Piper747

iTrader: (2)

I gave the SST some attention yesterday. I changed the oil and filter. I was able to drain and measure 6.6 L of fluid and a little on the floor! This includes draining the cooler. I put 6.8 L back in to account for spilled fluid and what not. I have 49,000 km on the car now.

I can report even faster stronger shifts. I was not having any trouble with transmission before, but if this is how it was new, then its performance was slowly degraded over the last two years but it happened so slowly it was hard to notice what was missing. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like the clutches became stickier since the service. I am thrilled with the outcome!

SST fill hole:



SST drain plugs:



SST filter location:





Nasty SST filter:

Mad_SB

iTrader: (8)

Nice! Thanks for posting pics. After seeing how those filters look after 10k miles (about the same as yours) I'm gonna do my first fluid and filter change at 5k.

Piper747

iTrader: (2)

Just a work of caution about that silly little clip on the filter housing. I knew it was fragile, so I said to myself "OK, don't break it just be gentile.........ok....ok.....****!" and out came the epoxy . Its an important little piece that locks the filter from ever loosening off.

Alien Visitor

Did you take a pic of the clip?

Piper747

iTrader: (2)

total0wnage

iTrader: (4)

Which fluid did u use? Diaqueen or the SSP Red ?

sstevojr

iTrader: (7)

Yeah that clip is WAY too easy to break, I did the same thing. R u sure you drained all the fluid, it s/b about 8 liters in there. Did you lift the front end (like on jack stands), or did you keep the car level?

Piper747

iTrader: (2)

The front end was lifted about 9" with ramps. I used the OEM Diaqueen SSTF-1 fluid.

You actually took and measured 8L out of the SST?

03chi-town0Z

iTrader: (7)

Wow, it should have only drained around 6L. I'm with Piper, did you actually measure what you caught? I've never had one drain that much fluid and I've done quite a few.

ArtofRalli

I was discussing with a friend on what milage (in kilometeres) we should be changing the SST fluids. He mentioned every 15-20km's. Now the service manual stated the first change is 48,000km.

Mad SB mentioned he is going to do his after 5k!

Any recommendation would be greatly appreciated! I currently have 25K and have not changed the SST fluids / filter yet.

omegis

iTrader: (2)

I'm doing mine after 5k as well only to clear out the break-in fluid + filter. About 2-3 weeks ago, Jeremy @ SSP confirmed for $425, they will sell you 8 qts SSP Pro Gold + reusable filter. Should be adequate enough fluid whether you have an upgraded trans cooler or OEM. I'll be going this route soon.

03chi-town0Z

iTrader: (7)

The first change, especially, is recommended to be done ahead of schedule. This was mentioned previously here, and SSP also made the comment in another thread that the break-in fluid should be in there no more than 5-10k miles.

After that, your interval can probably extend to the recommended 20-30k miles.

Do you have to do it that way? No.
Are people waiting it out and doing all maintenance per schedule only? Yes.
Will their transmissions blow up? Unlikely, but why chance a $10k part on a $400 service

sstevojr

iTrader: (7)

I measured ~7.5L, and a bit of spillage. Also, when I did mine I cut the Hose from the stock filter housing to the tranny cooler, which drained quite a bit extra from doing that. And I opened all three drain plugs (there was about a .5 liter behind one of the plugs, after letting the other 2 sit open for 30 mins). I recall Bryan saying his SB only had 2 drain plugs,but mine has all 3. I did all that cuz I spliced in an SSP filter; it seemed to me that if you don't cut that hose, quite a bit of fluid stays trapped in the cooler+lines.
Can anyone else corroborate this?

EDIT: I could swear I've read other places that total fluid in the tranny system (cooler, etc) is 8 liters, right? But a simple drain is ~6, yes?

Here you go:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/mi...sst-fluid.html

03chi-town0Z

iTrader: (7)

Yes, you are definitely correct. Knowing that you opened the cooler lines makes it all more clear now. Standard drain/fill through the plugs only will yield somewhere in the area of 6.5L.

This is a great example of why you should measure what you're removing so you can put the same amount back instead of going off of someone else's write-up and using a different method that leaves you over- or under-filling your fluid.

That, or Mitsu could have just put a damned dipstick in the thing.

Also, has anyone else noticed that there's a plug conveniently located right near the driver's axle which would be great to use as a fill-level check hole? I haven't confirmed if that is, in fact, what it is, but it would be a nice find huh? This is how terrible Mitsu is with these things, they don't even train their tech's on their product. Just replace it if it goes bad. That is all.

sstevojr

iTrader: (7)

And they wonder why they are taking a loss on this division....