i had a shop change my transmission fluid last week and now it is stuck in 1st gear. i used seafoam and ran it through and it worked for a few days, but now it's sticking again. i heard that i had to have mitsubishi ATF and the shop just used whatever was recommended on the computer for my car. will using something other than mitsubishi ATF screw up the transmission. HELP!!!

:00000732: to the forums

putting in the wrong oil will damage the auto in a short time


getting the automatic service provider
to admit they used the wrong oil would be difficult

you buy the right auto oil from mitsubishi and change it as soon as you can

also reset the tranny computer by undoing the battery terminals briefly

it is possible the tranny computer unit is the fault

if the tranny still sticks in first after the oil change
a diagnostic is the best way to isolate the problem

Before having the tranny fluid changed the car had no shifting issues? As stated previouslly yeah it would be hard to get them to admit to using improper fluid. Transmission fluid is a very tricky thing . proper fluid is important because each one carries different heat and viscosity properties . having the proper fluid viscosity and filter type .If the fluid is a lesser brand it may not have appropriate viscosity when its heated up and cannot supply proper drum or valve body pressure for engaging the gears. Also a diagnostic wold be a good thing to see if there are faults with the imput or output shaft speed sensors. If they are not reading a certain shaft speed or incorrect shaft speed this also can cause the TCM not to engage another gear.

yes, i experienced problems, which is why i had the fluid changed. the filter kit came from NAPA i think. the car wouldn't shift to reverse from park ( i had to shift from park to drive, then to reverse), then it stuck in low gear. i noticed when i put in the seafoam to clean the tranny, that the car drove the same whether it was in drive, 2nd, or 1st gear, which i thought was odd. now, a week later, it's stuck in low gear, but works fine in that gear and reverse. i'm dumbfounded as to the problem - someone said it could be the shifter solenoid. i'm confused cause the car drove perfectly after adding the cleaner, but now, all of the sudden it's stuck again

Its hard to say at a point , seems the first issue yu had wa sthat the shifter cable needed to be adjusted , hence why yu had to go to drive then come back to reverse, when initially pulling it to reverse frum park , it was going to far for reverse engagment , as when yu went to drive and tehn back to reverse(going foward on the shifter) it was actually putting the shift rod in the valve body far enough foward at that point to engage a reverse gear. The reverse gear is not solenoid relater , when yu shift to reverse the shift capable pulls the lever that moves the shifting rod in the transmissions valve body to circulate flow to the reverse drum for engagment. Small incraments are important. too much one way or another will just put valve body pressure in a recirculate type of flow pattern going no where as in park and nuetral selections. Thus when engaging drive , the selector rod moves the rod to an area in the valve body to the foward gear solenoids for operation. Unlike older non electronic transmissions , the computer makes all the shifts thru solenoids and not via a modulator and shift position. . Per say an older transmission with a detent cable and pressure modulator valve , the valve body had seperate foward gear ports1,2,3,4 so when yu selected each gear it went that gear and would not shift out unless yu shifted it if yu were manually selecting the gears. Thus this transmission is electronic and has shift solenoids , if yu put the carin 1st via the inside shifter the reason it holds the gear is because the Safety neutral switch reading and comanding the TCM to stay in 1st , the valve body onlee has an open vain section when you put it in drive.

Running seafoam is usually a bad idea because it usually alternatly finishes off an import style FWD transmission . Is there enough fluid? The clutch sets and friction plates have worn down alot during this whole process and could have ultimatelly cause the situation now. Staying in low as in first or a higher gear? If the TCM is unplugged the transmission would still engage reverse gear but in drive it would engage 3rd gear , because teh TCM commands teh solenoids to divert flow to lower gears when working. Does it have reverse now, check yur shift cable at teh transmission and check for excessive play , move the shift selector back and forth at teh transmission , check surrounding wiring and make sure that yur input and outut shaft speed sensors and well plugged in, they should be under the aircleaner , a host of wire plug ins, 2 plug ins are similar in design , also they would plug into one another , but they do diffrent operations. One plug in is for yur Input and output shaft speed sensor. The other that is identicalt to it but will most likelly be on a bracker by the upper rear transmission mount is for the transmission shift solenoids, by it should be the neutral safety switch plug in and a one wire plug in for the over run drum solenoid

enough fluid? i was worried about that as i just found out that mitsubishis have to be checked in neutral instead park. when i checked it yesterday, it was LOW. i added 2 quarts to get it to the right level (with engine idling in neutral) and tried to drive it again, but it is still in low (1st) gear. i noticed that the rpm guage went out at the same time this problem happened (coincidence?). i thank you for your help, but i'm not too car savvy and am not sure where to check for the sensor. do you mean under the air filter? the service was done last monday, and the mechanic may have not known that mitsubishis have to be in neutral instead of park, like most other cars. do you know how much approximately it would be to fix the shifter cable or the other issue you talked about?

the only other issue is the engine seal leaks a little oil. i love this car, but i've only had it 2 months (122,000) miles, and i hate the idea that the transmission might be shot.

by the way, the car shifts into reverse just fine. i don't have to shift into drive first. i didn't feel slippage in 1st gear a week ago when this problem first happened, but when it happened yesterday, i seemed to feel slippage. however, the gas is really low now and it may be not enough gas getting to the engine or something.

Devoid of the fact , most may disagree with meeh but also , as i have done for many year and also which every shop i kno besides ours always checks the fluid level engine at warm/operating temps and engine off. With it running will almost always give a high or full reading. Ive always done it this way and have no issues.

I maybe have misread sumthing about that issue about yu putting it into reverse and not exactlly engaging until yu shift to drive and then back to reverse. It would be odd that the 1-2 shift solenoid would suddenlly act up , is the speedo working? Have the diagnostic and see if there are any TCM faults , like input speed sensor error etc.

o.k.

thanks for your help

No problem, hope anything weve said helps and hope it works out.