lancer transmission slipping

[bowlofturtle]

One of the cars i'm in charge of maintaining is a 03 Lancer Automatic that uses SP III fluid for the ATF, its just shy of 70k now. Bought it brand new, I did a drain and fill at 40 and 60k.

Here is the thing, i noticed it slipping somewhere around 35k, its not slipping bad by any means. The driver never notices it but i do when in the car. Its slips when shifting 1-2 around 20mph, the revs only go up to about 2700rpm and back to normal. It happens random and from the times i've been in the car about once every 2-3 weeks.

The fluid color when i drained it wasn't burn or black but darker then what i'm used to and someone on here told me thats the nature of SPIII fluid.

Anyone have a solution to this? Or is this one those odd things that are meant to happen... I wanted to change to amsoil fluid but i read/heard these trannies are picky on fluid

 

[unDummy]

The color is not the nature of SPIII. It means its being cooked. Don't fall for the brainwashing attempts that dark color of certain ATFs is acceptable.

You definitely need to shorten your drain/refill intervals.

Install an inline filter to help keep the ATF clean.

Its not picky on fluid. You can upgrade to a full synthetic.

If you stick with SPIII, add an ounce of Lubegard Red or Platinum, or Smartblend Red or Titanium, to each quart of ATF.

Do a battery disconnect after every AT fluid service.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Might want to try a simple drain and refill with something like Pennzoil Multi-Vehicle ATF and add a pint of MMO to clean up the valve body, etc. Then do a cooler line flush with Mopar ATF +4 at a reasonable interval.

 

[bowlofturtle]

ok obviously i'm out of warranty here. But as the saying goes, its cheaper to buy $10/bottle of the RIGHT ATF then to replace a $300-$2000 trans. I thought ATF for this car was 60k but then i saw it was 30k, so thats why i was late on the first one. I did the 2nd at 60k to make up for it.

I have about 7 more bottles of this stuff i bought a case off a guy on ebay like at $3/bottle shipped. So i want to use that... I will be very happy to see this car make 100k on this trans. All in all the car has its issues and not the best MPG for a 2.0L motor. But it works and its paid for. I dont owe it, i just fix whats broken on it.

Lubeguard red... what exactly does it do...

http://www.amazon.com/Lubegard-ATF-Protectant-10-oz/dp/B0007ZAJRM

that the stuff?

http://www.amazon.com/Lubeguard-60902-Lubegard-Automatic-Supplement/dp/B002NUS3YU

or that one?

now... why would a battery disconnect do anything... are you going by maybe a reset of the ECU would change the shift patterns for the TCM?

That ATF+4 i've ask before here and some say no its not the same as SP3...

 

[bowlofturtle]

so i'll bump it up and use all my SPIII fluid up.

the slip is just once, never happens twice on the same day. Its a jerk that isn't bad at all.

 

[JTK]

I had thought the Lancer used the F4A51 4spd AT like my Santa Fe, but I guess it's just the Eclipse and Galant. Regardless, when your SP3 is gone, Valvoline Maxlife is an excellent alternative for SP-III. I like to do ~3 drain/fill cycles at ~30Kmi, then one drain/fill every year.

Joel

 

[unDummy]

ATF+4 is not the same as SPIII because its better.

what Lubegard does

and Platinum