I’ve read a lot about doing maintenance on outlander transmissions, and I’ve seen it stressed that you should only use Mitsubishi brand fluid. I drive a 2018 outlander with the 3.0L and automatic transmission. The dealer I bought from sold and moved to another town and it’s a bit of a hike to get there. I called ahead to ask for ATF J3, which is what the manual specs for fluid, and had a family member pick it up while they were in town. They came home with CVT J4. I made the trip to the dealer to return it today and the parts guy was adamant that this was the proper fluid for my car, however when I look the product up online I’ve seen it stated “For use in CVT transmissions only. Not for use in automatic transmissions”. I returned it.

Has anyone encountered this, or know more?

I’m not comfortable putting it in. If it destroyed my transmission I don’t think the employees suggestion would have much bearing on whether they went good for it or not.

 

J4 is not suitable. J3 Is the correct oil for this trans. as it should state on your dipstick.

Well done on sticking to your guns. I cannot imagine what a dealer would do if you did wreck your trans because some untrained idiot sold the wrong oil.

 

Yes, that was my biggest concern. Now I have to figure out a way to get my hands on some J3.

 

is there not a parts department at your nearest mitsubishi dealer?

 

That is the nearest dealer. It’s tiny, and the guy insisting on J4 is the parts dept.

 

Seems like the parts guy had the right idea but the wrong fluid, 07's and I think 08's were labeled for DiaQueen J2, but there was a service bulletin way back when stating that J3 was the fluid for all six speed automatics with the paddle shift. So perhaps he had the right idea but the wrong direction. I've used J3 every 40k miles and no problems here. You can tell when the fluid is degrading as the shifts right on the edge of certain speed/gear combo will sort of snap and make a little jerk. New fluid and it's back to smooth shifting. There was a dealership in Texas that had discounted prices and cheap shipping but I can't find the link. Only thing coming up is NJ and FL. Amazon has it: and honestly, I paid $124 for 7 quarts at the local dealer in SoCal so that's a decent price.

 

That make sense, and was likely where the mistake was coming from.

Thanks for the link. I’m in Canada, and unfortunately I haven’t been able to find a seller willing to ship it on this side of the border. I drove to Florida a couple months ago- I wish I knew it was this hard to find or I would have taken some home with me!

 

These are both supposedly J3 compatible

Mobil Multi-Vehicle ATF
https://www.mobil.com/en-ca/passenge...ti-vehicle-atf
Buy at Amazon

Havoline Full Synthetic Multi-Vehicle ATF
https://cglapps.chevron.com/sdspds/P...&docFormat=PDF

 

Thanks!

I also saw that Amsoil makes one.
https://www.amsoil.ca/p/signature-se...code=ATLQTC-EA

I think I’ll do a little digging to see what the best aftermarket option is.