Accord too. but am seriously thinking of changing car brand to toyota. I dont think i have ever heard of Toyota giving gear wahala. This gear problems are very typical with Hondas. Anyway try and give this fellow a call hes about the best Honda mechanic in town(PH) that i know of, his name is okey. Just call him and tell him richard that drives a honda gave you his number and explain your problem to him, i promise you he will tell you the problem and solution. OKEY(08033102041).

It seem you caused the problem and hopefully you transmission is still i shape(probably still fine)

Most Honda gear problem usually start when people do unrequired transmission service with the wrong fluid(no matter howmany times its been repeated on this forum)

AGAIN BEFORE YOU DO ANY TYPE OF FLUID CHANGE ON YOUR CAR, KNOW THE SPECIFICATION OF THE FLUID REQUIRED BY MANUFACTURER, IT IS USUALLY WRITTEN ON THE BOTTLE

None of the manufacturers own a petrochemical operation to make car specific fluids, the are made by oil companies so read labels
Here is spec for mobil atf 220
http://www.gannonoils.co.uk/images/stories/atf_200.pdf
http://www.autokreso.hr/ulja/downloads/osobni_mobil/Mobil%20ATF%20220.pdf
Its a Dextron II not compatible/applicable with Dextron III, you see there is no Honda written on the first link( those specs are written on botle)
second link shows its for pre-94 model cars.

Solution is to drain trans fluid and refill with dexIII, drive back to lagos and repeat draining again to get more DexII out

@Sultaan, So what kind of oil do u rrecommend for 2003 Honda IVTECH?

For transmission fluid best is the Honda ATF-Z1 won't recommend anythhing else.

But if you are stuck DextronIII can be used temporarily until you get the Z1.

Now if you can't find the Z1, the only widely available fluid I know that has gotten good review is the Valvoline Dex/Merc MaxLife
http://www.valvoline.com/pdf/Maxlife_ATF.pdf
http://www.valvoline.com/products/consumer-products/automatic-transmission-products/automatic-transmission-fluid/37

for engine oil its a 5w20

All fluids should be changed per manufacturers service interval

Thanks bro

Here is the online owners manual all info needed is there plus how to

http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/om/ac0303/ac0303mainixb.pdf

just click on page(s) needed and bookmark it or save to your computer

Thanks all,

@Richard
Thanks for the reccomendation, that was really nice of you.
I have spoken with Okey and his take was that its likely a problem with the 'primary filter'.
According to him, this can cause some sort of blockage of the fuel after travelling over a distance.
Its a pity am quite far from PH
but its getting quite confusing cos everybody has been pointing a finger at somethin gear related except this guy

Funny thing is that the car still works right now but starts acting up after some time
and at a stage,the reverse simply stops engagin. Though I have stopped using it now just to be on the cautious side

Since you're the type of person who will paid 30% more for a cloth 2003 EOD over a leather Acura TL of same year. Did it ever occur to you that the recall would have been fixed by dealer.

You bought the car ~ May and by Nov you done it in.

Just ignore everything posted go ahead with your mechanic and you'll be just fine.

Bro, don't blame me O, I took my car for servicing with my mechanic in preparation for my trip
and after doing the routine stuff, I told him to check any other thing that might raise issues.
Thats when he came up with the talk that my Gear oil was already too light and needed
changing. What does jero know ? I complied immediately and told him to change it.
If only I had known? I later found out that the ATF Z1 (the original fluid) was actually meant to be less viscous
than most others

I have actually spoken with the guys at Honda place and they said replacing fluid will
cost me 25K just for the purchase of the fluid aside their service charge.
Quite steep to me though I'l admit its still not comparable to a situation where you have
to replace the entire gear shebang or the initial cost of the ride.


@Sultan,
I really dont get your angle in your last post.
Which recall are we talking bout here ?
However, the EOD in question came with leather seats

Its not about the oil U use for the Engine or the Tranny, this Model of Honda Accord comes with that Factory defect. I used this same Model some years ago but later sold it to buy a Camry(orobo) when I have serviced the gear like 2 times and was later advised to change the gear.

Its such a good car with 3.0 Litre, 200hp engine but the mantainance is not friendly even in the US, let alone Naija. Apologies if this truth hurts anyone!

I spend so much online to read peoples comment about it. Check:
http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/honda/accord/r25566/comments/
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/honda-accord6.htm
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Accord/2000/
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Accord/2000/transmission/transmission_failure.shtml
http://www.samarins.com/reviews/accord.html

Information, if it is true, never hurts
especially when given without an ulterior motive.
It only enlightens

@Pak: i also own an eod 03 version and the gear is a factory defect, i even had to buy a new gear when i was having serious issues. Please verify but even Honda Place will not use Honda Z1 for you as i've previously serviced my gear over there. Honda has a lot of issue with this model and year(03). Hope u get someone to fix it for you, but i dont think change of oil will solve the situation since it does not engage in reverse anymore as you stated in your earlier post.

akinwole21:

Its not about the oil U use for the Engine or the Tranny, this Model of Honda Accord comes with that Factory defect. I used this same Model some years ago but later sold it to buy a Camry(orobo) when I have serviced the gear like 2 times and was later advised to change the gear.

Its such a good car with 3.0 Litre, 200hp engine but the mantainance is not friendly even in the US, let alone Naija. Apologies if this truth hurts anyone!

I spend so much online to read peoples comment about it. Check:
http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/honda/accord/r25566/comments/
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/honda-accord6.htm
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Accord/2000/
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Accord/2000/transmission/transmission_failure.shtml
http://www.samarins.com/reviews/accord.html

exactly what i said in my earlier post. i think i will eventually go for a Toyota product. though i have always been a Honda Fan.

pak:

Bro, don't blame me O, I took my car for servicing with my mechanic in preparation for my trip
and after doing the routine stuff, I told him to check any other thing that might raise issues.
Thats when he came up with the talk that my Gear oil was already too light and needed
changing. What does jero know ? I complied immediately and told him to change it.
If only I had known? I later found out that the ATF Z1 (the original fluid) was actually meant to be less viscous
than most others

I have actually spoken with the guys at Honda place and they said replacing fluid will
cost me 25K just for the purchase of the fluid aside their service charge.
Quite steep to me though I'l admit its still not comparable to a situation where you have
to replace the entire gear shebang or the initial cost of the ride.


@Sultan,
I really dont get your angle in your last post.
Which recall are we talking bout here ?
However, the EOD in question came with leather seats

Like i said before if you had known you would have left your gear oil as it was. Anyway the deed has been done. we hope you find a solution fast and pls let us know in the forum how you went about it. GOOD LUCK

na wao! honda cars and gear problems! if only peeps will shine their eyes well they will be saved all this heart aches and un-necessary waste of money!

If U can check those links I sent earlier U will see HONDA herself knows about this gear defect so its no news to them, in compensating for the defect, Honda change ur gear box if faulty under a Millage of abt 130k from 100k which it was b4.(that is a waranty U get from Honda if U buy it new, not TOKS)

There is nothing bad in buying or driving a V6,V8 engine, infact if U drive a V6 engine like me in those days, U wont want to drive a V4 engine again, that was what pushed me to buying the baby boy V6 2000 Model when I returned home but when the mantainance was costing me a fortune, I had to sell it off, I lost about 40% of the purchase price after about 10months use.

The tip about a good car use especially for someone who travels so much like me, U dont need just a car, U need a car whose mantanance is cheap even if its more expensive to acquire. If U have ever been dissapointed on Nigerian road due to a fault a road side mechanic cannot fix, U will understand me better.

Apart from Honda Accord 1991-94(Halla), I dont think I can use another Honda car again unless its Manual sha and V6 Honda cars wont come with Manual gear like the German Autos like BMW or Benz

i have gone through all this posts and I'm seriously confused, these problems have set my mind on a tail spin. I was considering getting an EOD 03 model buut with all this I am confused.

@Zylla
Dont get confused bro.
Let me sell mine to you

i think honda needs to do a total overhaul of their whole gearbox system. they should learn from german companies like mercerdes or bmw or better still their japanese brothers like nissan or toyota. what's so hard in that?

Hello Kunle,

I sent a mail to your box.

I need those ATF z1's urgently.

The guy to pick it up for me is already at Isolo.

you can also call me on these number

07094061170

Please who knows where I can get the [size=14pt]Honda Genuine ATF Z1[/size] in Nigeria ?

I have searched all over and every effort has proved futile.

I really do need it urgently.

@Pak,
Let me just give u a kind of surprise here, i use a 98 model Accord, V6 and i have used it for close to 5 years now, just planning to upgrade, i changed my gear oil after i bought (like 2 months after). Guess the oil i use, VISCO 2000 from AP, after that i have changed it once again after 2 years (same oil).
The first change was in lagos and it took the whole mechanics under the Ebute bridge to convince me that it was actually ok to use the oil.

the second change was done in port harcourt and i had to pour it myself since my mechanic refused to believe i wanted to use it against the Honda recommended oil, he even waited for me to come running back after coeple of days (which never happened). Ever since , he has used Visco 2000 for every honda he works on.

the thing is it has basically the same property has the honda ATF (i dont have the data, but would love if any chemist or any other professional can help confirm this) but that is simply was i have used for 4 years plus now,

Fraba:

@Pak,
Let me just give u a kind of surprise here, i use a 98 model Accord, V6 and i have used it for close to 5 years now, just planning to upgrade, i changed my gear oil after i bought (like 2 months after). Guess the oil i use, VISCO 2000 from AP, after that i have changed it once again after 2 years (same oil).
The first change was in lagos and it took the whole mechanics under the Ebute bridge to convince me that it was actually ok to use the oil.

the second change was done in port harcourt and i had to pour it myself since my mechanic refused to believe i wanted to use it against the Honda recommended oil, he even waited for me to come running back after coeple of days (which never happened). Ever since , he has used Visco 2000 for every honda he works on.

the thing is it has basically the same property has the honda ATF (i dont have the data, but would love if any chemist or any other professional can help confirm this) but that is simply was i have used for 4 years plus now,

Very very enlightening, Tho I suggest poster tries to get more info about the visco 2000 from other honda users & mechanics. I've always suspected that a good substitute for the ATF Z1 might be available in the local market & i guess I'm on my way to been proved right

hmmmm! this is a good discovery especially for peeps who can't afford the very expensive honda atf.

Vying away from recommended lubricant is very chancy at best. Especially if the transmission in both 1998 and 2003 are not the same (they might be, i will check). But its worth a try.

However, its still a TRY. Anything can happen. May the first sacrificial lamb step up!

Thanks @Fraba for your comments

rather than give my own opinions, I will refer you and everybody following this thread to another thread on Nland. the link is below

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=489352.msg6492450

Thanks all !!!

I can now breath a sigh of relief.

Should have posted this earlier but just wanted to be on the cautious side.

I finally got the ATF Z1's from Honda place at a steep price (even higher than the initial quote) after much cajoling. They initially insisted I must do 'servicing' before they sell the oil.

After draining the bad oil and adding the Z1 the 'thing' worked like magic. Infact it obeyed me like a submissive wife.
I flogged the car on a 24 hr trip. (12 to and fro) and yet no sign of gear probs. It was the closest you can get to a miracle.

I want to thank everybody who contributed to this success story. I wonder what would have happened if I had listened to the mechanics, one said I should change the torque converter another reffered me to someone at Ladipo who can help me change the enitre gear sys for few hundreds of thousands!!!



So this is for you
Kunle A
RICHIE BOI
Akinwole
Sultan A (the sarcastic but yet incisive one)
George D
Fraba
Zylla
web_master
and everybody who contributed to this thread

Nairaland rocks . . .