HustleLikeM0FO

Recently my tranny (auto) on my 92 Max started slipping from 2nd to 3rd gear only.

1st to 2nd is fine and smooth. 2nd to 3rd is slips when the RPMs go over 2k. Then 3rd to 4th is smooth with no problems.

Basically, when I am driving I keep track of what gear the car is in.... when its in 2nd and I am accelerating I wait for the RPMs to reach around 2k and then I slightly let go of the gas pedal and it changes smoothly into 3rd. If I dont let go of the gas pedal it'll slip half the times.

This summer the tranny slipped a couple times but after each time everything went back to normal..... I added a tranny treatment (honey) and the shifting improved so I left everythign alone. I really started to notice the slipping in the last couple weeks.

About a month ago I noticed that the tranny fluid was low... it was about 3/4 of an inch below the normal amount so I went to Nissan and bought some fluid. Over a couse of the week I added the fluid little by little to make sure that I do not overfill it....... finally I got enough in there to make it perfect. About 3 days after leveling off the tranny fluid the slippage began.

I am thinking me topping off the tranny fluid made the slipping progress cuz fluid = lubrication.

I been driving around lately by letting off the gas pedal right before its about to change from 2nd to 3rd and been lucky enough to control the slipping.

My question is, how long can a slipping tranny last if I drive it carefully?

Even though this maxima is my beater car I love it for some reason...... I bought it for 400 bucks from my friend about 15 months ago and since put on 15k miles on it........ it now has 233k miles on the clock. I can always find another cheap beater but I would rather keep this car cuz I know its solid...... the engine is in great shape and so is everythign else.

If worse comes to worse, how much does a new/rebuild tranny cost for this car?

Sorry for the long, post. Thanks in advance.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

try changing the fluid entirely.
do you have a 24 valve motor (VE) by chance?

KEhrhardt

My tranny has been flaring (slipping) for around 6 mo now. If I get my foot into it, it will flare around 500rpm or so before it shifts. So if I expect a shift at 3K, it revs normally to 3K and then flare quickly to 3.5K and back to 3K before the shift. Sometimes I need to lift the throttle as well to have it shift from 1->2. You adding fluid to the full mark will not cause problems. The transmission needs an adequate amount of fluid so that the trans pump can produce enough pressure to cause the shift valves to move (i.e. shift). If fluid is low, pressure will be low and you will not build the correct pressure and have shifting (lack of or timing) issues. If it is really low, the pump will suck air from the sump and you could burn up the band and prematurely wear the friction elements (no lube). Have you ever changed your tranny fluid? It should be a clear red color and not dark or sappy looking with particles in it (metal shavings or clutch material) nor burnt smelling. One nice feature of the Max is the tranny drain plug, to aid in fluid changes. It is not too difficult to drain the fluid and drop the pan for inspection. The pump pickup screen can be cleaned at this time, as it has a tendency to get clogged with debris that have accumulated. Change the screen and put a new pan gasket on, refill with virgin fluid and hope for the best. A little bit of clutch material in the pan is ok, large chunks or metal shavings is a bad sign. Good luck with it.

Alex_V

I keep wondering if this is a mechanical or eletrical issue. Wiking brought up a good point a long time ago, his max started slipping. he cleaned the TCU connector and it was all fine. I doubt this is the main cause with most max's but with all the other eletrical problems Im sure its a small part of the slipping problem some times.

Also since its in your vavle body most likely, why not have it recaibrated. I know alot of auto cars (maxima and non) get valve bodys (where all the controls for the clutches are) recalibrated or upgraded. Im not too sure how the problem begins, but Im sure it has to do with dirt getting in the clutches. You could try getting a stage 1 valvebody upgrade and it just might cure your slipping issues. I dont know where to get it done but its pretty common. Aaron92se did it to his NA drag maxima and he said it felt like a new trasnmission, just like most other people that have to work done. Any way just some stuff to check, GL

~Alex

HustleLikeM0FO

I have heard that changing the tranny fluid entirely on old transmissions can lead to tranny failure very quicky. I remember reading something, on these boards btw, that old tranny fluid helps to keep all the seals together in the tranny and when new fluid is added the seals can start leaking? Something along those lines.

I had friends with old beaters who flushed their tranny and had failure couple months later so I think I'm gonna stick with what I got so far.

My tranny fluid is clear brown, it is not red. It is definatly burnt. However, since I topped off my tranny fluid to the correct levels the tranny changes gears like its brand new...... you can't even feel it most of the time unless you look at the RPMs drop. The shifter also glides very smoothly from P-R-N-D after adding the fluid but before topping it off I remember it feeling clunky from one gear to the next.

Also, after topping of the fluid, when I put the car in D I can barely feel the tranny "fall" into gear as before it used to be like a somewhat hard thump witht he RPMs dropping low as if the car is gonna stall.......

With these 3 improvements I think I am gonna stick with it to see whats gonan happen, from reading previous stories of what happens after a tranny flush on an old tranny I dont think its worth the risk.

Thanks for the advice BTW.

How much does it usually cost to rebuild the tranny on these cars?

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

subs1000w

auto rebiuld is ussually in the 2k range and make sure you get one with a good warrenty ive heard to many horror stories about the auto tranny dieing at 13k with a 12k warrenty

SNIPA

Can Some One Please Help Me 2 Get My 92 Maxima 2 Start And Run Da Previous Owner Told Me It Need A Head Gasket Sum Struts And A Heat Core My Aunt Drove It From Orlando 2 Georgia And It Broke Down In Macon Before It Even Got 2 Me I Got It Towed 2 My House And On Monday Im Gon Get It Delivered 2 A Shop Where All I Gotta Do Is Pay For Parts And I Help Wit Da Labor Free Labor Da Speedometor Also Dont Work And Probably Some More Stuff Any Suggestions Please

Alex_V

Dude stop posting. Its very annoying reading your post over and over. And dont use capital letters for anything other then the first word then a sentance. We will help if your paitent.

~Alex

SNIPA

sorry about that. its just that they wont let me open up my own thread. and since im new to this forum, i really dont know how its run and how people check them. sorry im very sorry. i guess im a little to happy with my car and i am also a little desperate sorry SORRY

Priority05

This has happened to me. It's like changing the fluid pisses the tranny off.

osetleo

Did you change the fluid completely, or just drained it through the drain plug without flashing? In this case you changed approximately 2/3 of it, or just renewed it. Do you know the technical reason behind it?
By the way, what wrench did you use to unscrew that square type opening round drain plug. I have mine damaged with a bad 1/2 " wrench and have difficulty now to unscrew it.

Phatsta

from my series of attempts to get my trans working (a while back) I learned that these kinds of symptoms usually shows out of two reasons.

1) your tranny oil pump leaks or is malfunctioning in some way so that it can't build up the oil pressure needed. But that would show more or less in all the gears. try by putting pressure to it (put the pedal to the medal) if you're getting this problem in just a few (or one) gears, then;

2) your lamellas (in the tranny) on the specific gear(s) are getting bad and needs to be replaced (tranny rebuild). thing is, it could actually be the lamellas even if all the gears are slipping since there are one set that transfers power from the gears to the driveaxles. but it's not as common if I've got it right.

there are a few tips and tricks you can try before that though, just to be on the safe side. take a look at this: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/748507
it's Wikings cardomain site (as Alex mentioned) and it holds a lot of electrical troubleshooting which might, if you're lucky, be all that you need.

but it's my 5 cents you'd need a tranny rebuild.

sp3dymax

My rebuilt has 11,000km on it and the shop (mr.tranmission) wont cover it cause I bought the car from the guy who had it serviced. Now my tranny is doing the slipping thing from 2nd to 3rd and its sluggish. And when it goes into gear its hard but the guys at a different mr.tramission (cause theres no way im taking it to the sameone the guy took it to) they drove the car with me in it.. he said it was fine nothing to worry about. My tranny fluid is bright red and clear and defenatly looking good but shifting is strange like its lazy going into gear and when it does it shifts hard. SO I dunno im stuck in the same boat as u guys are.

HustleLikeM0FO

I'm gonna bump this up......

I been driving the Maxima everyday and I noticed the slipping only begins after about 30 minutes of driving. For the first half hour or so there is no slipping what so ever, the tranny changes smoothly in all gears.

What could that mean?

mike92

I would recommend:

1) Check if the transmission oil radiator is clogged.

2) Drive the car until the failure presents itself, then check the TPS, the TPS is a potentiometer that works with electrical resistance, which is affected by heat, your TPS could be failing or misadjusted when HOT. Check wiking's cardomain page for guidance on TPS adjustment.

Good Luck.

Priority05

I don't mean to beat the horse dead but for those of you with automatics and are having these tranny problems between 2nd and 3rd gears. What happens when you turn overdrive off? When I use overdrive between at 2nd and 3rd the darn thing works fine. Sometimes I need to turnoff overdrive to accelerate sometime I don't.

Any suggestions?
Is this electrical?
Could this be a TPS malfunction?
Should I take my accessories off and put my stock wheels back on then drive my car off a cliff?

Phatsta

Yes

j/k first off check the electricals, it's cheap (if not free) and doesn't take too long. if that doesn't help you then move on to the next step and so on and so forth... basic troubleshooting.

HustleLikeM0FO

My type of trouble shooting is getting rear ended right now so I can claim insurence....

haha, jk.... in a way

Anyway, I made a new observation in the last couple days. Before the tranny slips you can hear the motor kinda get stuck in a certain RPM range and become loud for like 3-4 seconds before slippage occurs.

When I hear the motor "struggling" and I see that the tranny is not going into the next gear I now press the gas even harder at that instant and the thing pops into next gear.

I been doing this succesfully for the past 3-4 days now and did not have the tranny slip once.

Thanks for the additional advice though, I will check out wiking's page and see where that will take me.

Priority05

Humm.........

nawww I can't do that.