After some intense research over the last year and based in no small part to my own experience with my 1998 SS Prelude, I've come up with some pretty interesting data SS Prelude owners should pay attention too.
I've read the horror stories of SS Automatic Prelude transmissions failing, I've also read the insistant ramblings of many warning any and all away from the SS Lude, so I wanted to know the truth.
Truth: Many, Many SS Lude tranny's failed and were dealer replaced...
Question: What about the one's that didn't fail/haven't failed?
An instant thought came to mind when reading about failing SS transmissions,
Did they change the transmission fluid according the Honda Recommendations?
Truth: Majority of people contacted with failed SS transmissions never had the fluid changed...at all...even at 70k...80k..90k..
I researched some more, came upon another forum with SS lude owners...
THE CONSENSUS:
97-01 Honda Prelude SS Automatic transmissions MUST have their A/T changed about every 15k-20k miles...
REASON:
The transmissions were built with such tight tolerances, and weren't given an adequate cooling system. In short,
the transmission bakes the fluid.
Now we could go into arguments about how this shouldnt happen in any car, and how Honda should've designed it better. Just remember this car was the test bed for many future technologies...Sports Shift was one of the main ones...
My Experience:
My SS Lude currently has 153k miles on the original transmission, no rebuilds, just fluid change every 15k miles..
I know it's time to change because as I near 13k miles the tranny starts holding out in gears, shifts harshly, fluid loses red coloring, turns brownish, smells old. As soon as I've changed it a couple times, transmission shifts smooth as new.
New Approach:
50/50 Honda ATF/Mobile 1 Full synthetic ATF
It's been about 1k miles since I did a 50/50 mix of Honda ATF/Mobile 1 ATF, and I've noticed a drastic improvement, infact I dont know if it's ever shfted so nicely. Many others have done the same, and have recorded that the Mobile ATF drops tranny temps signifigantly...And should signifigantly extend fluid life/tranmission life.
WARNING: DO NOT USE STRAIGHT FULL SYNTHETIC ATF, IT LACKS HONDAS SPECIAL SEAL CONDITIONERS AND WILL VERY POSSIBLE HURT TRANNY. BY USING A 50/50 MIX THIS PROBLEM IS ELIMINATED(AS RECORDED BY COUNTLESS USERS ON OTHER SITES)
Sorry, such a long read, just wanted to share my research/experience.
