HELP!. It may benefit from a transmission flush and service

It may benefit from a transmission flush and service.

Sounds like your gearbox is on the way out.It would cost more to fix it than your car is worth.Reconditioning an auto box could cost as much as 4-5k.

Since when have VTNZ been automatic trans specialists!A WOF is somewhat different from servicing and diagnosis of mechanical maladies.If the trans fluid level is low enough to not be registering on the dipstick and the level persistantly goes down there is only one reason why, the thing is leaking fluid.But it sounds like the damage has been done. I hope for your sake it was the trans level stick you were looking at and not the engine oil stick and that you added the correct fluid to it.

O/P

how come your not talking all funny now like in this post.

I say again, is it the engine or the trans oil you are looking at!

Got a pic!

engine oil wont be affecting how much the transmission slips. I would check the level and condition of the transmission fluid, there is a small dipstick coming out of the bottom left hand corner of the transmission, directly under the battery tray. With the engine running and warmed up, hand brake ON, and before hand shifting the shifter through all the gears for a few seconds each, then putting the shifter back into Neutral, check the level on the transmission dipstick - it should be in between the two marks which say 'WARM' or 'HOT' on the dipstick. If the fluid is brown or darker than say blood red, and smells a bit burnt smelling (kind of hard to explain the smell, it kind of smells sweet) I would get the transmission serviced consisting of removing the transmission oil pan, replacing the filter and refilling with fresh fluid. This may very much fix the fault, however from the sounds of it this has been happening for over a year, so every time the transmission has been slipping, it's been wearing away at the friction plates inside causing further damage, if it was seen to earlier you probably could have saved the transmission.

Another point to note, are you sure it's doing it in 2nd and 3rd gears! usually Mitsi auto transmissions of that era would slip or free rev in overdrive gear (ie try driving around with O/D OFF and seeing if it does it still) - if it doesn't slip any longer then it will most likely be the overdrive hub on the end of the transmission, which is a quick 30min fix with approx $80 worth of parts. Then again it could be more serious and further internal than that.

Why on earth would you use overdrive to go "up steep as hills"!

I think they thought you meant that put overdrive on, rather than off.

overdrive is like a fourth gear, and is usually always on and the transmission will shift into overdrive above around 50km/h under light throttle load, and when warmed up fully. If you hit the switch to turn O/D off, it prevents it from shiting into overdrive and it gets the revs up in the optimum torque range for going up hills etc, or if you don't want the transmission shifting into overdrive in around town driving.

Smell the dipstick, if it smells burnt then your clutch packs are fried. If not it's a free test

put it in the scrap metal where it belongs