I've had my 1999 Honda Accord 2.3 since it was new. After the original transmission failed at 120K miles, I had it rebuilt. Since then, I've been using Castrol Transmax Full Synthetic Multi-Vehicle (not the "CVT Universal" version). Now, with almost 290K miles, I've had zero issues, and the transmission shifts silky smooth, much better than with the Honda fluid. I've also tried Valvoline MaxLife on my other Hondas and GM vehicles, and it works great. I mainly used it because Castrol doesn't offer a 1-gallon option for the full synthetic Transmax Multi-Vehicle; it only seems to come in single quarts, which are becoming a bit hard to find now.

Idemitsu is great. I miss the regular TYPE H

Very interesting. I'm running Dw1+ lubeguard red, Seems to be the best mix for me. My daily 2017 Ridgeline AWD at ~187K miles with the Honda 6 speed auto same as the Pilot/mdx before the 9 speed,+ ~200lb weight. At around 130K miles there was a lot of RPM fluttering where the tachometer would dance up and down 100 rpms. Did some research and it pointed me to a tsb at the dealer. Software up date and x3 drain an fill. I noticed the shifts were slower and more linear. Not bad and besides I'm not itching to hit Vtec in my truck anyways. Then around 155K the fluttering came back did research with people yelling left and right dw1 or vml or castrol..idemitsu..enos..whale oil jk Tried VML since it seemed to be the most popular ( and cheap) first few thousand mile great with fast smooth shifting, but around the 4k mark i noticed slipping only present if I got on the throttle quickly " a wholelotta noise, with no speed gain" i ended up going back to DW1 and it was good up until almost a year then the fluttering came back. I saw on the forum people using lubeguard so i went with the red for OEM fluid + DW1 and its been pretty flawless. Also disable VCM. The 3 version is ok on the engine( other versions had oil consumption ), but needs to slip the clutch to engage/disengaged 6 to 3 cylinder. Personally, dont think DW1 was up to spec for in that sense especially since VCM is variable due to drivers input. Could be why the TSB slowed the shifting since heat kills ATF and hondas not making the 6 speed auto anymore so no reason to update the fluid.

6 months? About how many miles and was it more city or highway?

Ok what vehicle do you have, mileage?

How many miles did you get with the Maxlife before feeling the jerk shifting. I am from Ghana and I am not sure we have the idemitsu for sale here in Ghana.

Always use OEM with Honda transmissions