l2111

I reused the old one. You have to be careful because it is thin and will move on you. I bought one just in case but had no problems using it again.

loslobos

good info. thx

yermak99

When installing the side cover the RTV silicone is to be used. Question: Where it can be purchased and what is its name / part number / type?

Thanks.

Misplaced

Hello All, great forum. I am having all the symptoms when the transmission gets hot, I bought this car one month ago it's a 2005 with 104,000 as a second commuter car, so I have no idea how long this problem has been going on. The trans fluid is very dark. What would you guys recommend? I have worked on many cars over the years and think I would be comfortable pulling and replacing the VB, but have people been running into this problem ruining the transmission as well? Any advantages to the new Nissan part vs. the other suppliers? I am much more inclined to go with a VB swap over the shift kit.
Anyone ever tried Sunbelt rebuilt units with improved internals? Is there some sort of thread lists the places and directions to go? I have read all 18 pages of this thread and am hopeful but completely confused!

l2111

The one I used was RTV. It was blue with a temp range up to 500 degrees

Trainer

I know it has only been two days and about 75 miles, but after having the new valve body from the dealership installed, my car has changed from night to day. Its shifting smoothly almost to a point where I dont know if it is or not. I hope this continues for the life of the car, only issue I have is getting over the nervousness of the hard shifting coming back. I still get anxious everytime I downshift or upshift in the lower gears, waiting for it to bang into gear. I want to give this fix a couple months and a few thousand miles before I fully endorse this fix, but for others on the fence, I think it is well worth the try.

yermak99

l2111,
Thank you very much for the info. Just to be sure, is this the one?
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=526749_0_0_

Misplaced

Hey Trainer, how many miles do you have on your car, what were the symptoms exactly?

Trainer

Same symptoms that everyone has been having, banging into the lower gears, 2-3, 3-2 and so on. Only would happen after the car has warmed up. It would also not want to go into gear and rev real high before slamming into the gear.

I cant be any more happier with the way the car is acting right now after installing the new vb.

By the way, I have 124,800 miles on my car, but symptoms started to appear I would say around 115,000

Costee

That was me on 21 May. I had pulled the code P0780, and after consulting the service manual, it had that most of the components in the VB had malfunctioned. It was either the VB was rebuilt or changed. I opted for change. A friend of mine right there in the US got the VB and had it shipped to me. In the interim, I didn't drive the car except twice when I took it round the neighbourhood because I wanted to drain/refill the tranny. This was late in May and second week in June. I got the Vb yesterday, and today my mechanic and myself had it fixed, taking us some three hours. We did another refill. Well, I'm elated because it turned out fine. No more downshift and reverse jerks. My tranny is still so good, the change in gears is seamless and hardly perceptible.

athlon omega

iTrader: (4)

My problem ended up being a combination of the valve body being bad as well as the transmission computer being bad. The car has the VBX valve body in it now, but I still get those occasional jerks from 3 to 2. The transgo kit I had on the initial valve body definitely took care of the shift problem. I had complained to Cottman that the improper shifts are still there, but they keep saying they don't experience the problems when they test drive it. Financially, I'm not in the situation where I can buy another car. I've already spent around $3700 and a big headache trying to get this car to shift right all the time. I'm going to first see if my friends at Mech Tech in Baton Rouge can flash the cars transmission computer for me to see if the shifting issue resolves. If not, I'll get the transgo shift kit installed. This VBX valve body already has the Sonnax parts. I've basically been dealing with this transmission problem off and on for about a year now. I'm also going to reconnect the transmission cooler that I temporarily disconnected when Cottman thought it was contributing to the problem. Phew! I'm still finishing up my residency training, but my ideal car would be a GTR. I wasn't planning on buying another car till then; if I do, I'll get an Infinite G37 coupe to tide me over.

ElTipico

Man are my glas I found this, a lot of good info. I wasn't sure what was wrong with my car, but now I kno. The question now is to do it myself or not.

Costee

So what's wrong with it? Let's hear it.

Misplaced

Thanks. my car has zero symptoms after I did a drain and fill. I know it won't last, but for now I'm going with it. If/when the shift problems return, I'm going with the Nissan Valve body most likely.

mysterybike

iTrader: (1)

Hi Guys,

I now have put approximately 3,500 miles on my max since replacing the valve body a month ago. I am extremely happy to say it is still performing flawlessly. To those that are on the fence...just do it! You'll be very happy you did. I drove my max for nearly 20,000 miles with severe shifting problems and was worried that I had caused other damage to the transmission. While I wouldn't suggest waiting to the swap as it could cause further damage, I am happy to say the new valve body cleared everything up for me.

Costee

Heartening. And to think that your VB already had some 2,500 miles on it before you installed it to your Max.

Hornnumb

Well I tried the kit in mine and I guess the trans guy screwed it up, now you have to manually shift it. I went ahead and got the VB form nissan for $792 and we will see what happens now

Costee

Yeah, be sure to keep us posted.

LiquidIce

iTrader: (1)

$792? Can you tell me where you pricematched that to? I am about to go buy one and would like to pay less than $850 if possible.. Thanks

Picked up the RTV gasket maker stuff last night.. prepping to do this to my whip soon.

Hornnumb

I purchased it at Baytown Nissan 281-421-7696, I am a used car dealer so we get 25% off list. Michael

Costee

Guys, there's this TSB on our tranny, NTB11-035 of April 7, 2011. At least it points to the VB as a principal culprit in shift issues.

LiquidIce

iTrader: (1)

Gotta love how they call this a TSB and not defect/recall.. kind of a joke that Nissan put this many faulty parts into this car. Makes me sad I used to love nissan but between valve-body/tranny issues and timing chain and tensioners.. they had to cut corners and screw us all.. I think the valve body issue is going to affect more than just 04-06 maximas.. I heard murano's may have the same part no?

Alickovic1

ok so i just sent my car friday to aamco to a complete rebuild torque converter everything,
what happaned was i bought my car at 159k miles from an auction in chicago wich they did not let me dad drive before he bought, it was like a blind auction or something dunno w/e. anyway had the car for 3k miles and my dumbass decides to race this nice dodge challenger on the road well i won but after that my engine was making a bad ticking noise, and it was like that for a week or two, afterwards my car shutdown in the middle of the highway, the mechanic said it was a piston bearing or something and said might have messed up the shaft or cams or something w.e dunno but i got a another engine with 69 k on it has a 3yr parts and labour warranty. had some ****ing mexicans put it in, and everyone saiis they did a good job, but what happens 3 miles down the road after i get it back......... the transmission just looses it all of a sudden and feels lie it dropped into neutral......no matter what i did wouldnt go back into gear.... and when i turn it off and let it cool down it worked again..... but only for a little while, i tried changing the fluids and that only helped for another 3 miles....... i tried checking the filter but i took the front part of the transmission off im sure it was the case for the valve body, and i didnt see any metals shavings or anything but my dad told me thats where the filter was but i couldnt find ****......so i just closed it back up put some sealant on there and left it like that and sent it to aamco....... aamco said it needs a new torque converter cause there were mass metal shavings inside the transmission from the torque converter and they also said it was because of some electronic part in the transmission wasnt acting right or something so the torque converter wasnt getting enough fluid i guess, and he said he's buying the master rebuild kit with kevlar lining for the clutch or something, new torque converter and he's puting in a new break caliper for me 3100 with 2 year warranty, and this price was after him giving me a 10% discount for working for a used car dealership... anyone think this is fair?

oh also would like to know wich performed best the level 10 rebuild, the revgo kit, or the new vb?

LiquidIce

iTrader: (1)

No one will offer you help here or advice when your insulting ethnic races and can't formulate a sentence. Please read the rules of the forum. You bought a Maxima blind with 159K, there is no telling what could be wrong with it at this point. Did you get a carfax to see what service was done? If it had been in accidents etc? I don't know about the fairness in price of the torque converter and break caliper combo. I would do some research before posting and come back with solid thoughts and details (possibly pictures) or videos of your issues. Maybe someone will be able to better help you out.

LiquidIce

iTrader: (1)

Going to buy the updated Valve Body today 31705-8Y00A.. I hope they price match low enough to save me some cash..

Costee

Hey, you never reported back to us whether your car had codes after the scan. Or you didn't do the scan?

LiquidIce

iTrader: (1)

No codes but I am experiencing same issues as everyone else with shifting. I have the older valve body confirmed. Noticing more issues where my car won't come out of gear.. I'll be driving at speeds where it shifts from 2-3 and 3-2 in traffic and when slowing down it won't downshift to 1st gear.. stays in 2nd gear and car kinda jerks periodically when rpm's go up above 2800

BoKnows

Had the shift problem for over a year, been trying to keep trips with it to a mile or 2. After much debating, I finally took the plunge and went with Level10 on Monday. Dropped it off at 11am and it was ready when I got back at 5pm. Drove about 300 miles so far and shifts like new.
Had codes P0780, P0735, P0797, P0744.

Apollos2

iTrader: (16)

What is Level10? A rebuilt tranny?

BoKnows

They are a transmission shop who modifies the valve body to eliminate the problem.

bizzurk31

Thanks for the post. It was very helpful

Vinnietbird

We JUST got home from having the shift kit installed in our '04 Maxima. It actually seems to have fixed the bang-shift issue we were having, and the highway mileage is from 17 to 31 mpg. Nice. My wife said it was awesome all the way home (about an hour trip). I got the shift kit from a company in Dallas. I'm in Oklahoma so I first called a place in Oklahoma City and they quoted me $162.00. I tried the Dallas company and it was $82.00. Much better, and , it was at my house the next day. I took the kit and the fluid to the shop and they did all the work, plus replacing the gasket and a couple of other valve body seals for $174.00 in and out. I can't ask for much better than that. I'm a Thunderbird guy, but I have to say, this forum has been great, and it may have saved the Max.

Vinnietbird

By the way.........Apparently when they installed the shift kit, they disconnected the battery. Not a big deal, then I find out that the fuel gauge needle is BELOW the needle stop. I did some searching, and found a post that stated two block magnets from Lowes worked well moving the needle back to it's place. They weren't strong enough, so, I stuck them to the magnet on the bottom of one of my magnetic bowls I use to hold fasteners while i do my car work. Anyway, that was strong enough to move the needle back. Good idea, and something I never would have though of.

tennistigger

Excellent forum. Tranny just started acting up at 155k. Vinnietbird can you post a link where you got your parts to correct this?

LiquidIce

iTrader: (1)

@tennistigger

I have the Transgo Shift kit fix never used.. I decided to go the way of a whole new valvebody. If interested PM me letting it go for $70 shipped! Hope the tranny isn't shifting too hard!

Vinnietbird

I got the kit from WIT for $86.00. It was from Dallas Texas. I got it in less than 24 hours to my door.

https://www.wittrans.com/Parts-Finde...Term=AW55-50SN

mrstone

I am experiencing hard shifts from 1-2 and 3-2, and sometimes 2-3. This mostly happens after the car is warmed up. I ordered the Level10 VB today. I plan on doing the swap myself. I'll post after it's done with the details.

mrstone

Can someone tell me what size Torx bolt this is?










Also, everyone mentions just refilling the amount of trans fluid that comes out. Would this be a good time to flush the system? My car has 85,000 miles and it's never been changed.

BadBlackMaxSL

iTrader: (1)

I just had a full flush and fill at 77,000 for $120. I did a drain and fill at 66,000 but the benefits were short lived and the fluid was dark and needed a full change a year later. The shifting is much better, very rarely do I get the bang on the downshift from 3-2.

xxzimmer

Its a T40. I did the transgo kit to my girlfriends car this weekend. It shifts perfectly now. If anyone is in the Houston area and wants me to do it for them I can do it in a day and CHEAP.