Looking after the tiptronic gearbox

[CJ]

The following text is taken from the www.clubvr4.com forum and for the most part, the same advice should be considered when referring to the tiptronic box in the FTO. The VR-4 5sp box is more reliable than the 4-sp box in prefacelift FTOs, they still fail from time to time to not being looked after properly. In terms of changing the AFT fluid, I'd be inclined to do it every 10k kms in the 4sp box and evety 15k kms in the 5-sp.



VR-4's are wonderful cars and are generally very reliable, but the one very expensive problem that they have regularly is Automatic gearbox problems. A common problem is the torque converter seal failing, unfortunately there isn't much you can do to protect against it other than keeping an eye on your driveway to look for oil stains.

The rest of the problems are typically loss of drive in one or multiple gears where the engine simply rev's freely and the car doesn't accelerate as it should, jerky action when changing gear or shudder through the car typically when in higher gears.

The first thing and by far the most important is to regularly change the gearbox (ATF) oil and to do it regularly, Kieran has an excellent guide here on how to change it, and my recommendation would be to replace it every 15000km to 20000km, and to keep a constant eye on not only the ATF level but the quality and colour as well, and to do it as regularly as you check the engine oil level and the radiator water level. New ATF is a nice Red colour, if your ATF looks anything like what Kieran's did in his thread (poo brown) you need to change it.Remember there is no real warning system in the car for ATF level, and the first indication that something has gone wrong that you will probably have is going to be too late and is going to be rather severe. Mitsubishi only recommend you change it every 45000km, this is simply not correct.

Apart from the oil, the obvious question is:

What else can I do to keep my transmission alive?

After reading all the threads on the subject here, talking to a couple of Mitsi dealers and Ralliart here in NZ, there are a couple of things you should try and do:

Drive in Tiptronic mode where ever possible, this will be explained later

Fit a transmission cooler. Even in normal driving the oil is right on it's temperature limits and if you are towing or doing lots of city driving, the oil will be overheating. There is mention of it in this article here and a nice article on fitting one here

Do not use the torque converter where ever possible:
This sounds like a strange statement with an Automatic gearbox, but this was explained to me by Ralliart. Lets say you are in a 60kmh zone and are in 5th gear. If you push on the throttle slightly to accelerate, the torque converter will let the engine rpm's rise, and it will not change down into 4th gear. While this is happening the oil is being heated rapidly. Instead of driving in 5th gear around town you should be in 4th gear, and any lower than about 40kmh you should be in 3rd gear. This is the main reason you want to drive in Tiptronic mode, you want to avoid the torque converter as much as possible.

Do not use the gearbox to engine brake:
This simply puts a huge strain on the gearbox. It is not a manual gearbox and is not designed to slow the car down in this way. There have been lots of reports of drivers who have been racing their cars and have been using the gearbox to engine brake and have overheated the transmission. If you are coming up to a stop sign, leave the car in it's current gear, once you come to a stop the transmission will change into first gear on it's own anyway. If you want to select a lower gear, try to do it when the rpm's are as low as possible.

Try to avoid changing throttle position when shifting:
This confuses the transmission and puts a strain on the gears and the torque converter. Full throttle upshifts are fine, as are partial throttle and full throttle upshifts. The transmission ECU knows exactly what the engine ECU is up to, and when you change gear the transmission expects you to keep the throttle in the same state it is in for the whole gear change, and shifts accordingly.

Hopefully these tips will keep your transmission lasting longer. I haven't touched on the obvious common sense points like the harder you drive the car etc etc, but these are some of the points that may not be obvious to some people.

[hhh1234]

very good guide one question how would you add a transmission cooler.
ANYONE

[colm_mcm]

This conversation has been had here:

http://www.ftooc.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=12518