nadir_s

Alright guys.... i've had such a horrible evening. My mom was like "don't worry.. it's just a car, don't get too obsessed." Well i'm only sad because i'm afraid it's gonna cost me an assload and obviously my parents will have to pay for it and we're not the richest of ppl and the last thing i need is this car falling apart on me!

This afternoon, I had my cousin test drive the car w/ my midpipe on to see if he felt any difference (he was the previous owner). He noticed a weird sound in acceleration that I, in fact, thought was normal for a 5-spd. He told me he never had it when he used to drive it. We go out inspecting the car... and find this horrible leak...

Anyways thanks ALOT you guys that helped me w/ my major leak problem and also another thread i had made about a weird whining sound my car was making. I guess this all fits together... the leaking oil is in fact not motor oil, but transmission oil. This makes sense w/ the weird whining sound (kinda like a "whaaaa-whaa-wha" goin faster as i accelerate)... there isn't enough tranny oil in the resevoir to create enough pressure! argh! So now i think i know that the leak and noise are part of the same problem. Okay, i'm really concerned because this sound has been developing for the past month or so... and i never paid real attention to it until all of a sudden my car started leaking today. I think this is in part to me and my cousin pushing the car real hard on the road to pin-point that whining sound that can be heard inside the car w/ the windows up and can actually feel it when gripping the shifter.

Right now, my car is sittin outside... w/ a pan underneath the leak. I hope to god that it doesn't leak alot because i gotta drive it to the gas station tomorrow morning to get it checked out. I hope it is nothing serious... anyone had this experience or could gimme some advice or insight on what i should expect from the mechanic tomorrow... i don't want him to BS me about something because everyone knos that tranny problems are expensive. Thanks guys!

my car is bleeding

krzymax

iTrader: (2)

ouch. hope it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to fix...

Mishmosh

iTrader: (3)

Maybe instead of the gas station, consider going to a bona fide transmission shop, particularly one that does a lot of imports.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Ahhh the famous Differential Bearing Failure leak. Your not going to be happy with the bill, thats for sure!

The noise is a very good indication that the bearings have failed.

WAAAAAAAAAAAA$$$$$$ WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA$$$$$$

Lime

now is the time to switch to a LSD tranny lol.

I30tMikeD

iTrader: (8)

I have a small tranny leak. The driveaxel seal is bad. It's very small. I am just keeping the fluid level full untill spring.

blizz20oma

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like tell-tale symptoms of the "bearing problem". The good news is...it's not THAT expensive....if you're comfortable dropping apart your tranny and busting it open yourself.

I wouldn't take it to the 'gas station mechanic'. Like someone else said, tranny shop. For information, how many miles does your car have?

You might check out www.motorvate.ca 's tranny repair posts...print them out and highlight a few sections (use GL-4 oil, shimming the bearings correctly) and give them to whoever will be working on the car. Take a look at it and see. Good luck

edit: if you need to wait a little while to get some money or something, you can probably drive the car...but the more you drive it with shot bearings, the worse things are gonna get in the tranny from what I understand.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

That is an excellent idea!

nadir_s

Thanks guys... i knew this dreaded day would come. When i bought my maxima four months ago, it had 135k miles w/ a clutch replaced. I thought that would be the only main tranny problem i could have w/ that high of a mileage but when i joind the forum, there was alot of talk about the tranny bearings failing and i hope to god that the car wouldnt have that problem... I actually read up everythin bout it back then before i bought the car to see if the symptoms were there but i guess it creeped up on me now...


Currently i have 141k miles on it. So what you guys are saying is that i should take it to a tranny shop rather than the gas station mechanic that i would normally go to... I think i'll end up doing that then.

I just read motorvate.ca 's tranny section and i'm looking at the text... I know the most important part for getting this job done is correctly measuring the bearing preload. I'm going to print this out and give it to the mechanic that would be working on my car... but i'd rather just give him parts of it that are the most important to me.

What are the exact bearing measurments? I'm not sure if i read this correctly but it says: .0456 of an inch

So I should tell the mechanic that Nissan maxima's are known for this bearing failure and it tends to come back if I don't get the measurements done right, am i correct? Thanks for anymore input guys... i'm glad I've got somewhere to turn to first!

nadir_s

I just browsing throgh the yellow pages for tranny shops and i called this place that offered free phone estimates. I explained to him my problem and told him about how this problem is more common w/ the maximas and all and he told me that they've dealt w/ it before and he told me that getting the bearings fixed and rebuilding the tranny will total up to about $875 ... i think that's w/o tax and hoping that nothing else is screwed up in there (i also mentioned about the shimming and he said it was standard procedure and they would do it for sure).


I must talk to my dad now and tell him about it. I'm still planning to take it to my gas station mechanic for an oil change... and at the same time ask him to take a look at the leak and to make sure it isn't motor oil (that'd be a miracle).

Mishmosh

iTrader: (3)

...hopefully it is something like a leak at the tranny position switch instead of your bearings.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ght=PNP+Switch

ericdwong

Welcome to the wonderful world of the wonderfully designed and manufactured nissan transmission. I almost guarentee you it is the bearings of the differential. This transmission sux my left nut and had I known it would have given me this many problems I woulda never bought this FWD flimsy depreciating granny stylin POS.

I say you pitch the car and forget about it. If you trade it in, make sure the dealer doesnt find out.

However if you do want to repair the thing, the parts are about $30 per bearing. Its the labor that will kick you in the butt. MAKE SURE WHOEVER FIXES IT SHIMS THE BEARINGS PROPERLY OR ELSE THIS PROBLEM WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. Also, hope that the other parts of the transmission are not screwed up due to the lack of oil or thats more $ to the bill. Did I mention tranny parts are very expensive for this car?

Im almost curious, but if you save the old shims outta the tranny can you measure them with a micrometer and tell me what they are? I almost guarentee you they are the same as the ones that I discovered in mine, which were the same out of 2 different transmissions. Great quality control huh?

nadir_s

thanks alot mishmosh! i'll definately check that switch out...


Eric, i've probably read every post u've made about the tranny and i'm completely apalled by this problem. OMFG my 89 celica GT has 180k miles on it and i've done SO MUCH crazy **** in the car yet the only things i had to replace were normal wear-tear items. The only thing that i'm surprised by is that the fact my car has 140k miles and i've developed this problem... and the clutch was replaced at about 100k, yet nothing was noticed back then. Could this problem just happen all of a sudden?? this is ****ing me off!!!!! i just bought this car 3 months ago and when i called to tell my cousin about the repair costs he was like "WTF, i've done every damn maintenance on the car, kept it in 100% running condition." I know he did that too, he gave me all the papers from the nissan dealership.... all major maintenance mileage check points were done.... last being the 120k mile maintenance checkup. omg i'm so mad, the clutch was replaced about 20k miles ago too.... *******it why didn't this POS problem come up then.


Anyways, i just went to get my oil changed from my normal mechanic and at the same time i asked him to chek out the leak and he said it was definately tranny oil and it is coming from somewhere... not sure but he said we could clean it up and then run the car. After running it, we'd put it on the lift and see where exactly the oil is coming from. Either way, he said, i'm ****ed and have to get it done at a tranny shop.

iwannabmw

iTrader: (3)

Exactly. Or at least just replace the tranny with another used one. You should be able to find one for about $300, 4-5 hours of labor to swap it since it doesn't sound like you want to attempt it yourself.

xHypex

iTrader: (1)

I had a leaking seal at the drivers side axle which was replaced under warranty. I told the service writer about the bearing problems and he said he was unaware of such a problem with our cars. I have a warranty on the work done, so hopefully if I do have bearing problems it'll surface before that ends.

Regardless, if everyone saves their shims I think we would have an interesting case to take to Nissan.
-hype

nadir_s

I would actually liek to save the labor costs and do it myself... but i have very little knowledge about transmission and i lack all the tools required so i guess i'm ****ed.

I will definately ask them to save my shims. You think we could make a possible case? I know we'll probably not get any refunds outta it or anything but seriously i want to hear at least a response from Nissan. Those ****** screwed me outta $1k if we do prove it's a manufacturing defect.

The extended warranty that the car had (100k miles) ended... so i'm **** outta luck on that. omfg the transmission was taken out and everything about 20k miles ago when the clutch was replaced, i can't believe this prob came up NOW.

so far estimated-over-the-phone cost is $875... if some how by miracle i find it to be that tranny position switch. I don't know where it's located and stuff so if someone can help me out on that... i will also do a search about it to figure it out myself.

Also... what's an LSD tranny? I will definately search and look into that too, but if someone can quickly gimme a cliffnotes explanation it'd be cool too just to concentrate all the info into one thread i can work w/.

Thanks for all the help guys, ill have to go around places and figure out more options this weekend. This really sucks.

nadir_s

ah i'm still praying that i don't have that differential bearing problem! Can someone post the complete list of symptoms?

I remember reading about how there's way you can tell if you have a lot of play w/ the shifter or something... i don't believe i've had but i'm hoping for miracles. I just got quoted by someone over the fone for $1400

Can someone tell me where the transmission position switch is located at??

iwannabmw

iTrader: (3)

The noise you described is one symptom. A leak from one of the axle seals is another. Grab one of the driveshafts and see if it moves up and down. If it does, there's another symptom.

The switch is on the drivers side near the bottom of the case. It is a huge circular black thing, it's impossible to miss.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

It's all labor that your paying for. Keep that in mind.

nadir_s

Thanks!

I drove the car around for a couple miles today but for the past 2 days, it has stopped leaking. I guess it only happens when i drive alot and when the tranny is hot.