My transmission recently bit the dust. No drive, no reverse. My pride and joy sits sadly in my driveway. Anyhow, I was wondering if this has happened to any other 3rd gens yet. It's a 91 with an AT. If this has happened to you, would you suggest buying a rebuild kit and bringing it to a tranny shoop or buying a used one to have it replaced?

Thanks for all your help...

 

If you have alternate transportation and can afford some serious downtime, why don't you swap in a manual tranny? That one mod would make your car faster than pretty much anything you can do it with an autotragic.

 

it's tough to find a low mileage used tranny. i would go to a reputable trans shop and have them rebuild it, and give you a warranty on it. our trannies go for anywhere btween 1700-3000 to rebuild. and dont buy a rebuild kit and bring it to a tranny shop. thats like bringing hamburgers to mc donald's.

 

I would second motion the tranny swap, having own and driven an auto before, the failure rate for a rebuild is quite high, and at 1,200 per rebuild (prices varies), it's going to start to cost more than the value of the car itself. From my own example, I got my red 91 SE at 94k miles, with a freshly rebuilt tranny, at 106k (4 oil change later), the tranny bit the dust. You don't have to take my word for it though, ask around, and you will see.

 

This sounds like my problem of earlier this summer -- lost all forward/reverse, tranny sounded like it suddenly went into neutral.
I found a used tranny from 'org user "UsedParts" in Portland, Maine and swapped it in.
The probable culprit is that the splines in your torque converter got stripped. You can purchase a new torque converter at Autozone for ~140 plus core charge, put it in, and flush the tranny, and probably get away with it.

I was quoted $2,600 at a re-build shop and there's no way I would have put that kind of money into my car.

 

That's what happened to me. I said screw that and begin looking at other cars. This is was third replacement tranny so I figure that I shouldn't spend a dime more in this car as I have exceeded it's total value in trannies plus I wanted something lighter and easier to turbo.

 

My 91 SE's trans started goin last fall. I waited till February to get a rebuild. I found a really good trans shop out here in Santa Ana, CA that did it for $2,100. He went thru the whole thing replacing: rebuild kit, new planetary gear, new solenoids, new Nissan mounts, he even firmed out the shifting by drilling out a feeder hole in the valve body which brings up fluid pressure. It came with a 2 year 24,000 mile warranty. He assured me that this would be the last transmission this car would ever need.

I didn't think twice about spending this kind of money on my car. My car had 217,000 miles when I had this done. The engine still runs like new, no leaks, uses no oil. The trans shop owner even commented on the cars condition. What other car could I buy for the same amount of money? I bought it Feb. 04 from a college/school teacher.

 

my '93 GXE auto bit the dust back in '02 had the tranny rebuilt which only lasted me 6 months and then it bit the dust again so then i went with a used tranny from a '94 which i was told that it had 80k on it well that one last me 2 months and then i just swapped a 5-spd in it in '04 and hasn't given me anymore problems. mind u i did the swap myself and it costed me only about $240 for all the parts. but havin' to do a rebuild on an auto is very expensive and its not that reliable anymore cuz its not gonna last that long at all.

 

I wonder what it is about shady auto rebuilders. Is it THAT hard to rebuild a tranny so it will last?

 

Speaking of shady auto rebuilders.. All I know is everytime my auto tranny kept giving up on me after my rebuild under warrenty, I would find lunch left overs under the seats. Eventually after about 3 tranny failures in one month, I came down hard on them. Ran a decent 25K ever since, and no problems. I guess they were hangin out with my transmission and taken it easy the first few times. I wouldn't be surprised to find a turkey sandwich in the torque converter, or maybe some crackers in the gear set.

 

Thanks for all your help...I'm going to see if I can do a swap. Does anyone know a good place to get it done in MA? Where is a good place to look for (local) used trannys?

 

Check www.car-part.com I believe you can search by state or region.

 

 

I called two local mechanics and they told me it would be cheaper to get it rebuilt. They also said the swap was a huge process. Is that true? I am working on a budget here although the 5-spd conversion would be sweet. Thanks for all your help.

 

No it wouldnt be cheaper to get it rebuilt.. rebuilt auto transmissions are EXPENSIVE and as unreliable as can be afterwards. I honestly havent ever heard of anyone with good experiences with a rebuilt auto tranny...

Although I cant blame them for trying to pursuade you from swapping. It's not exactly a textbook procedure, and I can imagine they probably dont wanna do 'custom' work like that. If I were you I'd try to find a local Maxima guy willing to do the swap with/for you

 

Thats because they think your car is an everyday autotragic POS and there aren't any manual trannies available for it. They probably think they would have to swap it off an "Accord" or something. If you tell them there was a VLSD available for the 92-94 models, they wouldn't believe you. That is the general idea of our cars in your everyday mechanics mind. And most mechanic places don't really do stuff like that. They could make much more money off of a straight forward procedure then a custom, cause it's alot faster so they can do 2 jobs in the time it takes to do one custom, in this case anyway. You really should keep lookin though. Someone will be willing to do it. Good luck.

 

Thanks a lot guys. I'm going to start another thread. Maybe I will find a local one on here.

 

FWIW, I just got mine rebuilt at a local shop for ~$1400. All new soft parts, planetary, steels, bands, solenoid pack, and valve body rebuild. 2 year, 24k mile warranty. Seems great (so far). The tranny WAS slipping out of drive back into neutral, and delayed shift into drive or reverse. Maybe I was lucky and caught the problems early. 92SE with 109k miles.

 

I was quoted 1500-2000, 1 year warranty from the best local shop. I'm thinking it will be almost as much to swap it...at least I'd have some fun driving it.

 

I have 200k on my maxima, with a trailer hitch, I'm thinking the tranny musta been rebuilt as my tranny is fine.. of course a manual would be even better. I dont' know what the previous owner towed, but I tow a motorcycle occasionally. works pretty good. I'm not flooring it of course. I only paid $250 for the car.. now i gotta find out why the engine cut out on my last night though. Doh.