Good day, I posted up a post regarding my transmission not that long ago and I haven't updated it, nor can I find it (probably cause it was in the wrong section and was deleted)

Back story on the car. 2009 RA SB bought with 20,000 kms on it and was told the transmission had been serviced.
Long story short. The transmission was acting up so I brought it in for a check. They diagnosed it as a fluid change.
It has 70,000 kms on it, when I brought it in they said they have no record of the fluid ever being changed, I was told by the man that sold me the car, the fluid was changed.
Anyhow .. I had the fluid changed and it did fix it a little bit, but it is still kind of acting up.

What type of advice would you offer here? Am I hooped because that fluid change isn't on file?

 

Go back to the guy that sold it to you and ask for proof? Make sure they changed the filter too, most dealerships won't.

 

after changing the transmission fluid there is sometimes a short time frame where the transmission exhibits small symptoms of having the bad fluid in the car still. This usually happens when the fluid is changed but the transmission is not flushed. some of the particulates that were causing the issues are still floating around in the transmission, and it'll take a little time (depending on how much you drive) for the filter to catch it all.

 

You cant do a trans flush (machine type) on these sst as it will pretty much implode the sst.
You can do a simple fluid dump and filter change

 

You can do a type of a flush. Drain your SST fluid, fill with mineral oil. Remove the SST fliter but put the housing on so you can drive it. Run the car through all gears including reverse (it wont hurt anything, lots have done it on here, including professionals). Drain mineral oil, put filter back in and refill with SST fluid. I used this method and the mineral oil that came out after running it had lots of residue left in it.

 

Also make sure the fluid in the transmission cooler was changed as well. The factory manual doesn't mention that, but it is very easy to do.

 

Well .. Today, the transmission seems to be working a lot better. I'll see how the next couple days go, and if it starts acting up again I'll take it back in to the shop. Since the diagnosed it with a fluid change, do you think I would get a refund for paying for the change?? Seems to be quite the expensive troubleshooting.

 

I meant to say do you think I'd get a refund for the fluid change if it turns out to be the transmission?

 

Doubtful. They would just say that is recommended preventative maintenance that needs to be performed on your vehicle, regardless. It's unfortunate that the seller seemingly lied about maintenance, but without any proof otherwise, you don't have much ground to stand on in an argument.

Think of it this way:

Transmission blows before 60k. You have not changed your fluid because it was not yet time to do so. Mitsu says: No problem, Warranty repair.

Transmission blows at 80k. You have not changed your fluid for whatever reason. Mitsu says: You didn't properly maintain your vehicle according to schedule, you are at fault for failure, no Warranty.

Transmission lasts well beyond 100k Warranty period and 100k extended warranty period. You have changed your fluid every 60k. Good job, it lasted a long time, was it due specifically and solely to fluid change or not? Who knows? But had there been a problem, you would have been able to prove it was no fault of yours in regards to fluid quality. Anything else would have been covered by warranty (barring blatant abuse or something of that nature).

 

Agreed.

One of the first things Mitsu Canada is going to ask for when troubleshooting an issue with the SST is written proof of the last fluid change and given your mileage, getting it changed was the best way to go.

 

Thanks for the info, completely agree ... And on a note of the dealership, they did a complete staff change over of the dealership and the guy that sold me the car doesn't work there anymore, not to mention all the service staff and mechanics are different.
So far so good now, I'm thinking that the filter is starting to collect all the garbage that was floating around in there, and it's working a lot better.