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I thought this would be worth sharing though I highly doubt I am the first.
Car details:
- Bought my 2022 JCW (8sp auto) with 19.7k miles on it in January (certified pre-owned from Austin Mini)
- Did SCCA Track Night in America in May completely stock minus 200TW sticky tires
- Did another TNiA in June with an upgraded rear sway bar, Milltek exhaust, and Dinantronics Sport in Race mode. During one of the sessions with the trans shifting itself I did get a transmission temp warning which cleared after a few mins stopped in grid. It didn't recur again as I switched to manual shifting - there was part of the track where it would hunt between 2nd and 3rd in auto mode which I think contributed to the temps rising.
Knowing I was getting ready to take the car on a 2600 mile roadtrip, I flushed the ATF (changed to Redline) and sent a sample of the used fluid to Blackstone. Below is the analysis at 21,547 miles.
Here's the text summary for ease of reading:
There's a good deal of assembly and break-in material in the mix, and that's fine. The elements in bold should wash out and stabilize after another few oil changes. We doubt they indicate signs of poor wear or mechanical trouble. For comparison, universal averages show typical results from the Aisin 8-speed automatic tranny, and those are based on a ~83,800-mile interval. The viscosity of the ATF was a touch thin. We didn't find any water or coolant in the sample. Insolubles (0.1%) were right at the allowable limit.
Shoot for 30K - 40k miles on this next fill
The 2600 mil trip went fine, including several hundred miles of hard driving on and around the Tail of the Dragon (pic below because why not?) and towing a 4'x8' trailer with tires and tools from TX to TN and back. No transmission temp warnings or other concerns. At one point the trans got up to 249* (Bimmerlink + OBD2 dongle) after a particularly spicy run down the Tail. While I have no regrets on spending the time and money to flush the fluid, it's debatable on whether or not it actually needed it. I'm certainly not buying into the "lifetime" fluid label and will likely aim for the interval Blackstone recommends. IfI continue to track the car with any kind of regularity, I'll shoot for the lower end of the range.
