Honda Odyssey DIY Tips

djackson265

The Odyssey's V6 does not allow filling through the tube, which is about the diameter of a pencil. There is a 17mm fill plug below the brake master cylinder, colored blue on some models and bare on others. This plug must be removed and a piece of small-diameter hose attached to the end of a funnel inserted into the hole.

jdholl

Can you explain this more? If I were to get some flexible tubing, attach it to the dipstick tube, then the other end to a funnel, wouldn't that work to fill through the dipstick tube? Or is there something else preventing filling through the dipstick tube. (I'm scared about trying to get to the ATF fill plug. It is buried under several other things and looks very hard to get to.)

dsrtrat2

I have changed my ATF both ways. The regular fill plug is on top of the tranny and can be removed with a socket with a couple of extensions. It is a tight fit to get your hand down there to remove the plug. Best let the engine cool down first. Remember there is a washer on the fill plug, so be sure you get it back in place when replacing the fill plug.

One post here some time ago used a tight fitting rubber or plastic tubing to over the dip stick tube, which allowed a bigger "funnel" to fill it with.

My dealer wants $70.00 to do this, so I save about $45.00 on a DIY.

jdholl

Thank you! I suppose I'll give it a go. We'll see if my wife has a car to drive tomorrow

charlieliu

where Can I buy off market cross-bars. The dealer price is a little high.

jbbflip

Was a solution ever offered for this problem -- I'm having the same nightmare right now...

bobbybiker

Were you able to do this or was this something they said not to mess with? Thanks.

pwinth

Very easy to change trans fluid on Odyssey (ours is 2003) once you find the drain plug. From in front of the van, closer to the driver's side, look underneath & behind the plastic part of the bumper. The drain plug is round but has a square in the middle, it's almost (but not quite) as far back as the flex pipe is on the exhaust system (altho that flex pipe is more on the passenger side). You barely even have to crawl under the thing. Ericthecarguy.com has a video that shows this very well.

Use a 3/8 " rachet (no socket attached) to unscrew the drain bolt. You'll be pushing counter-clockwise, i.e., downward & toward the back of the vehicle, to loosen the drain bolt.

Take the trans fluid dipstick out of the top of the engine to help the fluid drain.

If the metal washer under the drain plug is squished or malformed, get a new one.. cost us around $5 at dealer (believe that). But you can re-use if it's not deformed.

Be sure to wipe off the drain plug.. there' s a big magnet on it that may have metal shavings stuck to it--clean these off. Replace the washer & drain plug.

If your trans fluid was at the right level before you changed the fluid, you can measure how much you took out & put that much fluid back in. Ours took about 3.5 quarts. The new fluid must be put in by pouring it down the tube that the yellow trans fluid dipstick sits in. (In our 2003 odyssey, honda had done a recall in which a cooling device was placed where the old trans fluid filler plug had been, so the dipstick tube is the only way in.) A regular trans fluid funnel w/tube was still too big to go in the dipstick tube. We made a funnel that fit by cutting a piece of poster board (like your kids use in school) into a rectangle about 6" high x 12" long and wrapped that into the shape of a funnel with a very narrow bottom-- used scotch tape and staples to secure it and that worked wonders.

Be sure to only use Honda ATF fluid, it cost us almost $9 a quart at the dealer. However, if you use even the Dex III it will mess up your trans.