Ready for a stupid question?

[mwaterous]

What kind of CAI... no wait I think I already did that once. This is going to be the stupidest question of all, but I've driven stick my whole life until now, so I'm retarded with this junk.

With the engine completely cold (left in the garage overnight cold), checking my ATF shows it above the cold line. With my engine hot (low cut evening dress hot), put in neutral after running through all gears, it shows as lower than the hot line on our salvador dali dipstick that's conveniently placed right under the airbox.

It's spotty at best when its hot, there's no consistency to it like checking the oil. It's almost bubbly on the dipstick. Fluids clean, nice red color and silky not grainy to the touch. But it shows as above cold when its cold, and below hot when its hot. Wtf am I doing wrong? I don't want to overfill it and have to drain it... and I don't want to drive around with it low and do damage to it.

Yes I know there's other ATF threads. I checked them all. "Check the fluid... put more in if it needs it." Gotcha. Checked the fluid. It's lying to me or something.

[rangertimmy]

as long as you have no leaks, the reading that counts with ATF is the cold. slightly above is okay. as you stated, dont want to over do it. i never understood the hot reading on an auto tranny, maybe someone else can chime in experience with this. i believe that is more for troubleshooting purposes if there is an issue.

bottom line is, you're not doing anything wrong. as long as you have no leaks (you're parking in the garage, you would know if you did), the reading that counts with ATF is the cold

my 4G is a manual but ive owned a few autos, so if anyone knows different, please correct me.

[mwaterous]

No leaks, but I'm still getting a ka-chunka-chunk sound when putting it in reverse that the service department swore up and down was due to low ATF. I have put in about a half quart now which brought it to where it is on the cold (literally about a fingernails width above the top cold line) and I still get the noise.

[rangertimmy]

wow, i dont know then. a little more is better than a little low. as far as your question, the service department (im assuming your talking about a mitsu dealership) should be able to answer AND show you exactly what your levels should read. if that car is under 100k miles and its an 07, you're still under warranty and should demand that kind of service from any authorized mitsu dealer.

i dont know about the sound, but your "ka-chunk adjective" cant be good

[FeaRlezZ]

Originally Posted by rangertimmy

as long as you have no leaks, the reading that counts with ATF is the cold. slightly above is okay. as you stated, dont want to over do it. i never understood the hot reading on an auto tranny, maybe someone else can chime in experience with this. i believe that is more for troubleshooting purposes if there is an issue.

bottom line is, you're not doing anything wrong. as long as you have no leaks (you're parking in the garage, you would know if you did), the reading that counts with ATF is the cold

my 4G is a manual but ive owned a few autos, so if anyone knows different, please correct me.

ya just need to check wen it is cold

[mwaterous]

It's... metallic. I don't like it at all. Only happens in reverse. And yep, the local M dealership; there's two in Albuequirky though so I might try the other guys just for a second opinion.

I thought our warranty was only 60k miles?

[OrangeDemon]

From my understanding they atf fluid has to be almost spot on for it to run correctly. A little more or less can affect shifting and all that. A chunk sound in reverse could be your auto clutch going bad, which can happen. How bad was the magnet on the drain plug? if you noticed a chunk or two rather than just the normal shavings may be time to change the auto clutch. You make sure your stopped before putting it in reverse right!?! lol that would make a chunky chunk sound for sure.

[mwaterous]

Originally Posted by OrangeDemon

From my understanding they atf fluid has to be almost spot on for it to run correctly. A little more or less can affect shifting and all that. A chunk sound in reverse could be your auto clutch going bad, which can happen. How bad was the magnet on the drain plug? if you noticed a chunk or two rather than just the normal shavings may be time to change the auto clutch. You make sure your stopped before putting it in reverse right!?! lol that would make a chunky chunk sound for sure.

Oh gosh man... if I knew you I'd have to smack you, but since I don't I'll forgive the question haha. Yes I'm stopped; I'm parked in a garage, and it's going from Park to Reverse to get out of said garage. Sometimes I'm parked at Wal-Mart and I have to reverse because there's a car parked in front of me on the other side. Other than that I generally go forward.

I didn't actually switch the fluid out, so I'm not sure how the magnet looks at all. The fluid isn't dirty, but maybe I'll switch it out just to check the magnet. I'd guess if the auto clutch was going out this early (45k) that it would almost have to be covered by warranty, hey?