I changed the transmission fluid in my 07 LS today and followed the instructions in the factory service manual. I disconnected the upper hose going from the transmission to the oil cooler. The cooler is located in the left front of the Outlander behind the fog light cutout in the front bumper. After removing the upper hose, I had my daughter start the engine with tranny in neutral and I was greeted with spraying DIA Queen all over me, the car, and my tools. I was screaming at my kid to shut the engine off and she was asking me why while hot fluid was dousing me. It might have been funny if it wasn't also 100 degrees out.

After the bad start, I disconnected both hoses and directed them into a funnel which was dumping into a drain pan. I ran the engine for about 30 seconds with tranny in nuetral to get more fluid out. I pulled the drain plug on the bottom of the tranny and got another quart out. The old fluid was thin, purple and very transparent. New fluid is bright red and not as thin or transparent. I can see why Mitsubishi says to change it at 44,500 miles.

After adding 6 quarts of new fluid, I put the car up in the air again and pulled the lower hose off the cooler this time. I also connected a 3/8" diameter hose to the open port on the cooler and ran that into my funnel just in case something came out. A little fluid did drain out of the cooler but not the high pressure stream I got the first time. I ran the engine with tranny in nuetral for about another 30 seconds until the fluid coming out was bright red. Then, I went and took a real shower to get all the DIA Queen off me. I am going back out to the garage to top up the fluid level in a few minutes.

Has anyone else on the forum changed their tranny fluid and did you run into the same issue I did with the line going to the cooler?

As a footnote, I spoke to my local dealer before changing the fluid and the service manager told me that they only drain about 3 quarts for this service and add 3 fresh quarts instead of changing all the fluid. Glad I did it myself now that I have seen what the old fluid looks like.

 

i changed the fluid on my '07 xls not long ago.

i knew there would be pressure from the line so i had the hose stuck into a large bottle.

i did a complete flush/drain.

used a full 8 quarts.

 

I did this service too myself, ended up consuming 7qts of Dia Queen J2. I disconnected the ATF cooler hose from the side of the cooler (top hose). In the service manual it doesn't say where the fluid would go, so I connected my self contraption drain hose to the open end of the ATF return hose. Of course this is wrong and as soon as I started the car, I had the shower, but on the bottom frames, not on me. I had to run and turn off the engine right away and old Dia Queen is on the garage floor. I let the engine run for over a minute, and all the dia queen was drained out. Creeped down to the transmission fluid pan and open the bolt but there was very little dia queen left. Poured in 5 qts. I followed the service manual and redrained some fluid out, watching the fluid drain from dark red to bright red. At that point I stopped the engine, re attach the hose, filled the rest of 2 qts. It's still actually higher than the "H" level so after running it at that level I eventually decided to drain it to the right level. I sucked the ATF from the filler tube, and now it's in the correct level which is the top line "H".

Two things bothers me though.
1. I never checked my ATF fluid before this, and I found out that Mitsubishi factory actually overfilled the ATF because my level is an inch higher than the "H" mark.

2. And the ATF drain plug on the ATF bottom pan came off pretty easy, and it has a rubber O ring seal. When I tried tightening this plug, it almost feel it's gone loose thread. I cannot fully tighten this bolt. It says in the manual 23 Ft-lb torque, but I am afraid of keeping it too tight because it feels like tightening up and then it kinda slips and becomes loose again. I didn't even have to use a torque wrench on this one. Can you guys comment on this? the drain plug is actually okay, it's not coming off loose, but I cannot seem to fully tightem it like the drain plug for the engine oil pan. Any comments before I bring this in for service. I think you should be able to fully tighten this plug and torque it to 23ft-lb.

 

You have obviously stripped the threads. Anyway, I am curious about what you did to fix this. The reason I ask is that I changed my fluid last week and exactly the same thing happened to me. I was using a torque wrench and therefore did not overtighten it. Also, I did screw the plug in by hand for the first few turns, so I am sure I didn't cross thread. Anyway, it is actually pretty firmly and completely straightly in and is not leaking at all. I have marked the plug and checked each day and it has not loosened. I am tempted to just leave it alone, but feel uneasy in case it works loose eventually.

I guess the easiest option is to tap and die the plug/hole and put a load of loctite on it and gently re-torque it.

Any thoughts, or anyone done similar?
Thanks

 

I suspect the factory manual is wrong. 23 ft/lbs sounds like too much torque for a drain bolt. I did not use a torque wrench on mine but I am sure I did not apply 23 ft/lbs. I have been performing maintenance on my cars for > 35 years and think I have a good feel for tightening things like drain plugs and spark plugs. I would guess that I applied 10 ft/lbs.

Are the threads damaged on the drain plug or on the tranny oil pan? If the plug threads are damaged, just buy a new plug. If the pan threads are damaged, I would try cleaning them with a tap and getting a new plug.

IIRC, oversize drain plugs are avaliable for many American and Japanese cars. You might want to ask the dealer and a local auto parts store if this is true.

 

i agree, the torque does sound far too high. I thought that I was tightening it, and by the time I had realised, it was too late!
I haven't taken the plug back out is it is snugly and firmly in place, despite the obvious damage. I have done approx 300 miles since with no leaking or loosening. My plan was to get together some loctite, tap & die set and a new plug before I risked taking it out. I expect the damage will be to the transmission pan threads as it is a fairly soft looking aluminum metal.
Thanks

 

Great write, will be useful for me

 

Guys better be careful. I think the manual is wrong with regards to torque values. I brought this to the attention of my dealer, and of course they said nothing except to blame me, and said I stripped the thread. I told them I know how to read a manual, and how to tighten a screw! So anyway, it was a bad idea I had it checked with them because when I came back home, I started having ATF leaks, not a lot but I can see it's leaking. But there is an upside to my visit, they have suggested I get a new set of bolt and o-ring. So I removed the old bolt and o-ring, swap it for a new one. saved my ATF (which cost $9+ per quart!). Now I noticed there was a little bit of stripping, from very minute pieces of what looked like aluminum from the aluminum case. So I cleaned up the thread very well, and put in the new bolt and o-ring. The good thing is I was sensible enough not to keep tightening it when I first sensed it going to the point of stripping the thread and I think I was able to save most of the thread. So this time around I was still able to tighten it by hand, and I would say pretty tight, but just don't torque it! And after that, no more leak!

Okay so then I did a "post-mortem" examination of the bolt plug and old o-ring. Looks like the bolt is okay, but the old o-ring has flattened on the side that touches the transmission case. So, it looks like you really don't need to torque this plug at all. As long as you hand tight it, the sealing is really done by the o-ring. So might be a good idea to buy a new one each time. 30, 000mi is a long interval between changes, and the heat and pressure has deformed the old o-ring.

Here's a tip for all future DIYers. I was totally blown away and very upset and then got discouraged by this "incident". Since this is my first self bought car, I am learning new things, and this experience I had to learn the hard way. I don't want this happening to you guys, that's why I want to post my experience so everyone learns from it. This is why we came to this forum anyway, but I guess I had to be the guinea pig this time. Worst thing that could happen if you have totally ripped the threads is to swap out the whole transmission box, because it seems like they don't sell the AT aluminum case only. Imagine the repercussions of this mistake (which you can blame partly on the wrong manual info). Swapping a perfectly good AT just because of a leaking drain plug.

My recommendation on future DIY ATF changes is to let the atf pump suck all the ATF out of the case. when atf stops flowing, turn the engine off. when you have let all ATF sucked out, there is nothing to drain from the plug (based on my experience). So there is actually no need for you to open the drain plug at all, as long as you let the ATF pump suck it all out. After initially pumping out all ATF, you can start re-filling with fresh dia-queen atf. and then redo the atf pump-out until the fluid has turned bright red. and then just refill the ATF again to the proper level. This way you don't have to touch the drain plug at all. And after that incident, I am not touching that drain plug ever again. I think the drain plug threads are still 90% good, but I don't want any more trouble with it.

 

Hey rcpax, thanks for sharing your experience. My car is out of warranty and I will start doing more things for myself, so this guide will be invaluable for me

 

rcpax, thanks for feeding your experiences back. I completely agree with you that the manual must be wrong: I am sure that the torque specification is too tight for the AT drain plug. I also found exactly the same that you did – that there was no ATF left in the sump after pumping it out via the hose to the cooler. Therefore, I would recommend that the plug be left well alone. If anyone does feel the need to remove the drain plug, I would say to make sure you replace the o-ring, use some medium strength loctite (the oil resistant, blue one) and GENTLY re-tighten.
So what have I done with mine? Nothing! It is seated securely with absolutely no leaking. I have done 500 miles since the incident, checked the plug daily and it has not shifted (I marked the bolt). I am therefore leaving well alone. I could remove it, tidy up the threads with a chaser and reinstall with loctite, but as it isn’t leaking/loosening I am going to be brave. However, if it starts to leak then that is exactly what I will do.
In the very worst case scenario that someone ends up with the threads of the case completely trashed, they could be repaired with a helicoil, but it would be preferable to remove the AT before fixing otherwise there is a risk of introducing metal filings. I guess you probably could do it without removing it, but you would need to be very careful and coat everything in thick grease to catch the metal bits and flush the AT case with some clean, cheap ATF.
Anyway, I think the moral of both yours and my experiences is to be far more gentle with the bolt than the manual suggests.
Cheers
Ben