Nissan maxima 1997 230k miles fluid question

[atriuum0]

I have a 1997 maxima, and its rebuild tranny has been acting up a bit. The change from 1 to 2 is noticeably rougher that all the other gear changes, and in the winter I have to wait for it to warm up before the gears change normally, otherwise I will move the shifter but nothing happens. I have changed the tranny fluid every 30 k or so at local shops, but maybe someone has suggestions as to how to proceed. Is there a better fluid than others that I should use at the next change that will prolong the life of this transmission, and help it through the coming winter? I'm on Long Island, so we get some cold temps from the ocean.

thanks in advance

 

[VK56VD]

I have a 1999 Nissan Maxima and may be able to give you some useful advice. The 1 to 2 shift on the 4th gen Maxima is considered normal. Hopefully yours isn't too rough where it is considered not normal. I have tried Nissan Matic-D fluid in my Maxima, Mobil1 ATF full synthetic, and the latest fill is with Amsoil ATF full synthetic. I can tell you that Amsoil ATF is the smoothest shifting out of all. So far, I am very impressed.

What kind of fluid do the shops use? Do they do a complete flush or just a drain and refill? I suggest you buy 11 Qts. of Amsoil ATF and do two drain and refills with a couple of hundred miles in between. I also suggest changing out the fluid a bit earlier than 30k miles, assuming the shops only did drain and refill with unknown fluid and compatibility at this point.

Do go ahead and buy 11 Qts. of Amsoil ATF. You should not regret it! On my last drain and refill 5.5 Qts. came out.

If after two drain and refills with Amsoil ATF, the transmission does not smooth out, I suggest running Auto-RX through the transmission, pan drop, clean the magnets and clean the filter screen before exchanging all the fluid to Amsoil ATF full synthetic.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

 

[Donald]

With expensive ATFs like Amsoil the best solution is a cooler line flush which you can do yourself. You will get a near total replacement of the fluid, something that would take 4 or 5 drain and refills to accomplish. The Amsoil website also says how to do a cooler line flush.

I would look up on the Amsoil website as to how many quarts you need, order 1 or 2 extra. Then do a cooler line flush. Best to drain and refill the pan (if you have a drain plug) first then immediately to the cooler line flush.

Also consider running Auto-Rx for 1K miles in the tranny before the flush.

Multiple drain and refills will exchange the fluid, but its not cost effective when dealing with expensive synthetic ATF.

I run Amsoil in every auto tranny I have, and in the Toyota Camry diff.

 

[atriuum0]

Thank you for your suggestions. What is the difference between a flush, and a drain and refill?

 

[VK56VD]

Drain and refill is simple and gets partial fluid out. A flush gets all the fluid out at once.

 

[atriuum0]

So a drain you loosen the bolts and let a bit of fluid come out, then tighten back up and refill. And flush you actually remove the pan, filter and clean everything, replace it, and then refill. Is that correct?

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: atriuum0
So a drain you loosen the bolts and let a bit of fluid come out, then tighten back up and refill. And flush you actually remove the pan, filter and clean everything, replace it, and then refill. Is that correct?


For a drain and refill, you drain the fluid from the pan either via a drain plug or by removing the pan.

For a flush you pull one of the cooler lines, point it into a bucket, start engine, run out 2 QTs, stop engine, add 2 QTs and repeat until either the fluid changes color to bright red or you have gone through the needed amount of ATF.

If you do not know when the filter was last changed and you have a felt filter, it would be a good idea to pull the pan, change the filter, clean pan and magnets and refill pan, go on to cooler line flush.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

There is a lot of fluid in your transmission that is not and will not drain down into the pan. That is why flushing it is required to replace all the fluid. All or almost all the fluid eventually goes through the cooler lines so that is the way to flush it out. Try the link below, Kestas has a nice step by step instruction on how to do this.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post1158064

All cars are different. Some of my cars I can get out almost 8 quarts on a pan drop out of 10-11 qts total. My wagon only loses about 4 qts on a pan drop and it also has 10-11 qts total. It just depends on the model of the transmission.

 

[BearZDefect]

Originally Posted By: atriuum0
I have a 1997 maxima, and its rebuild tranny has been acting up a bit. The change from 1 to 2 is noticeably rougher that all the other gear changes, and in the winter I have to wait for it to warm up before the gears change normally, otherwise I will move the shifter but nothing happens.

As Spartuss wrote, the relatively hard 1-2 shift is normal. But what do you mean by "otherwise I will move the shifter but nothing happens"?

Do you mean that when you start it in cold weather then put it in Drive or Reverse it does not engage?

 

[dnewton3]

I have a 1995 Merury Villager (Nissan Quest/Maxima drivetrain).

I have always just done the drain/fill at specified intervals. Thanks to the factory drain pan bolt, it's easy. Never run anything but inexpensive DEX/Merc type house brand tranny fluid in it. Vehicle has 168k on it now.

Recently, I added some ARX to the tranny, and life got even better. Shifts like new.

You might consider a drain/fill and some ARX; I think you'll be impressed what new fluid and some "chemical wizzardy" can do.

 

[atriuum0]

Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
Do you mean that when you start it in cold weather then put it in Drive or Reverse it does not engage?


Yes. I have to let it run for 5-10min.

Basically I've developed a habit to simply turn the car on and wait 5 minutes for it to warm up, otherwise the gears will not engage. I have no problems during the summer months; only when the temperatures are freezing, below freezing. I want to blame the tranny fluid although maybe the tranny is about to kick the bucket.

Now I see that the valve cover has a leak. So I have a bunch of things I need to get done on this puppy before winter rolls in. I've been reading the maxima.org forums for steps to get the valve cover resealed. Looks like I'm sticking with dyno after wanting to go with mob 1. A weekend or two in the garage hopefully will do it.

Thanks for the tranny flush steps, they will definitely come in handy.

 

[atriuum0]

One other thing. I need to wash everything under the hood. Can I just spray everything with a hose when the engine is cold, and let it dry in the sun, and then use the engine degreaser on the oily areas? Or is there a better way to do it.

 

[VK56VD]

I'd leave it alone. Too many sensors under the hood to be spraying water on.

 

[BearZDefect]

Originally Posted By: atriuum0
Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
Do you mean that when you start it in cold weather then put it in Drive or Reverse it does not engage?


Yes. I have to let it run for 5-10min.

Basically I've developed a habit to simply turn the car on and wait 5 minutes for it to warm up, otherwise the gears will not engage. I have no problems during the summer months; only when the temperatures are freezing, below freezing. I want to blame the tranny fluid although maybe the tranny is about to kick the bucket.

That does not sound good to me. Possible flaw in the rebuild? Internal seal problem?

Someone with more experience and knowledge about conventional automatic transmissions will give you a better answer.