hi guys,
just to share some of my on-going experience with my wife's City E since we have swapped rides. It has always been serviced at SC according to schedule (every 3 months since mileage is low), but when I started to drive it regularly, I noticed some strange things about it:
1. Fuel consumption is slightly high. My wife complained not able to do 300km on a full tank. At first I attributed to her route, traffic and driving style (short distance, jam, etc). Things improved once I drove as I do more long distance.
2. Shift shock is apparent, and some momentary power loss during gear changes.
3. Sluggish performance
4. Some weird sounds from engine bay sometimes.
the car has only done 38k for a 3 year old car, with the next service due to be the 55k service (just an oil change), so I took the advice of a friend and visited a Honda specialist workshop in PJ (JS Tyre Auto Service
https://www.carama.com/car-workshops/js-tyre-auto-service) to have a look.
The diagnosis was shocking! Although there is no 100% certainty/proof, but it seems that:
1. Air filter was clogged up and never checked and cleaned with compressed air blower
2. ATF was deteriorated and had a "burnt" smell. Since the ATF change is due only at 60k service, it meant I had another 10k to go.
3. Aircond cabin filter was suspected to have never been changed, and still on the original one from factory. I was shown a new Honda original aircond cabin filter to see why he thinks it was never changed even though we have paid during our service.
In short, as we do not really get to see what happens at the SC, you rely on trust that the SC guys do a proper job, but if someone is not really honest, then there is no way for you to know unless you check it yourself. I'm not gonna name the SC as I can't really prove it but it's one of the bigger ones in PJ.
Anyway, I did the following:
1. Flush the old ATF with Honda DW1 ATF, and replaced with Castrol Transmax ATF.
2. Changed ATF filter
3. Changed air filter
4. Cleaned throttle body
5. Did a idle learning procedure to reset the engine sensors
Now the car drives beautifully and smooth! This workshop is highly recommended for any Honda car!
You should use only Honda ATF DW1. Honda gearbox is very finnicky on the ATF fluid and honda mechanics will usually stick to DW1. I practise changing ATF fluid every 20,000 km.