Hi I have a 1993 Nissan Maxima GXE with 109,000 miles. The car is fully loaded and in exellent condition. However, this week the tranny died. I guess this is a common problem. 109,000 miles to me seems quite premature. Is this the case? How many miles should one get on one of these trannys. Anyways a local tranny shop and the dealer both said it would be about $2800 for a rebuild and more for a new one. I decided to go with a new one from the local tranny shop. The price is $3438 with tax and includes a tranny cooler. What do you think of this? How is the price. Hopefully, I will now be able to get another 100,000 miles out of this car.

Thanks,

Dave

 

i think you should find another tranny shop ,most people on this board get a rebuilt tranny from $1500-2100 and have a tranny cooler put in on that one ,if you have some mechanical skill you could put the cooler in yourself,the cooler only cost about $40-50

 

New transmissions are not available for this car. Nissan has not sold them for several years. All that Nissan sells are rebuilt ones. Rebuilt ones do not last as long as new ones. With complete synthetic ATF fluid changes avery 25k, it might last 60k miles. Many transmission shops will not replace a transmission without installing a cooler, unless you don't want a warranty.
BTW, What is the warranty for the one you had put in?

 

They are doing the job as we speak. The warranty is for 12 months/12,000 miles. They are including the transmission cooler. I just called the shop back to question them about the tranny being new. They were out to lunch. I will call back. Orginally they told me it would be a brand new tranny from Nissan. Incidently the dealer also said he would put in a new tranny from Nissan. He said they came from Tenn.

Thanks,

Dave

 

I just got off the phone with the tranny shop. They are insisting that it is a brand new tranny from Nissan and not remanufacured. So what is the real story?

Thanks,

Dave

 

A number of parts managers on the Infiniti forum have said that Nissan no longer has any new transmissions in stock for these year cars. One real fast test would be to ask if you can have your old transmission after the new one is put in. I'll bet they say no, because there is a "core charge", for rebuilds, that they can only get back by returning your old one.
You can also verify availabilty of new/rebuilt Nissan transmissions by call Nissan NA, or another dealer like Courtesy or Southpoint Nissan.
A 12mo/12,000 mile warranty is standard for a rebuilt.

 

you got suckered in to paying for a new tranny thats a rebuilt ..id be upset

 

Brubenstein, actually the tranny shop said that since there is no core charge the tranny is new. He said that if I want the old tranny it is mine. In addition the local Nissan dealer also said he could get me a new tranny.

Thanks,
Dave

 

I was told also that I could've gotten a brand new one when I got mine rebuilt about 15 months ago. Paid $2K for the rebuild with 12mo/12K warrantee. I was also told that Nissan dealers usually won't sell you a new one without also selling you a new radiator because the stock tranny cooler is INSIDE the radiator! They say that any residue or bits of metal that might be in the cooler will just get pumped back into the newly rebuilt tranny. Talk about the lesser of two evils.

 

Since it seems that this is in fact a new tranny, it's a good deal. A new transmission can easily last twice as long as a rebuilt, so it can be cheaper in the long run. I really didn't think you could get them any more.
In regards to replacing radiators: Nissan issued a TSB years ago stating that if there was debris in the system, replace the radiator, because it can't be properly cleaned out. If there is any question about the heat exchanger in your radiator having crud in it, or being blocked and you don't want to buy a new one (they are expensive), have them by-pass it and only use the add on transmission cooler.

 

They are going to bypass the radiator. Thanks for all the replies, they have been very helpful.

Dave

 

I got a new tranny and Nissan just throws out the old tranny, which I got back and resold to a tranny shop for $75. Not much but better than nothing. The total came out to be about $4K with a nissan raditor ($400), $750 labor and 7.25% tax on parts. The local dealer on a $4K job reused the antifreeze and a $2 shifter bushing. Has to spend $40 labor a month later to replace the $2 bushing that they should of replaced while changing the tranny. At 80 mph the rpm is only 2300 to 2500 rpm now. Did Nissan change the gearing?

I want to change over to synthetic. The local tranny shops says just drain and add 4 qt. Is he correct or do I have to flush first?
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