Hi all,

i have a feeling my auto's about to throw in the towel. I just got this car like a week ago (pvt sale) and unfortunately didnt notice the problem during the test drive (it seems to be intermittent). As its shifting from 3rd to 4th the revs go up as if its in neutral for a second before 4th gear kicks in. Its more noticeable at higher speeds and even more so if im giving it stick... The other thing i noticed is sometimes it fails to change into 4th at lower speeds.. (even if im not accelerating). I usually just change to manual mode and shift it up to 4th when that happens. Anyone advice would be appreciated..

cheers
T

Sounds like it needs a good flush and some fresh Mitsubishi auto transmission fluid. Cost at a dealer is about $180-220. Well worth it

agreed. once this is done take it home and disconnect the battery and go thru the learning process for your transmission yourself it will then learn how you drive

Yep - agree with above posts. Check the Trans fluid - see if its pink/red or a darker colour, does it have a burnt smell?

Changing fluid isn't as simple as drain out & re-fill, it needs to be flushed out of all parts of the box as well as the Torque Converter. can be done at home, but as long as an auto place does a FLUSH and uses genuine Mitsi Fluid (its not badly priced), you should see an improvement.

Does the car have any sort of Service record with it? can you see if Auto was last serviced, or EVER serviced?

Yep - agree with above posts. Check the Trans fluid - see if its pink/red or a darker colour, does it have a burnt smell?

Changing fluid isn't as simple as drain out & re-fill, it needs to be flushed out of all parts of the box as well as the Torque Converter. can be done at home, but as long as an auto place does a FLUSH and uses genuine Mitsi Fluid (its not badly priced), you should see an improvement.

Does the car have any sort of Service record with it? can you see if Auto was last serviced, or EVER serviced?

The guy that owned it before did all the servicing himself.. But im not sure if he did the gear oil.. Ill check about the redness soon... (so hung over right now) :nuts:

I hope its not too serious, the cars only got 90k on the clock so it would suck if it was.

Thanks heaps for your replys

The guy that owned it before did all the servicing himself.. But im not sure if he did the gear oil.. Ill check about the redness soon... (so hung over right now) :nuts:

I hope its not too serious, the cars only got 90k on the clock so it would suck if it was.

The auto fluid is supposed to be changed every 50k AFAIK, so if he's following the service manual, it'd be coming close to another change.

As the other guys have said, a flush/fluid change and a battery reset is the first thing to do if you're having auto issues. Even if it doesn't completely eliminate the problem, it could make it a lot more bearable.

yeah my 4speed is mint, but i had to take the battery lead off for a amp install, and it started doing the 3rd-4th flare, i went through the relearn procedure (go for short drive to heat trans up a little, then sit with foot on brake and go neutral to drive 5 times, holding for 3 seconds atleast in each, and repeat for neutral-reverse) and it got better, also after a few ks of driving it got back to normal. there is another part to the relearn where you accelerate to 60kms an hour, making the car change to 3rd at that speed, then slowing to a stop again. and doing that a few times, but i didnt do that part. it is a pain with these cars. they do hold gears if you are going uphill as its a feature of the box, mine does it on slight inclines even.

Just got back from over seas! thanks so much for the detail robssei and Red Valdez!! I did wonder how the reset procedure went.. (couldnt find it in the manual)..

I might give this a go tomorrow. Good to know its not that uncommon though. Im on the verge of splashing out a couple of grand on rims and lowering, would hate to have to spend it on the box instead :)

Will keep you updated guys

If the trans is screwed, we have one here from a car that has just ticked over 100k's, car was driven by myself before it was taken off the road and was very smooth

Hi Madmagna, how much are you chasing for it?

Im in WA so freight might be an issue.

FYI did the relearn process and didnt seem to help it. Havnt checked the oil situation yet though.

cheers.

check the fluid before sourcing another 'box.

even if it needs a full flush and refill it'll be the cost of a new 'box and install cheaper.

cheers,
.wook

Hey guys, just checked the fluid level. I think it has too much in it.. The level goes past the max hot mark even when the cars cold. Also its dark in colour. No sign of red or pink. I changed the trans fluid in my old Magna so i know how to do that.. BUT.. how do i flush it??

cheers..

Hey guys, just checked the fluid level. I think it has too much in it.. The level goes past the max hot mark even when the cars cold. Also its dark in colour. No sign of red or pink. I changed the trans fluid in my old Magna so i know how to do that.. BUT.. how do i flush it??

cheers..

your ment to check the trans fluid when its hot - best when engine running, so the oil is being pumped around.
currently its mostly just falling to the bottom of the trans (as a liquid does) to find the lowest level.

i did check it the other day while it was hot.. It exceeded both the markers on the stick and its doing that while its cold too which is a bit of a worry.. i think its been over filled..

Trans fluid shoule be a cherry pink/red colour - if its darker looking, its def aged and could do with being replaced.

As the auto transmission has zillions of oil passageways and the torque convertor alone holds a lot of fluid, simply draining the oil pan of the transmission and topping-up is insufficient - only a small fraction of fluid would be renewed that way.

The factory fitment for trans fluid cooling is to run hoses/pipes from the transmission to the lower tank of the radiator, and back to transmission. To properly flush transmission fluid, the trick is to drain the oil pan, top-up, then disconnect the fluid line coming OUT of the radiator and run the car briefly to expel some fluid, then top-up transmission, run and flush old fluid out, top-up, run/flush etc etc.

You need an assistant or two to tackle the job safely - you should not let the transmission run low on fluid as you are flushing old fluid out of the transmission cooler line. In addition, while flushing you should have some one moving the gear selector lever through all positions to ensure that all fluid lines in the transmission and all parts of the valve-body in the transmission are flushed of old/tired/contaminated fluid. You keep flushing and topping-up and flushing until you get clear trans fluid coming out of the disconnected cooler line. Then you can connect the hose/piping coming out of the radiator again and do a final top-up to correct level. You disconnect the line coming OUT of the radiator trans coller so that the small amount of fluid in the tube at bottom of radiator is also flushed out.

Some garages have a pneumatic 'thingy" which can suck fluid out of the box and introduce fresh fluid. All well-and-good, but flushing by disconnecting that cooler-line is the best practice and is what the factory workshop manual recommends. It is recommended that you buy 3 bottles (5 litres each) of Mitsi Transmission Fluid, and that you will usually have some of this left over after flushing. Mitsi trans fluid is not expensive by comparison to after-market brands - and while it is possible to get compatible fluids for our transmissions elsewhere - its also been common for folks to use other stuff and have a variety of dramas too.

Its a lot more stuffing around than simply dropping oil from motor and topping-up - but its not rocket science either. Search for the "workshop Manual" thread - download a PDF file of the factory workshop manual (ie: Mitsi s own workshop manual, as used by dealers) and it will describe what to do, if you still want to tackle it yourself.

Thanks Phil, what i might do is get a friend (mechanic) to do the 100k service on my car and offer my assistance in the flushing of the gearbox. My brake pads need changing too so may as well do it all in one hit. Hopefully he can do it soon cause i dont like the idea of driving it around potentially causing further damage to the gearbox.

Will let you know how much it all cost and if it helped after..

thanks again.

Thanks Phil, what i might do is get a friend (mechanic) to do the 100k service on my car and offer my assistance in the flushing of the gearbox. My brake pads need changing too so may as well do it all in one hit. Hopefully he can do it soon cause i dont like the idea of driving it around potentially causing further damage to the gearbox.

Will let you know how much it all cost and if it helped after..

thanks again.

Mate it needs a flush go to an auto trans place. And get them to flush it. Its not stuffed my mates TL did the same thing and is all good now after flush.

Picked up 5L of the stuff the other day and was about to do the flush, then realised the capacity! The dealers are shut now so im gonna have to wait till Monday to get some more. Also im gonna get the timing belt changed by the dealer. Got quoted about $700 including changing the spark plugs.. Thats a pretty good deal i thought??

Flush will take you about 12 to 15 litres of fluid to do it properly

Cool does anyone know where i can buy some on a sunday in perth? I doubt super cheap sells it.

Cool does anyone know where i can buy some on a sunday in perth? I doubt super cheap sells it.

Super cheap sell Castrol and Valvoline transmission oils but pretty sure they only stock it in the Castrol variety

ok boys and girls..

Finally got another 5L today and changed the oil. Car feels much better. The gear changes are smooth and not jerky anymore. The slipping from 3rd to 4th is nearly gone. I still noticed it a bit but i think it was getting better and better towards the end of the drive.

Heres what i did:

* Dumped out 5L of oil (came out pretty black and the sump plug had gunk and metal shaving on it)
* Filled up with 5L of fresh oil
* Went for a drive around the block
* Dumped out 5L of oil again (came out almost as black as the first lot)
* Filled up with fresh oil
* Took of battery terminal to reset ecu
* Did the stand still learning process
* Did the driving learning process to exact specifications (pissed a few people off on the road)
* Checked levels

thats it.. pretty happy with the results so far.. Tomorrow ill take it for a proper drive.

Thanks again for everyones input.. Helped heaps!

That's not how you flush a transmission, but better than nothing. You will find the oil will be brown/black again in a couple of weeks tho.

As per Disciple, instructions about how to flush trans were posted earlier, and are described in crystal-clear detail if you download the Mitsi workshop manual from "Workshop Manual" thread. As prev suggested.

Anyway, its good news that you have an improvement for now.

That's not how you flush a transmission, but better than nothing. You will find the oil will be brown/black again in a couple of weeks tho.

Realise that.. best i could do for a rush job on my own.. Least the old oils finally out (mostly)

Realise that.. best i could do for a rush job on my own.. Least the old oils finally out (mostly)

Thing is, you say mostly. There'll still be HEAPS of shitty old burnt oil in your torque convertor and around all the clutch packs. Check your oil today, I'll bet it's probably brown again.

Ill get it done properly at some stage in the near future.. Its not pink anymore but its a lot cleaner then it was before and it shows by how the car drives now.. My main concern was causing major damage to the gearbox. Im pretty sure what i did here would reduce the chances of that by a fair bit.

Has anybody got a link to the workshop manual?
I keep doing a search and it doesn't show?

Thanks

Here it is http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56815

Has anybody got a link to the workshop manual?
I keep doing a search and it doesn't show?

Thanks

Go to Tech Torque forum - its the very first post, has been "Stickied". It was moved a couple of times recently, but is back in Tech Torque cos there are links to both 2nd gen and 3rd gen magnas/veradas.

EDIT: This is the "step-by-step" or "How-To" way to get to Workshop manuals, rather than the "instant gratification" one-step-click-on-link method.

Go to Tech Torque forum - its the very first post, has been "Stickied". It was moved a couple of times recently, but is back in Tech Torque cos there are links to both 2nd gen and 3rd gen magnas/veradas.

missed the post above yours did ya? :D

missed the post above yours did ya? :D

Nah - I'm just a REALLY slow typist, and it got posted before I was ready to hit "Submit". Maybe. Ish.

To OP, this intermittent recurrence of the transmission fault is since the "dodgy-flush", Right? You haven't yet had the box flushed properly?


Don't mean to sound harsh, but folks in here tried to explain what to do, tried to steer you towards genuine reference information.

You did a short-cut version.

You have been told that what you did was sub-standard.

You were told to do it the proper way asap (or have it done, and ensure that whomever you pay does it the correct way for a Mitsi - NOT the way they do it on Austin A40's or T-Model Fords).

Now your little bit of new oil has mixed with a majority of contaminated oil in the transaxle, and the performance of the transaxle is affected again.

There are 2 options: a/ Sell your car, you don't deserve it. OR b/ Go back to start of this thread, re-read information given and act upon it.

If you have somewhere in the lapse of time actually had the transaxle properly flushed and re-filled with correct trans fluid - THEN, I absolutely and genuinely apologise for the tone of this post.

Elwnyn, you may be confusing MagnaBlack with the OP.

I got mine flushed from a Mitsi Dealer, was 200 inc GST. I was very happy with the results. They buy the trans oil in bulk drums so it cheap really.

Trans fluid should be changed every 45000ks and every 25000ks in harsher conditions. This usually means alot of stop start traffic, towing etc.

ANGE!!!! Holy-crapoley!! You are dead-on right!! NOW I know exactly what it feels like to have egg on my face! Always wondered about that, its never happened before - as if. Won't bother editing my post above, I'll let everyone know what a tool I am if they wanna read it.

BTW, I wanna join your "get MadMagna to have contrasting skirts and flares" Division - that cool with you Ange?

ANGE!!!! Holy-crapoley!! You are dead-on right!! NOW I know exactly what it feels like to have egg on my face! Always wondered about that, its never happened before - as if. Won't bother editing my post above, I'll let everyone know what a tool I am if they wanna read it.

BTW, I wanna join your "get MadMagna to have contrasting skirts and flares" Division - that cool with you Ange?

Hahaha, thoght that was the case. lol. But after reading all the posts here Mistibitchi SHOULD have had it flushed prpoperly.

It would be very cool with me to have someone else Lobby Madmagna.. "get MadMagna to have contrasting skirts and flares" .