Hey everyone, I'm looking for a bit of advice/opinion. I had my transmission fluid replaced a couple days ago on my 09 ES CVT and when I came to pick it up they told me that all was good, however there was a recall on the Oil level guage and that I should purchase one so the tech could confirm that the correct fluid levels were in the car (though he was 99.9% sure he had the correct amount). They said it was fine to drive and so I have put a couple hundred k in the last couple days, drove moderately hard and it's all good.


So my question is do you think I should spend $50 on a freakin transmission oil guage or just let it go? Seems to be just fine, but I'd like an opinion from someone who knows cars if I could. Also I'll post the pics of the bulletien that I received for informational purposes in case anyone else is going in for this in the near future. Obviously this wasn't done at the dealership or I'm sure I wouldn't need to buy this.


Cheers

 

this could explain premature deaths of CVTs reported by owners on 9glancers even though they had routine CVT drain/refills done at the appropriate intervals.

 

wasnt this a recall by mitsu, there was a TSB # for it but i couldnt it

 

Yea, the TSB-09-23-003, it's on the first page of the bulletin I posted. So you say people have been having their tranny's die eh? This is the first time I've had the transmission oil replaced not at the dealership, I've always maintained my schedule however.


Well...I really don't want to spend $50 on a plastic stick, but maybe I should anyways, it's a lot cheaper than a tranny..

 

yeah i had mine s*** the bed twice before i got rid of it. I took mine to the dealer for a fluid change and noticed that the fluid levels were way off but when i took it back to the dealer they said everything was A-OK. then i started getting cvt whine and slow down warnings that would develop to full blown limp mode when i drove on the high way. If the dealer can F'up a simple drain and fill then I would be worried about a random shop doing the same. I mean you can eye ball the level the best you can but if the dipstick has improper fluid level marks you can't be sure

any reason why you can't go the dealer??

 

It's not that I can't go, it's just since I've started modding my car, which I've mainly done myself I've gone to a performance shop in town for all of my purchases of my parts and I've come to trust their shop. They're reputable and I trust them as much as I trust the dealership in terms of tradesmanship, once I had a service on my car at the dealership which included a coolant flush and refill..well, they flushed it..forgot the fill part, so silly **** can happen anywhere I feel.


Also they are the ones who notified me of the bulletin and made sure to inform me they could either get it for me, which would cost more than if I went and got it myself, which I did end up doing later this afternoon, it will be in next week, I'll just drive my truck for the most part. I'll post when I get it to see if it was accurate or not.

 

Update: I ordered the part when I posted and it finally came in on Friday (long time). I ordered it at the dealership, however the dipstick that came in was still the exact same as the one I have. The parts manager noticed that the part number had never been changed when I ordered it but we ordered it anyways to see if they just replaced it, apparently not. So if anyone else comes across this issue, I'm not sure how you are supposed to go about getting this different dipstick, but goodluck.


I said I wasn't gonna drive it...but I did, hah, and I've put about 2k on it already (some heavy use too) and it seems fine so I'm gonna roll with it, I trust that shop. Plus with different fluid, mods, and a different shop working on my car I'm sure my powertrain warranty is very much void, so F it.


As an aside my tranny has been making a whining type noise for about 2 years now, I still drive the bejeezus out of it and it performs as good as it always did...she'll go when she goes I guess, til then full tilt!

 

If you read the service letter, it says the shape of the dipstick has changed, not the length or anything else. You will be wasting $50 in my opinion.

 

Once i saw it i didnt get it, it was the exact same anyways, like i said ive put 2-3k on it since ive changed the fluid and im sure its fine. If it was a big enough deal it wouldve been a recall and not a tsb i suppose.