I sure hope my tranny lasts a little while longer. Any reports on how long a vg auto lasts? Anything to keep it lasting longer? I have a feeling by the time I fix all the little things and big things on this car I'll have quite an education on all the systems.

 

A external transmission cooler would be the first thing to do,along with regular fluid changes.

My wifes vg auto is on it's way out as we speak,at 119k..

 

omg that sux!! what is the plan once it goes? 5 speed?

 

rebuild,my wife wants to keep it automatic,i too.

 

Does the wifey drive your max at all? I'm sure she'd want to keep her auto as is for a DD though.

~Alex

 

Yeah,my car was originally her car,but slowly grew tired of the manual trans.

I'm going to split this thread.

 

external cooling and changing of the fluid i say about every 12k (if you drive real hard).

probably in a couple weeks i'ma grab an axternal cooler and put it on.

 

If you take good care of it with regular fluid changes, it will last a long time. I flushed the transmission every 25K miles as preventative maintenance and it seems to have paid off. I am at 190K miles now and the car still shifts like it did TEN years ago when I bought the car at 65K miles.

Transmission cooler will help also.

 

Oh, ok. I was getting a little worried.

 

My first max made it to 166K with one flush its entire life (at around 90/100K) and no external cooler/filter, I'm sure it would last the life of the car if people would do what you did.

~Alex

 

This is true in most cases,but not all,the vg auto is a squirrelly little pos of a transmission.

Unfortunately,i got a hold of this vg a little late,it had the original fluid in it when i bought it at 105k,changed it at 107k...but still too late.

 

Not to thread jack but, I think my tranny is on it's way out. I have no reverse and the neutral feels like another gear. How hard is it to rebuild them or how much should it cost at the shop?

 

I consider myself to have more than average mechanical skills,and i wouldn't touch an automatic trans with a ten foot pole.

If you don't know what you are before you crack open the transmission,then i suggest you don't do it.

Rebuild prices vary by region,but ball park figures are around the $1000-$1200 mark.yeah...ugh

 

LOL yeah I know...
I was putting my foot in my mouth. I wanted to rebuild my engine also so I should be looking around 2k.

 

may i ask how long your condition has persisted so far? if our transmissions are ANYthing like my brother's 5SFE tranny, then you have about a week to keep driving your car.

 

wayne, they are not that complex. if you have a work bench that you can take it apart on and lay it out in sequence, they (A/Ts) are fairly easy to rebuild.
pick up an ATRA manual, though i believe the fsm has instructions too, and take your time and rebuild it.

 

Thought it may be that easy. You shouldn't boldly state that it is that simple when you never experienced it first hand.

...Like a fat@ss selling slim-fast.

 

well brian,I'm simply not a transmission guy,it's not that i can't do it,i simply don't want to.

all the little parts **** me off..

 

I have huge respect for the transmission guys they are specialists their is alot to learn about them(trans)they vary greatly from one to another.

 

either are most people. it's considered a mysterious part. they are fairly simple in operation actually.
I've never rebuilt one myself because the last vehicle I had that needed a trans I had no time to do (wife's minivan). it was also worth my time to have it rebuilt by someone else versus doing it myself.
BTW you use trans-goo to hold the little ***** in place in the valvebody

 

The reverse went out on friday......
I spotted one at the junk yard with 130k (300 bucks) on it with a 60 Warrenty on it. Do you think that's practicle?

 

There is a good chance you will be pissing into the wind with a used unit,my advice would be to have it rebuilt/replaced with a rebuilt unit,or swap in a manual transmission.

Also,most j-yards warranties only cover replacement with another used unit from their yard,not a money back warranty,check the small print on this if you decide to go this route.

 

I would love a manual tranny but, don't know how to drive one.

 

Nobody does until they learn.

 

So as far as preserving life of the transmission, many people suggest a transmission cooler, but I have heard of there being issues about having one in the winter, like it can't get warm fast enough? Not really sure, just wondering?

 

yes,trans coolers can have a negative effect in colder regions of the country,but nothing a piece of cardboard taped to the cooler wont fix.

 

Are they hard to install or expensive? I have a vg auto at 114,000 miles, transmission was driven very lightly and seems to be flawless. It has had two fluid changes this month, but Im afraid they may be the first. Just wondering if a trans cooler is a good idea.

 

--->http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=405266

post#26 has a link to a write up.

 

a trans cooler with a thermostatic bypass valve is the best idea

 

Where would you get one of those?

 

 

I've also heard about something with the valvebody, boosting performance and life of the transmission? Any truth in this?

 

yahoo got me this as a first hit... http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu9J8v3...thermostat.htm
"seek and ye shall find"...

 

yes,a company called Transgo makes a valvebody upgrade kit for the vg auto..

http://www.txchange.com/sk.htm

 

valvebody kit (see wayne's post) firms up the shifts and makes them happen faster which increases transmission life because the factory intended slip creates heat which shortens trans life.

 

Keep that fluid fresh, I do a simple drain and refill once every 25 to 30k.

 

Just regular maintenance, drain/refill and tranny cooler and you should be ok. If you start to notice tranny slippage, then it's time to look for another one or go for rebuild. I will be installing cooler to my VG within the next week or so but currently have 203,xxx and still same engine/tranny (even though I will be doing swaps soon). Also suggest valvebody upgrade as well.

 

ive taken apart the re4fo2a and the rl4fo2a just because i was bored fairly easy to say the least, keep all the parts in sequence and youll be good to go
the thing that usually makes the tranny slips is the sun diske(if thats what theyre called) they looose friction causing slip, when i reput my tranny in ill take a lot of pictures for you auto guys and post it in both the 2nd gen and 3rd gen forums with the shift kit from trans go.

i just bought one of those adn ima install it this weekend if it dosent rain too much..

 

they're called clutches

 

This thread makes me wanna tear my spare auto VG trans apart and experiment with it...considering I might be home for a while...or even just try and rebuild the spare 5speed VG5 for backup yes VE5 is better but 5speed is 5speed, better than auto in certain things