CVT oil analysis.

[WEXX]

mohammad - This thread being about 10 months old, this was the first time I read it. I don't usually read many CVT related threads since I don't have one. This was a really good write-up. The oil analysis image was great.

I have no idea what Pop Alexander was talking about. I have no idea why the ENGINE would be effected by anything you did. It is his first post, maybe he's just a bot.

Well Mohammad likes commenting on how disconnecting the battery did not fix my CVT problem. Resetting the TCU forcing it to relearn and ending up duplicating my problem is called "troubleshooting".

[Princess_Bishi]

Hello all,

I preformed a CVT oil analysis on my car. A photo of which ive attached below, this is my first time doing something like this so ive attached some fun-facts in a list below:

1. when i removed the pan, there was no gasket. Not even a gasket making sealer or adhesive or anything. Just straight metal on metal pan to transmission. I never noticed it leak, maybe the gasket is unnecessary. Its unclear to me if this has ever had a CVT fluid change before so i asked the lab and there response is in the photo.

2. the pan gasket I bought was metallic it would stick to magnets. i wasn't expecting this

3. I had only minor issues changing the aux filter without removing anything but the driver-side tire. I could visually see it for the most part but I got stuck up on trying to get the weird metal tab around the electrical connector. Took me awhile to figure this out.

4. I wish we had one of those tubes instead of a drain plug to ensure I put back in the correct level of fluid(like the corolla). I put in 4 quarts + 20 OZ or 4.35L into the transmission after changing both filters. Its unclear to me if this is the correct fluid level or not. when hot it appears to go up to the first bend of the dipstick after following all instructions and checking it while running. The fluids hard to read as it is thin but also im also unsure how level my parking spot is.

5. the first time i drove it 100ft straight then going up a slight incline it made a very loud sqeak for about a second like the belt was slipping. I thought the transmission was gone then and there but all is well.

6. the first time i drove it "fast" there was a big shudder shifting from first gear to second

7. the first few times i checked the fluid it appeard frothy i.e hundreds of bubbles were on the dipstick. After a couple hundred km checking it today I only saw about 5 or 6 fairly big bubbles on the dipstick. Im unsure how normal this is as i never really checked fluid level before changing it.(i obtained the car used so i do not know if it was originally full of OEM fluid or not)

8. the car feels substantially quieter and i no longer really hear the engine while idling although this maybe the placebo effect.

9. I never realized/thought that the other end of the pan bolts would be exposed. I can now understand how people overtorque these bolts and strip them. It also made them slightly harder to remove/install due to corrosion.

9. i bought a 1/4 torque wrench and torqued everything to approx 8 n.m. This was not a confidence inspiring amount of torque. Without the torque wrench, I am highly confident i would have stripped the **** out of everything. Rear pan bolts were very hard to reach as i only have 2 jack stands so im not comfortable jacking the front up too high.


10. COST:
$119.67 for 5 bottles of OEM fluid.
$31.23 for 2 aux filter O-Rings,
$43 for the pan gasket and drain plug crush washer from partsouq.com(that includes the import dues i didnt realize i had to pay separately to Fedex),
$35 for both Raybestos filters off Rockauto for a 2015 spark.
For a grand total of $229.90 CAD. Not including the cost of new tools(1/4 torque wrench, special funnel to pour oil down dipstick tube. brake clean to clean the pan and magnets)

11.I recorded myself changing the pan filter, if theres any interest i can crop the parts together and start my Youtube career.

12. I now have a spare brand new aux filter o-ring, If anyone wants it measured i can do that but i don't own any precision equipment. The o-ring had a surprisingly loose feel to it and amazingly sits in a grove much wider than the o-ring itself. I have no idea how this creates even a half decent seal, let alone a seal from high pressure oil.

13. Id like to thank everyone on the forum for providing me the confidence to do this myself. It was a moderately scary experience


Attachment 22053

-I didn't have a gasket either. Which gasket did you put on? Mine was Mahle brand rubber/metal, but the rubber is very thinly painted on. I chose Mahle just because they have a factory in my town, though in reality it may have been made in China.

-I paid the same amount in USD getting some no name Chinese filters off of Ebay. I really wish I'd seen this post sooner. The filters work so far though, another 30k miles I'll definitely upgrade. I also got my fluid in a 5 pack off of Ebay for $104 + shipping. 7k miles later, and I'm thinking it was real Mitsubishi fluid!

-With this being my second actual car repair ever, I did not take off the wheel to change the aux filter. I was able to get it off by alternating between pulling from the top and bottom and saying cuss words in between pulls. Pro tip: It only comes out the last time you pull on it!

-I still don't know if I put the same amount of fluid in as I took out. I could not get the drain plug off as I don't have the right muscles to turn a wrench that hard while lying on my back. I lost a lot of fluid on my garage floor and I'm not sure how. I had a really big drain pan.

-Mine never made any weird noises but it did shift kinda rough a few times. I tried getting the CVTz50 app to reset the fluid wear but it turns out I went too cheap on the ELM-327 scanner so I gave up. I didn't have $60 for the good one. It hasn't shifted weird since I was messing with my A/C a month ago and I unplugged the battery for a number of hours so I think it did a budget version of what the ELM scanner does. I do want to get it eventually so I can see the fluid temperature and stuff.

-I also found the whole experienced quite terrifying. For a month before and after my inner emotions vacillated between distrust in car dealerships, being sad I didn't have money for better tools, being terrified I put the wrong amount of fluid back in, wondering if I'm a grandiose narcissist for insisting I do this myself, and cringing at the questionable filters I put in as replacements. I was stopping at different gas stations around town every day looking for perfectly level ground to check my fluid on. I'm pretty sure I drove it low for an entire week at one point. The fluid level panic went on for two months.

All in all it was pretty emotionally taxing, the only thing I had going for me was that I had done it on my truck the week prior.

[mohammad]

-I didn't have a gasket either. Which gasket did you put on? Mine was Mahle brand rubber/metal, but the rubber is very thinly painted on. I chose Mahle just because they have a factory in my town, though in reality it may have been made in China.

-I paid the same amount in USD getting some no name Chinese filters off of Ebay. I really wish I'd seen this post sooner. The filters work so far though, another 30k miles I'll definitely upgrade. I also got my fluid in a 5 pack off of Ebay for $104 + shipping. 7k miles later, and I'm thinking it was real Mitsubishi fluid!

-I put on an "OEM" gasket from Partsouq. Part number is available in the description of the youtube video i made about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erlbDUi48Jk

-I have no idea how you can tell the filters are working.

-If you have trouble removing the drain plug, its not a muscle issue just try using a longer breaker bar. Like 2+ feet long.

-Removing drain plug would not have gotten most fluid out as shown in my youtube video as the drain plug is on the front of the pan and i had the front of the car jacked up so i could get under it.

- if your vehicles still under warranty id consider buying parts from the dealership as they track all purchases and associate them with a VIN, incase you ever wanted to collect on your warranty they will see you bought X parts on Y date for vehicle of vin number Z.