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2012 transmission fluid? I have found so many different answers

2318 Views 11 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  atikovi
Just purchased a 2012 Passion, 58k Miles, I’m pretty big on DIY and preventive maintaince. I have have done a lot of work on many other cars. I did quite a bit of research on the transmission fluid and thought I had a few options, GL4 , Redline, Amsoil, and also I came across other forums where overseas they were using dexron 3 ATF or equivalent backwards comparable to dexron 3 (Such as a synthetic Multi vehicle ATF) as equivalent or better than the GL4 or Rredline....
Headed off to the store and couldn’t find any redline or GL4. So I opted for the Valvoline Maxlife multi vehicle Dex/Merc. It is synthetic. And I have used it before in two different Mercedes we have have, it’s one of the few fluids that meets Merc specs. I Drained the old fluid which did have a minor amount of “glitter” it was a dark amber color but did not smell like gear lube? Replaced fluid with the Valvoline & did a short test drive and all seemed well. So I guess at this point I’m just doing a little bit of double checking since I have read so many different things on the transmission fluid on this little car before I go putting a lot of miles on it. It has a valve cover leak that I’m going to tackle next. So far it’s been a fun little car. I look forward to a few Mods ?
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Either one of these manual transmission oils. This is what smart recommends, for it’s semi automatic transmission.

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Technically it's an automated manual. The only thing automatic about it is the shifting. It has no torque converter, bands, planetary gears, etc. of an automatic. It's a manual transmission with a clutch and sliding gears whose clutch pedal has been replaced by a controller so the driver doesn't have to shift it themselves.
A manual transmission uses a pedal to engage and disengage the clutch and a lever for the shifting of gears. Things are slightly different for a semi automatic gearbox that makes use of a set of actuators and a hydraulic motor in the places of a gear lever and clutch pedal, respectively. There technically called, semi automatic’s.

The only other vehicle, that still uses a semi automatic transmission. The European Fiat 500, mated to a twin air engine. It’s called the Duralogic.
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