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Quick Reference:

• 17mm – Transmission Fill Bolt – 30 ft/lb torque
• 3/8 ratchet drive – Lower Drain Bolt – 30 ft/lb torque
• 2 quarts – Genuine Honda Manual Transmission Fluid
  • Get from the dealer ~$10 a bottle
• Transmission Fluid Funnel or equivalent substitute

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The civic had just reached the 78,000 mark. That along with the mis-shifts from race 9 and race 10 compelled me that the car was overdue for a transmission fluid change. Admittedly I’ve never done a manual transmission fluid (MTF) change all by myself.

Prior to all this, I went to the Honda dealership to get 2 quarts of Honda MTF for about $10 each. The parts guy ended up giving me the crush washer for free. I was informed for many years to use genuine Honda transmission fluid when it came to Honda’s specifically. Supposedly there are special additives in there that beneficial. I know people who have used Amsoil, but I don’t know with what kind of results.

I also got a FloTool long funnel from my local Autozone. There are other options like a screw on pump, but I opted for the funnel because I figured I could use it for other purposes in the future.

Just as if I were changing oil the car was jacked up and supported on jack stands. I recommend having the car tilted slightly towards the driver’s side – not super-negative-camber-hellaflush tilt, but just slightly. There’s a reason for this.

To gain much better access to the trans fill plug, the short ram intake needed to be removed, which I believe is much easier than having the stock intake box. I unclipped the MAF sensor plug, the thick then thin vacuum hoses, and the two clamps holding the intake to the manifold. There is also a brace just under the MAF sensor plug held on with a 12mm bolt.

Locating the fill bolt by peering down towards the back end of the transmission is simple.

I recommend trying to break the top bolt open first. Why? If instead the drain bolt is opened first then all the fluid will come out and if there are complications with the getting the fill bolt off, then there’s no way to get fluid back into the trans.

I took out the fill bolt up top, used a 3/8 drive ratchet to break open the drain bolt, and drained the MTF into a container below. Having the fill bolt out and the car tilted slightly towards the driver’s side as mentioned will aid in the draining. I don’t have pictures of the actual drain, but the fluid did look like it needed a change.

After the fluid drained, I put the drain bolt back in, jacked the car up, and switched the tilt of the car from the driver side towards the passenger side. Again, not a extreme tilt, but slightly. There is a reason for this.

I fed the funnel from the top of the engine bay and allowed the end to go into the open fill hole. The funnel stayed put and supported.

The tilt towards the passenger side will aid in keeping some fluid in the trans – not to overfill of course – but better than the car tilting the other way.

I slowly poured the MTF into the funnel – not too much at a time because the funnel could get heavy and shift, which could lead to a unwanted spill and a waste. The first bottle was emptied with no problem.

The second bottle didn’t go so smoothly. I absently kept pouring and about 3/4th of the way through the bottle the MTF came spilling out of the trans. I caught as much as I could but a really tedious clean up ensued… I need to be more cautious next time – Pour the second bottle into the funnel slowly till just some liquid comes out.

After the irritable cleanup, the bolts were torqued to 30 ft/lbs each.

Conclusion

Very straight forward and not a difficult job but did run into the spill that would’ve been unavoidable had I been more careful. The shifts do feel a lot better and I know the car’s trans’ll be happy for another few thousand miles.

Addendum I:

In regards to my mis-shifting, apparently there’s something called a shift “lockout” in 8th generation Civics where the car is unable to go into gear at high RPMs due to a delay valve in the factory clutch master cylinder (CMC). The remedy? It involves swapping an EM1 clutch master cylinder from Hybrid racing. I’ll look more into it later if it’s absolutely necessary. I hear swapping the CMC is a pain…