Greetings. I am restoring a 1994 Montero SR and thought I would post pictures and the steps I have undertaken while doing various repairs/restoration work. I am currently draining/flushing and adding a new tranny filter and will post more pics and a description of the problems I encountered during the process.

First, lets see if my pictures will upload and post before I write too much.

Here is my 94 Montero SR:




Now for a description of what I encountered and the steps I had to go through to drain/replaice the tranny filter:
As the pic below shows, I first had used floor jacks at the cross member base area, which runs right behind the rear of the tranny pan:



Upon inspection, I realized that there was no way to remove the three rear tranny pan bolts unless the cross member was removed:




I checked the thick Shop Manual, but it had NOTHING in it regarding removal of the pan and replacement of the filter. It only stated how to "drain" the fluid and add fresh.

At first, I was going to remove those two rear motor mount/tranny mount bolts, but realized that I should have a jack supporting the tranny to prevent any "sagging" and potential problems:

(I will post this, and if all the pics and the post goes through properly, then I will continue)

 

OK, posts seem to be working good now. Continuing the tranny work:

After putting the hydraulic jack under the tranny and putting a bit of up pressure on it, those 2 long tranny/motor mount bolts came out easy. Then I removed the 8 bolts holding the cross member in place:



And out comes the cross member:



Then, this hanger needs to be removed......2 bolts holding it in place:



Now I can easily get to those 3 rear tranny pan bolts:



Had to remove a bolt holding the tranny fill tube.....must be done before taking the pan screws out and trying to drop the pan.



I also thought that this upper tube bolt had to be removed, but found out later that the tube splits in the middle and this upper bolt can be left in place:



I had already removed the drain plug and drained the fluid yesterday after driving and getting the fluid warm. Big Thanks to Mitsubishi for putting a tranny drain plug in, as most car makers are too cheap to do this.

The 19 bolts are removed and the drain came down. However, it was stuck in place too good, and I had to spray PB Blast along the edges and gradually pry and finally I could tap in a putty knife, and from there she gradually released. Pan still had about a quart of fluid in, even after draining. I think that sitting overnight allowed more fluid to drain from the cooler and upper chambers.



Question for the experts: This pan had orange RTV type silicone as the gasket. Is this how it came from the factory, or was a rubber gasket originally installed at the factory?

A fair amount of muck along the bottom of the pan. Those 6 flat magnets also did their job and had alot of metal "muk" adhered to them:



To be continued..........................

 

Continued:

Here is the old tranny filter: You can see some fine particles stuck in the filter paper:
(Note: this tranny has been shifting and working perfectly)



Alot of crapola in the pan and on the magnets......I am definately glad that I went through this process instead of just "draining and refilling" as described in the Shop Manual:



Instead of using a flat metal putty knife, I found that a wire brush on a drill did a great job of tearing away the old RTV silicone:



Pan cleaned:



Magnets cleaned and 4 more super strong magnets added for good measure:



Removing the old tranny filter: I was surprised that a good amount of fluid started pouring out after loosening some of the screws: Definately have a pan ready to catch more fluid:



Old filter off:



Got about half quart out when the filter was removed:



Rubber gasket put on the filter/grease smeared on both sides, and then bolted back in place. Do not want to tighten these screws too much, just snug them up, and tighten from the inside and work your way outward like you do head bolts.



To be continued:

 

Continued:

I put some grease on the pan, layed down the rubber gasket, and smeared a bit more on top of the gasket, and then fit it into place:
(I got carried away and used official Mitsubishi KamaKazzi Red paint on the bolts):






Then I poured all the old tranny fluid into old containers to measure how much came out, and then poured about the same amount back in. I used Castoil Transmax:



Using that funnel with a clear rubber hose on the end allowed me to add about 8 quarts without spilling a drop: (I hate those narrow tranny filler holes).

Probably would not have hurt to add a couple flasks of that Premier Protein drink...ha ha.



Then I traced the 2 lines going to the front tranny fluid cooler so I could loosen the input line and crank up the engine in Neutral and pump out a couple quarts of dirty fluid:



The lower line is the one which pumps the fluid from the tranny to the cooler:

I put a container to catch the fluid that drained from the cooler:



I put a rubber hose on the "pumper" line and flopped the other end into a bucket. I managed to slide a 1/4" rubber hose into the return line and flopped that into the bucket also (just in case it decided to drain more).






I put the tranny into Neutral and then cranked up the engine, and it quickly pumped out about 3 quarts of pretty dirty fluid: So now the system will have alot cleaner fluid as opposed to just doing a quick "drain and refill".



Now I just need to sand/prime/paint the cross-member and skid plates and install. Then do a test drive and check the level and add the final amount of tranny fluid.

Has anyone else done their own tranny change before? I must say that having to remove that cross member made it almost a show-stopper for me. In addition, it seems that Mitsubishi preferred their mechanics to just do a quick "drain and refill" as this is all they detail in the big shop manual. Maybe their engineers were a bit embarrassed that they designed this rig without an easy way to remove the tranny pan......and they decided to just not discuss it in the shop manuals.

Comments?
Hope this helps others.
Good day mate........have a "crackin good time" when you do your tranny filter change.

 

If you do transmission fluid change in the future, reverse your steps a little - fist disconnect the hose and pump out as much fluid as you can while vehicle is in neutral. Then drain remainder from the pan. This procedure will empty the torque converter off old fluid and you have less fluid to deal with in the pan. Additionally, once you refill with new fluid - you'll have 95-99% new fluid in the system. And you don't have to guess how much you need to top off.

 

Hunter.....thanks for the tips. Wish I had known this before doing the change, but at least I can do it right next time.

Any ideas as to why Mitsubishi failed to outline the procedure in their official Shop Manuals?

Do you think most shops failed to ever replace tranny filters in these Monteros due to the amount of work needed to remove the pan? Maybe alot of owners "thought" they were getting filter changes but never did.

 

Actually the procedure I described is the one outlined in the FSM for 2001 Montero. They actually recommend to replace fluid but not to to replace the filter, unless there are issues with transmission and you are doing a transmission rebuild.

 

OK, you got the flush procedure from the 2001 Montero "FSM". (I guess that stands for Full Service Manual?)
I have the thick 2 volume 1992 - 1994 Mitsibushi Service Manual for the Montero, and they had nothing on how to do the filter change/flush.......only a quick few sentences on draining the tranny fluid and just refilling.

By the way, did they change the design after 1999 to allow removal of the tranny pan without tearing out the cross-member tranny support?

Seems not to be much of a Montero following at this site......I was thinking I would get more comments and replies from other Montero owners. Doesnt give one much enthusiasm to continue to create "How Tos" with tons of pictures if no one seems to care. Maybe they are just all on vacation.

 

Yes - FSM is Factory Service Manual. I'm not sure how the Montero Sport transmission is set up, the Full size Montero stating from 2001 has clear access to the transmission pan.

There are few of us still here following this forum fairly regularly. I think FB and Instagram took many of users away
Keep showing up and posting. You'll get to know the regulars.

 

Hunter......OK, FSM "Factory Service Manual", got it. Maybe Mits changed the design in later years so the tranny cross member did not have to be removed....perhaps from complaints from mechanics doing the tranny service.

Shame that alot of this site's posters have disappeared.....maybe they will return. I also did a full restoration of my antique 1968 Case 580CK tractor/backhoe and the Case forum had a ton of superb people who were also restoring their old Case equipment and they helped each other to the nth degree.....amazing guys there.

Got the cross member/skid pans sanded/primed/painted:

Cross member before:











Hope to get them all assembled back soon, probably after changing the all the differential fluids.

Bye the way, does anyone have a good source for the tranny skid pan (91 - 99 Montero)? Apparently a mechanic in years gone by took it off to do service, and never put it back on.