My Freestyle's engine puts its power to the wheels via a CVT Transmission. CVT stands for "Continuously Variable Transmission" so the oft-said phrase " CVT transmission" is a bit like saying "RAM memory", or "you only YOLO once".
Thanks Mitsubishi motors |
CVTs require more maintenance than fixed-gear transmissions, the unit in the Freestyle being notoriously finicky. One key, required maintenance task is replacing the transmission fluid with Ford's special formulation harvested from unicorn gallbladders mixed with snipe tears, all for a modest $17 a quart. I found some fluid from Valvoline at half the price that's supposed to be the same, so I'm going to go with that for my fluid change. The back of the bottle says that this fluid interchanges with Ford's, so it must be alright. At the same time, there's a filter that needs to be replaced, so I'll do that too.
Actually there's two filters in this unit. A filter in the sump and "high pressure" filter in the case where the fluid heads over to the radiator. The standard service calls for replacing the high pressure filter and fluid every 60K. The "low" pressure unit does not have a service interval, so I'm going to leave it alone.
Here's the basic steps:
- Warm-up the car
- Open drain plug, catch fluid so it can be measured
- Remove and replace filter
- Refill
- Re-assemble
Warming-up the car
Torque (Lite) readout |
Draining the Fluid
Lifted the driver's side of the car, placed a jack stand. The plug used a #6 hex tool, the hole was a filled with road crud, needed to tap the tool into place. Gave the wrench a twist, out came the Fluid into a catch pan. Note the green gasket; the kit for the new filter didn't include a new gasket for the plug. The gasket looked to be in good condition, so I wasn't too worried.
Dirty fluid draining out |
The fluid was warm, so heating the engine had the desired effect of also warming the transmission. As you can clearly see, the fluid looks well worn. The camera just doesn't do justice to showing the grimy state of what was flowing out of the transmission. Just like the brake fluid, the Transmission Fluid looks to be a long-term resident of the car. While this was happening, I was keeping a nostril open for a burnt smell. Nothing of the sort. So far so good. When it comes time to refill the transmission, I'll measure the fluid at room temperature and replace it with an equal amount of new fluid.
Accessing the Filter
From the top of the engine compartment, I removed the air intake and the filter box. There's a retainer on the the transmission cooler lines held with a 8mm bolt. That was a bit rusty, but loosened without much effort.To access the rest of the parts, off came the tire and the inner fender lining. The fender lining was held in place by those screws with plastic "expander" clips, almost like what you put in a wall to hang something heavy. The screws didn't want to come out, so I pried and broke many of them in the process. I figured I would just buy a pack from Amazon, maybe getting something a little easier to remove in case I ever need to do this again.
Supporting the transmission |
Transmission mount on the car |
Transmission mount |
Stripped bolt |
Also, take note: there's lots of oily deposits. Probably more than should be there. There was a leak at the top of the engine I fixed by replacing the cam shaft seal, but what's there doesn't look like it's from the top of the engine -- another issue I wasn't expecting. Fun times!