Im sure you folks have seen this, but I thought it was pretty cool. I REALLY like the idea of a pan with a dipstick, although Im sure that is a $500+ part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRr3TGbBWhM

 

It would be so nice to have a dip-stick!

 

Good info!

 

Very nice. Ill definitely be getting that high capacity pan when i do my first trans fluid change.

 

good to know

 

how do you order parts from mrt in the states

 

so when should we change it? and whats our options?

 

And to think, to omany Mitus mechanics dont even know there is a filter in there...

 

Try getting a Mitsu dealer (at the least the ones in the Toronto area) to change the filter with the fluid. Big push-back form the service managers, as it's a 'lifetime' filter according to the factory.

I had to go to an independent shop that was familiar with the Ralliart and Evo to get it done. Glad I did, as the old filter was quite dirty (at 30,000km) and would give off a burnt smell if I pushed the car a little.

 

That's the million dollar question, isn't it. The service manual says that the stuff that was in there from day one doesn't need to be changed until the 90,000 km mark. (edit: 96,000km - picky, picky)

Ah, pull the other one. I wouldn't do that even if I was doing 100% road / 0% track and only driving it to church on Sundays.

I changed my fluid and filter at 20,000km. Fluid was darkish, and had a slight burnt smell; filter was "okay". Will likely change it again at 40,000km. But that's me. Others may change it twice or four times as often... or half as often. But I doubt anyone with any mechanical sympathy will let the factory-filled oil sit in there for 4-5 years!


I'm going with original Mitsu Diaqueen fluid - no warranty hassles that way. No complaints about its performance so far, so I'm sticking with that.

There are a number of aftermarket fluids on offer. Again, people have to make their own decision, then see how it turns out further down the line.

Rich

 

In Canada the dealer follows the 'severe' maintenance schedule, which puts the fluid change at 48,000km or 30 months (whichever comes first). Even that I think is too late, especially for the first change.

Proactively, I had mine changed shortly after purchasing my car (30,000km and 24 months old), and both the fluid and filter were in less than pristine condition.

 

Well folks, I finally got around to changing my fluid and filter. RA has 10500 miles on it, and it took be a bit only because it was not as straighforward as I thought. Put the nose on jackstands in my garage, both wheels off the gound. My SST only had 2 drain plugs, no not a mistake- it only has two. Both drain plugs were not too tight with some seepage. This suprised me since the manual states a 35ft lb torque, not to mention there are no gaskets on the drain plugs. Drained out just over 6 liters of fluid, with some spillage, its very difficult to catch it all on that rear plug so jackstand placement is important. Filter was dark, but no fragments of crud and I managed not to break the clip on the housing. Did notice that the new filter has a different last 2 digits of the P/N- old was 02 new was 04. It looks like the main diff was the notches for the clip. When the filter is all the way installed, the clip ends on a spot were the filter has lower notches. I assume this indicates the filter housing is fully installed. I did have some fluid seepage at the filter housing. It was very difficult to locate the source, the filter mount itself of the housing. I am going to keep a close eye on the housing for suture seepage, but it had migrated to the lower engine cover and back towards the edge. I would estimate that over my 1 year of ownership, I have lost a small amount of fluid. Not terrible, but noticable to me. A little concerning since the dealership has been doing all of my service and has never looked twice at this. Its easy enough to pull the cover in the drivers side wheel well to check. Overall, well worth the time and effort if only for the satisfaction of having it done.

 

Well done - I didn't have the guts to do mine myself.

Rich

 

Thanks! Not too bad to do, just pay attention to detail and all is good. Going to keep my eye on that filter all the same...

 

My 2010 only has two as well.