[Stu of Cheltenham]

My 2018 CVT EC (36K miles on the clock) is due it's 4th year service. I started by trying to book through the website of my local Mitsubishi Garage (Wessex Garages Gloucester). I had 2 options Major Service for £309 or Minor Service for £229. I didn't really have a clue which service was due so I decided to give them a call...

"ooh it's a big one." they said, £900!!!

She must have sensed the astonishment in my gasp, so she asked me if I wanted to look at the cost of a service plan, "Yes" I replied. To my surprise £479.26 for the next 3 services (one major and two minors), £156.28 upfront followed by 14 monthly payments. But she did tell me it would be a "Simpler" service than the £900 one quoted.

I've received the paperwork through from EMac, the supplier of the service plan which clearly states:

• Your Service Plan is tailored to suit your vehicle servicing requirement
• Protect the resale value of your vehicle with full service history, without the worry of bulk ‘on the day’ costs

I read this as - I should be serviced in line with the service schedule, get my service stamp and maintain my warranty.

So what's going on with the pricing structure? My guess is that the £900 is for a 4 year/48K service, which may include some gearbox fluid changes? My Service book doesn't even list the EC as a model so I can't be sure of the schedule, but these tend to be more on a mileage basis and at 36K I doubt I've reached that yet. I tend to service my own cars when they're out of warranty so I'm not completely naive to it all, so I can't believe there's £900 worth of work when they can give me a major service on plan for C£200.

And what's the difference between the service I'm getting on plan vs the prices quoted on the website?

I find it all very confusing, interested to hear what other people have been charged at the 4yr/48K service?

 

[michaelbbwalker]

this is interesting as I too have a 2018 eclipse cross, CVT and is due its 4 year service... i have rang a couple of mitsubishi garages (whats left of them) and have been quoted £600+!
they gave me a price breakdown, and the majority of this cost (over half) is just the 7.8l of A/T fluid... having looked online i can get the same part (mitsubshi) for less than half of what they want to charge. to me this is daylight robbery, over £300 for some oil?? i asked if i can provide my own oil to get the cost down, and they said yes this is fine - but it has to be cvtf-j4 - anyone got any recommendations as to alternatives that can be used that dont cost as much as gold??
hope i havent hijacked your thread but we both seem to be looking at the same thing...
i may enquire about the service plan myself...

 

[DibbyDibbyDJ]

If you want to be buying a new trans in a few years the sure get a cheaper oil.

The trans is a JATCO CVT8 and a quick google search will tell you how many issues these thing have, and most of them are down to inferior quality oil being used.

Dont skimp on the oil. it just isnt worth it.

 

[Stu of Cheltenham]

Intersting info guys. As I say, my service book doesn't have the EC listed as a model but for the models it does have listed it suggests transmission oils are due at the 50K miles mark. I won't hit that during my warranty period. I've not worked on a CVT before so I might skip trying to do it myself, but I'll definitely get my local trusted garage to do the work and stump up for the right oil. Other than that I'll leave the general servicing to the service plan as I'm not sure even my local garage would be able to match those prices.

 

[michaelbbwalker]

can we say we dont want the CVT oil done? I was looking at something last night regarding the service intervals and it said something like, 60k miles or 5 years (i forget exactly) - this will be the 4 year service, but its only done about 20k miles...
i take your point DibbyDibbyDJ about not skimping on the oil, I meant i have actually found the same oil (mitsubishi branded) at less than half the price that mitsubishi want to charge as part of the service - they said i could provide my own oil as long as it was CVTF-J4 or something like that...

 

[Stu of Cheltenham]

can we say we dont want the CVT oil done? I was looking at something last night regarding the service intervals and it said something like, 60k miles or 5 years (i forget exactly) - this will be the 4 year service, but its only done about 20k miles...
i take your point DibbyDibbyDJ about not skimping on the oil, I meant i have actually found the same oil (mitsubishi branded) at less than half the price that mitsubishi want to charge as part of the service - they said i could provide my own oil as long as it was CVTF-J4 or something like that...

They should be willing to service without the CVT oil. I can't imagine my service plan service includes it at the cost quoted. I will be interested to argue the point with EMaC when the time comes that their paperwork states "Your Service Plan is tailored to suit your vehicle servicing requirement", if a CVT oil change is in the service schedule then by their own definition shouldn't this be included? I losing battle to have probably but a conversation worth having none-the-less.

 

[David]

Hi Guys,

I'm a new forum member but I registered as I have also just had the shock of the 4th Service cost quotation. I was quoted £724 a couple of weeks ago and that set me looking to find out exactly what was going to be done for that money. The Eclipse Cross is the first new car i have ever bought and I have normally maintained all of my own cars and Landrovers even to the extent of some fairly major rebuilds and so I really want to know what I'm paying for and not just get told "a service". As others have said a lot of the cost is the stupidly expensive CVT fluid which is more expensive some malt whiskies! And the mad idea that it gets flushed through twice with the first lot getting discarded. That is neither environmentally nor economically sensible and I doubt that most dealers will do it that way.

So after some digging and studying the very useful manuals of the Russian website - thanks for that link - I see that the recommendation of for a CVT fluid change at 60k miles. My car has done only 27K so unless the fluid deteriorates with age alone, I don't see that it would need changed just due to its age. The service plan doesn't mark it as a 4th Service item specifically in the same way that it does for brake fluid. A local dealer seems to agree and has said that they can do the 4th service without changing the fluid unless they see some good reason to do so. As it is clean and my transmission ECU has zero on the deterioration counter and seem to reckon its entire run time is 1640 hours and that all of that has been at a temperature below 50C I'm hopeful they will do the sensible thing and leave it alone. It goes in tomorrow so we'll see.

Having trashed a JCB axle some years ago by putting the wrong oil in, i am not one to skimp on the oil quality, or to skip changes but I do think in this case my CVT will be perfectly happy for a lot more years with its current oil. - unless someone can tell me that it absorbs water or something - but Mitsubishi are not showing it as defintely having to be changed at 4 years - I think dealers are just equating that with 60k miles.

 

[David]

If you want to be buying a new trans in a few years the sure get a cheaper oil.

The trans is a JATCO CVT8 and a quick google search will tell you how many issues these thing have, and most of them are down to inferior quality oil being used.

Dont skimp on the oil. it just isnt worth it.

I agree on using decent oil, but were the failures not in Nissan's though with a different model of CVT box? I have been trying to suss out exactly what is in the Eclipse and seemed to be seeing something about a 017e. Or at least I'm hoping its not the same one...😅

 

[DibbyDibbyDJ]

I agree on using decent oil, but were the failures not in Nissan's though with a different model of CVT box? I have been trying to suss out exactly what is in the Eclipse and seemed to be seeing something about a 017e. Or at least I'm hoping its not the same one...😅

All Mitsu CVT are made by the same manufacturer as the nissan box, JATCO, and is known by MM as the CVT8. This box is very reliable, but sadly has a reputation of failures. Oil is the biggest cause of failure, whether it is by unknowledgeable mechanics topping it up or changing it during service with wrong product, or by not adhering to schedule.

The procedure for changing this oil is to acheive normal running temperature, drain oil, refill with 3.5 litres, then run again to circulate thoruoughly and then repeat. If oil is still miscoloured after this, then procedure will be repeated until clean.

If you oil still looks bluey green, then you are ok, but if it gets darker then it is time to change.

In the vehicles CVT ECU is a data parameter , oil degredation counter. this can only be accessed using professional level scantools ( not just dealer ) and its figure must be reset after oil replacement. Its figure can also be used as an indication of condition, but unless you work on these a lot then it can be hard to interpret what is good or not.

 

[Stu of Cheltenham]

I think for me I'll stick with my service plan and when I hit the mileage I'll get a couple of quotes for the gearbox work. I had a quick google and I've got a couple of Auto Transmission specialists near me (Gloucester & Bristol), I'll see if they can offer me a reasonable price. I have to say the "proper" 4yr service cost was a shock and nothing that had come up on my research when looking to buy the car. I never really wanted a CVT but after a spinal operation a few years ago I wanted an Auto with a higher seating position to alleviate back pain on long journeys, and it has been great in this respect. My only other gripe is the sensitivity of the 4x4 fault warning. When I bought the car they put 2 new tyres on the front, and from what the dealership told me this now causes the 4x4 fault warning to come on when I'm doing around 70mph up an incline. The resolution was to put new tyres on back but they still had loads of tread so I decided to put up with it until it actually needs some tyres then I'll change all 4 at the same time and with the same brand. But I digress......

 

[David]

Thanks for clarification DibbyDibby. I see now that the Jatco CVT08 is a range of CVTs and there are various models in the 08 range. One of them seems to be called JF016e which also seems to be designated as W1CJC which is the 4WD version in my Eclipse. (and there are two sub type of that!)

The CVTz50 app showed me a few things but the Deterioration was 0 which is maybe plausible if it only sets a point if the temp gets above 90C but I can't be certain that bit was really working unless it starts to show a reading. The CVT fluid is still very clean on the dipstick and it has had a very easy life and has never been thrashed so I'm comfortable with that. It can get done at 50k to clear out any wear debris.

One way or another, it went for a Dealer service today and they agreed that it didn't need the CVT fluid changed based on the 27k mileage and whatever else they were able to see and stamped the book so I'm good till the warranty is out. I'll keep an eye on it an definitely do it at 50k. £390 - about £65 in parts and £263 labour and then the VAT. Still quite an expensive service.

 

[DibbyDibbyDJ]

I replace oil as part of a 90000km service yesterday Oil was good colour, and counter was at zero. Zero is not unusual. I have also seen 4 at 90000km, so you get to wondering if it is working, but it is.

65000 at 36000km is the worst i have seen. That was an ex-rental car. Still operated ok, but fluid was dark.

 

[Red cross]

Heads up, I got an email back from Mitsubishi concerning the transmission oil and dif oil and confirmed that the fluids are mile related and not age related. So as my four year old has only 14000 miles at the 4th service and not 50 to 60000 I won't be having the oils changed.

Thank you for your enquiry.

I can confirm there is not an age limit, the correct servicing intervals for the automatic transmissions fluid is every 50,000 miles.

Regards,

Kasey

Customer Service Team

Customer Support Mitsubishi Motors in the UK I.M. MAPS Ltd Unit 103, 104 and 105 Watermoor Point, Watermoor Road Cirencester Gloucestershire GL7 1LF Tel: +44 1285 655777
	www.mitsubishi-motors.co.uk P Don't print this e-mail unless you really have to.

 

[Col.TED]

Heads up, I got an email back from Mitsubishi concerning the transmission oil and dif oil and confirmed that the fluids are mile related and not age related. So as my four year old has only 14000 miles at the 4th service and not 50 to 60000 I won't be having the oils changed.

Thank you for your enquiry.

I can confirm there is not an age limit, the correct servicing intervals for the automatic transmissions fluid is every 50,000 miles.

Regards,

Kasey

Customer Service Team

Customer Support Mitsubishi Motors in the UK I.M. MAPS Ltd Unit 103, 104 and 105 Watermoor Point, Watermoor Road Cirencester Gloucestershire GL7 1LF Tel: +44 1285 655777
	www.mitsubishi-motors.co.uk P Don't print this e-mail unless you really have to.

Thank you for the clarification as it has been bothering me quite a while that the service plan on my dealership has missed the 30k transmission oil change based on the manual. My current odometer is at 42K now. Knowing 50k was the actual recommended makes more sense to me.