The Automatic Transmission - talk shit thread

[Diablo]

Got the Triton back from Lee last Friday. So thought I would give it a week to see how its going. The new transmission and T/C are great, feels like a new car again. the changes are smooth and responsive, and it feels a lot more solid.

As always Lee and his guys did a fantastic job. I was without my truck for 2 weeks, and MML Customer service arranged a hire car as quickly as they could while mine was off the road.

For those that don't know I also run 33 inch muddies full time, but that never came up as an issue, and nor should it, as towing 2500kg would put more load on the transmission than 10% larger tyres could (IMHO).

[snowman]

so what was wrong with it?

[Diablo]

catastrophic failure. left with bits of metal in the transmission sump and only 3rd gear working.

[hvac guy]

Wow

[Diablo]

Wow

Not quite what the Mrs said when it shat itself while she was driving my truck home on the highway.....

[snowman]

catastrophic failure. left with bits of metal in the transmission sump and only 3rd gear working.

cause known?

[Diablo]

catastrophic failure. left with bits of metal in the transmission sump and only 3rd gear working.

cause known?

still unsure whats caused it. when i first started having issues with it, I had the transmission fluid replaced, and according to the guy that changed the fluid, he had never seen transmission fluid looking so putrid. I have a suspicion that the Mitsi service centre I use to take it to before Eagers may have not replaced the transmission fluids when they were suppose to (yet still charged me for it). Im not certain on that (so wont say which dealer) but to have anything but good looking oil come out after a few of thousand kays since the service were it was suppose to have been replaced makes me wonder.....

[Hunters]

Hi All,

I am looking at buying a ML 3.2 GLXR triton in an auto...... just want some opinions between it and the manual...... can someone shed some light for me on the pro's and cons....... keep in mind i go camping with the family and on the occasion go out wheeling with friends and possible tow some one out of a hole....... sometime hit the beach...... any advice would be great...... i currently have the GLX in manual......

[Barney2803]

Well I love my auto. I had a manual navara before the ML and although it was fun, I'm firstly to lazy and hate having to keep changing gears and secondly, I'm usually on the phone all day and a manual would just make it that much harder.

Also, I do the occasional wheeling, in mud mainly, I also tow a 18ft dual axle caravan when we go away and for ski trips I tow a 2T inboard ski boat. Mine goes really well, mind you it has a Bolt-on LPG system to give it more power and that it does!

I love my auto.

[snowman]

ALL ML triton (4 speed) auto owners.

I am after feedback from any 4 speed owners who may have had a failure of their gearbox.

I understand not all people wish to post in public so please PM me with your gearbox issues. I would actually prefer PM's.

Those 5 speed owners with fluid spills need not apply. however if you have had internal breakages, particularly if you may have 'upgraded' your auto (both 4 speed and 5 speed), please PM me or post.

[Quinny]

What's going on Snow ? Broken something - I've had no problems with mine ...

[Duck]

No Issues with mine 07 GLS ML. Good luck

ALL ML triton (4 speed) auto owners.

I am after feedback from any 4 speed owners who may have had a failure of their gearbox.

I understand not all people wish to post in public so please PM me with your gearbox issues. I would actually prefer PM's.

Those 5 speed owners with fluid spills need not apply. however if you have had internal breakages, particularly if you may have 'upgraded' your auto (both 4 speed and 5 speed), please PM me or post.

[fridgie]

Pretty sure Diablo had issues with his.....

Will ask him

[dino35]

I have an ML GLXR Olympic that I have had from new 2008 It has just clicked over 210000k's and the Auto has just sh#$%^t itself, started with locking up when stopped and then clunking and driving OK for a couple of days, I took it my Mechanic to check fault codes and then it got worst and started rattling real loud.
I now have a rebuild to get done and have cheapest quote at $4.5k complete fitted.

My ute was MRT Eccutec enhanced at 140k and this really got it flying especially from standing it would easily smoke up the 165/70.17 Cooper st's in the dry and I have dragged a ton race trailer all over the country, used it as a shooting platform in some pretty rough terrain, I guess what I am trying to say is It has not had a soft life.

Should I have expected more life from this Transmission? I don't know but it is the first thing that has failed in 5 years and 210000k's of miss treatment.

I think I can live with that.

I am keeping it as I have yet to find anything that will equal it. including the new model.

[dino35]

All fixed up now
Had a re build.

$3850 picked up and delivered back.

Driving it is different the first to second change is rough now when driving normally and when I stamp on it, it seems to hang for ages before engaging second, I know these have a (learning computer) or whatever so I will give it a couple of weeks and if no change its going back.

[Crash486]

I hope it works out for you and smooths out.

[4wd26]

Funny you say that about first gear- that is the propblem I'm experiencing.

hard to know if that is a standard feature of the auto, so the service manager wanted to test out a few other ML tritons with the 4 speed for comparison before doing something with mine

was it fixed at mitsubishi or a auto mob?

[har05l]

Easy fix would be get a manual you lazy bastards

[snowman]

Driving it is different the first to second change is rough now when driving normally and when I stamp on it, it seems to hang for ages before engaging second, I know these have a (learning computer) or whatever so I will give it a couple of weeks and if no change its going back.

keep us posted on this dino.

i had mine repaired and the first to second change is woeful as it hangs and hangs especially if not on very light or heavy throttle (so lets call it mid to higher throttle)

also my second to third is very bad as it over-revs between gears.

[hvac guy]

Anybody else have dirty fluid before 45k

[westoz]

Ok we've just got back from the Vic trip. I had two issues on the steepest hills.

1st issue: on steep decents I'd switch across to 1st in L4lc and start the decent. At 2500rpm it would automatically change to 2nd where it would run on with little engine breaking



2nd Issue: we had a quite steep greasy climb that went up in three stages. It was rutted and had several ledge step ups. On the third climb it 1st L4lc it would get to the ledge and just stop. There was no wheel spin it's just like the torque converter was slipping with zero power going to the wheels.

Is there a way to keep the transmission locked in 1st and stop it auto changing into 2nd when it hits 2500rpm ?

What's the go with the climbing issue. Is that a transmission fault ?

I need to get this sorted as these two issues have taken a lot of confidence out of wheeling this vehicle in those situations.

Can i back this thread up half a page or so - i've been searching for hours and I keep hearing conflicting reports on whether or not the MN 5 speed auto can hold gears in sports / tiptronic mode. I do a lot of beach driving and the up change would be a serious annoyance. Some people say they can rev it / redline it as hard as they like and it won't change up, others are reporting similar to the above scenario ie that it will jump to the next gear. Some people say it jumps at redline, others at 2500 rpm. FYI the toyota 5 speed tiptronic autos won't change up - they hold gears at redline forever if you let em - effectively giving you full manual control.

I spoke to rodney at wholesale automatics and he told me that Toyota 5 speeds hold gears (already knew that), tritons up change at 3400, Navaras at 2500. Also spoke to a guy that delivers driver training to our work and they use tritons for the advanced 4wd course - he reckons one of theirs does it and one doesn't! One guy (on here i think) wrote that it won't change up in RWD or AWD, but it will change up once you lock the centre diff - this might explain the discrepancy in stories. Can anyone with a 5 speed auto MN confirm the shift behaviour?

[hec]

MY13 glx 4 speed tiptronic holds indefinitely. But will be in 1st after you stop (at which point you need to bump it up thru or down the gears) Pretty good box.

[Footer]

Any of the sports/tiptronic boxes work like this:

If you put it from drive to sport and do not change gears is will still change on its own. If you put it is sport and make it change gears then it will hold the gear you select.

This is designed so that if you accidentally knock the gear stick it will just change gears as normal.

[westoz]

thanks hec - does it stay in gear no matter the transfer box position - ie. RWD / AWD and 4WD?

footer that's mostly right - the issue with many autos though is they don't stay in gear - this is a particular problem when trying to crawl downhill in first - revs rise, the car jumps into second by itself and off you go!.....

[hec]

Westoz - im yet to check but certain it would react the same