I am at 26,000 miles and will need to change it out at 30,000, so
after searching high and low for something that is Hyundai/Mitsubishi SP III compatible, here it is guys and girls a whole $3.99/quart at Auto Zone. Beats buying the Hyundai stuff for $7 and change a quart. It's Castrol Import Multi Vehicle Tranny Fluid and it's a Synthetic blend to boot. Here's the link.

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/sectiongene...ntentId=7028224

Also, they sell Coastal Multi Vehicle Tranny Fluid that compatible with our SP III. It's also a Synthetic Blend and only $3.39/quart. Here's the link.

http://www.warrenunilube.com/transfluids.html

This post has been edited by Perry Manessis: Sep 18 2007, 12:25 PM

PM,

Are your driving conditions considered to be extreme? If so, 30K is right. For normal driving conditions, 105K is the change interval for tranny fluid.

If 30K, you may be able to get the fluid cheaper by the gallon. Without checking, I suppose it takes in the neighborhood of 2 or 3 gallons.

Going by the websites I'd go with Castrol as it states it is SPIII whereas coastal service says compatible with MOST hyundai products.
BTW I believe hyundai's own is also asynthetic blend.

Bob,

I think I can safely say all NY metro driving would be considered severe. Especially with all the stop and go that we do here.

Pelican,

I also would prefer the Castrol, but some people may want to save the 60 cents a quart and go with the Coastal (Warren) product, it does say suitable for Mitsubishi SP III which is the same as our Hyundai SP III. Warren is one of the biggest private label manufacturers, they make some of Walmart's Super Tech products, as well as others. You can tell by the bottom of the bottle, the code number starts with a W and there usually is a WP on the bottom also.

A big fat DUH!!! goes here.

Sorry! :)

Bob,

No problemo, buddy. How would you know which direction I travel. If my commute was anywhere else, I may have been able to get away with the standard maintenance schedule. But I'm stuck traveleing 1 hour just to go 25 miles. Guess it could be worse, I could be stuck on those Freeways in California for days. :P

i suppose that my car does not fall into the "severe driving condition" category... 35 miles to work each way, 95% is highway driving... mostly at 70-80mph and not much more than an very occasional stop & go for a couple minutes...

That sounds good to me to go with the regular maintenance schedule. 'd still be weary abouty going 100K or so miles before a tranny fluid change. Just my 2 cents.
BTW, where in NJ are you? My friends and family in NJ always are always stuck in traffic the Tpke, GSP, I-80, etc. It's funny when I go there it could take me an hour or 3. Like Forest Gump says you never know what your going to get. :)

Since your car is under warranty i would recommend Hyundai, Kia, or Mitsubishi SPIII fluid, after your car is out of warranty use whatever you want.

ANY trans fluid rated SP III is fine and in no way will cause you a warranty problem.

oh, i certainly wont be waiting for 100k miles to get it changed.. i might get it drained and filled at my 30k service (along with oil and well, thats about it really).. my car is just approaching the 30k mile mark (29,994 ATM).. next week i will make an appt to get the oil done and the drain/fill of the tranny fluid... i have an air filter, so i will replace that myself...


sounds like your family is in North Jersey.. ugh.. couldnt live up there, too crowded... i live in central Jersey, about 15 mins from Six Flags Great Adventure (actually live in Howell)... I-195 back and forth to work every day.. not nearly as much traffic the firther south you go in the state..

Yes, they live in Fort Lee, Hawthorne, and Saddle Brook. Fort Lee is ok, hate the GWB. Hawthorne & Saddle Brook is hit amd miss all the time, that I-80 or Route 4 really can be wonderful or horrible.

Drained and refilled the tranny with the Castrol Import Multi-Vehicle Synthetic Blend ATF on Saturday and put around 100 miles on the new fluid. All I have to say is WOW, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! It shifts SO much smoother and is so much more responsive now. Even my wife noticed the difference right away. I jacked up the front and put it on jack stands and drained the fluid. Once it finished draining, I did the motorcycle trick and jacked up the rear so that it tilted forward and more fluid came out. Once it stopped draining, I jacked up the right rear so it tilted towards the left front and a little more fluid came out. Once that stopped draining, I jacked up the left rear so that it tilted towards the right front. By jacking up the rear corners, I was able to drain a cup or so of used fluid that would have stayed behind. It took 5 quarts of tranny fluid so only 1.75 quarts still remained in the torque converter. The 4 cyl. only uses 6.75 quarts total. I was very surprised that the fluid I drained was quite dark, it didn't smell burnt but it was dark and there was a little gunk on the drain plug's magnet. I thought it was a bit much for only 30K miles. Hopefully the Castrol ATF will do better.

My buddy the tranny mechanic (he lent me a 15/16" socket, cause my largest socket was 22mm and it was a hair too small), said that the motorcycle trick I did was almost as good as doing a power flush through the cooling lines. He said even a power flush will not get the fluid out of the torque converter. The only way to drain the fluid out of a torque converter is to drop the tranny and then remove and drain the torque converter.

This post has been edited by Perry Manessis: Jan 14 2008, 01:56 PM

hmm interesting.

"All I have to say is WOW, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! It shifts SO much smoother and is so much more responsive now. Even my wife noticed the difference right away."

This part does sound interesting, anyone else here ever do their own drain & refill on the trans? The inconsistent shifting of the Sonata trans is the only thing that bugs me about my car. It might be worth the few bucks to try a drain & fill with this type of trans oil.

I know thats the only thing that kills me abou my car... frigging crazy **** shifting. sometimes I lighting press the gas coming out of a curve and it shoots up to 5k rpm... >.<!

I think it has to do with the friction modifier additives that they put in the import mulit-vehicle ATF. The less abbraisive the smoother the upshifting, downshifting and when you let go of the gas and then hit it again it has less shudder. Personally, the Castrol Import Multi-Vehicle ATF is head and shoulders above the Hyundai/Mitsubishi SP III.
BTW, Hyundai & Mitsubishi do not manufacture their own ATF, it is made by a Generic Private Label company in the USA. I will check the code numbers on the bottom of a Hyundai SP III bottle that I bought from the Hyundai dealer for $7 and change (what a rip off, even with my mechanic's discount).