wrong transmission fluid, how screwed am I?

[stolenstapler86]

so I had a transmission fluid service done a while back at a shop nearby and the transmission started acting funny more recently. When it upshifts it has a tendency to 'grind' a little bit, as in make a sort of droning noise decreasing in tone as the engine slows down untill it finally catches the gear, and then it accelerates normally.

at this point I decided to be a little stealthy and go by the place and ask what kind of tranny fluid they carry for the galant. it went something like this


me: "hey, have you got transmission fluid for a mitsubishi galant?"

guy: " sure, automatic? yeah, it takes normal stuff."

me: "what do you mean 'normal'?"

guy: "regular automatic transmission fluid. It's red"

me: "the service manual says it needs diamond spIII"

guy "nah, dexron will work fine"


I wanted to bite his stupid face. This was the same guy who had assured me that he had fluid for my car back when I got it done. Leads me to believe he put dexron in it then too.

What should I do?

[QnzMostWanted]

not sure, my advice would be to flush it and put the right fluid

[WarmAndSCSI]

Ummm, make them buy you a new transmission if something related goes wrong? I hate it when shops try to save a few bucks and do some extra business by servicing cars out of their league.

[stolenstapler86]

Ummm, make them buy you a new transmission if something related goes wrong? I hate it when shops try to save a few bucks and do some extra business by servicing cars out of their league.

Can I do that? I have receipts and stuff, but how can I prove that they put the wrong fluid in? Is there a way to test what kind of fluid is in your trans? I'll be damned if i'm paying a grand plus to rebuild my tranny if there's a way that i can make them do it.

[BGR]

diamond spIII? Never heard of it. I had mine flushed LONG AGO and I doubt they put diamond spIII in there. Never had any problems.

I'll make note of it now, thanks.

[stolenstapler86]

yeah, it looks like alot of people try to dodge using it because it's so damn expensive. I read over on mitsuforums that people sometimes use ATF+3 without trouble, but d/m fluid is a really, really bad choice.

[WarmAndSCSI]

yeah, it looks like alot of people try to dodge using it because it's so damn expensive. I read over on mitsuforums that people sometimes use ATF+3 without trouble, but d/m fluid is a really, really bad choice.

SP-III is hardly more expensive than ATF+3/4 or Dexron FYI.

[RedGalant2k1]

Can I do that? I have receipts and stuff, but how can I prove that they put the wrong fluid in? Is there a way to test what kind of fluid is in your trans? I'll be damned if i'm paying a grand plus to rebuild my tranny if there's a way that i can make them do it.

Yes it can be tested.

[stolenstapler86]

yeah, it looks like alot of people try to dodge using it because it's so damn expensive. I read over on mitsuforums that people sometimes use ATF+3 without trouble, but d/m fluid is a really, really bad choice.

SP-III is hardly more expensive than ATF+3/4 or Dexron FYI.

really? I heard like 4.75 a quart for spIII. at work we've got d/m and atf+3 for like 1.99.

[pinoyesv6]

yeah, it looks like alot of people try to dodge using it because it's so damn expensive. I read over on mitsuforums that people sometimes use ATF+3 without trouble, but d/m fluid is a really, really bad choice.

SP-III is hardly more expensive than ATF+3/4 or Dexron FYI.

really? I heard like 4.75 a quart for spIII. at work we've got d/m and atf+3 for like 1.99.

i'll have to agree with WarmAndSCSI here. ok even if it was 2.75 bucks more for the correct fluid paying extra for that would surely be alot cheaper than rebuilding or replacing your transmission after it fails.

take the car to another shop. find out what's really wrong with the car, get hte fluid tested and then go back to the first shop. the last thing you want to do is point fingers at them and it not be the problem. you'll just look stupid.

[Eclipse97526]

damn that sucks, definaty gt the spIII back in there man, thats oem i wouldnt change it to atf+3 or anything, if u want the cheap way out, get a honda, your in the wrong car, Definaty use what the trans was designed for, it all has difrent elaticicty, and properties. if you wanna save a bit buy runnning something that works. For how long will it work is the question...

if they did put the wrong fluid in, and everything, You can have them replace it, they are ase certified, and licensed and insured or they prolly dont have a very good business. But i would take it to the dealership, in the end, they should get stuck with the whole bill.... and you with a new trans. or at the least, a back to par trans, and your money back. its hard to tell, definatly check it out, and have it looked at to know for sure if its shot, so you dont look like the fool.

[adema]

if the shop properly changed your tranny fluid with a flush and got all the other old fluid out you should be fine with red tranny fluid i have it in my v6 and i have no problems with it. You can do it to any car my buddy in his audi has red tranny fluid in it he did a good flush and you can convert it with no problem. maybe your low on fluid?

[Eclipse97526]

good point i forgot about that... lol, You wanna make sure they didnt just drain your fluid and screw on a new filter and call it good.. and think they did a good job, it needs to be hooked up to a pump machine, and have all the old flupid pumped out, and filled up with no air bubbles in your tourque converter, should be i belive a 7.5 qt system

[WarmAndSCSI]

I'm glad Manybrews isn't around to hear this crap.

DO NOT RUN NON-MITSUBISHI FLUID IN YOUR AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS YOU CHEAPASSES

edit: and only 1999's had screw-on filters IIRC.

[Eclipse97526]

i highly second that notion. brings me back to the buy a honda if u want a cheap way out, i seen one run on water doing burnouts for 2 days straight... well was about 2 - 3 hours the first day, then it ran for about an hour burning out the second day lol, no oil. water. haha. was funny, blew the rods, and it still cooled down and started up. lol.

[6G72gearhead]

I had royal purple atf in my transmission for about 8k miles, that trans lasted 11k total.

[Eclipse97526]

yea and royal purple is good shit, my friend runs nothing but that in all his mopar's But he told me if i tried to run that stuff, id hafta buy a new tranny, he said mitsu's are picky and just better stick by the books with them. and dont even try to take a more expencive route and upgrade, just run strictly what it prefers.

[bronxbombr]

Dexron will kill your tranny, Nuff said on that.
Out here they charge 16.82 a qt at the dealer for that shit and like 6 bux for the other shit that we put in the 7G's. I say its worth every penny if you wanna keep that slushbox alive long enough to see its true life cycle.

[6G72gearhead]

yea and royal purple is good shit, my friend runs nothing but that in all his mopar's But he told me if i tried to run that stuff, id hafta buy a new tranny, he said mitsu's are picky and just better stick by the books with them. and dont even try to take a more expencive route and upgrade, just run strictly what it prefers.

Yeah thats the real reason I swapped to a manual, it was so I could run RP in the gearbox again.

[bronxbombr]

Nice. Although I think RP is kinda thin for my tranny. It does warm up quick and gives a faster gear shift.

[polishmafia]

I'm glad Manybrews isn't around to hear this crap.

this made me LOL.

manybrews and i talked about just this kind of thing at the mitsubishi cookout this fall. dont be cheap, or else you will just end up spending more down the road.

[Gladiator]

I don't get it, why don't you just buy 10 quarts of mitsu fluid and change it yourself? The ~$67 should be worth spending for peace of mind.

btw where has manybrews gone?

[stolenstapler86]

I wasn't trying to be cheap, that why this shit fucking pisses me off soo bad. I paid premium price for what I expected to be competent work and they ended up royally screwing me over. I asked specifically for sp-III when I had it done and I don't think he did what he assured me he would.

as for the doing it myself, at the time I had it done my schedule didn't permit me the time, so I had it done by someone else for a fee.

So apparently there is a way to test the kind of transmission fluid that is in my car. Where can I get this done? Or how do I it myself?

[seth98esT]

I know there are places that test oil and everything, Im sure if you took a sample you could find a place to test it for you.

Maybe:
http://www.polarislabs1.com/transmissions.htm
http://www.fast-lab.com/fluid.html

Just search for transmission fluid analisys.

[stolenstapler86]

that's good advice, thanks man.