amb4081

Well, something is up with my 5 speed. I have 88K on my Max. Some miles were spirited but overall, I have taken extremely good care of the car. It had a small tranny leak when I bought the car. Well, Nissan supposedly changed the park/neutral switch when I took the car in for the leak. All seemed well until I switched to synthetic tranny oil 4 months later. The leaking started again. It was a little worse than before. I took the car in again within the 1 year/12,000 mile warranty on parts. They said this time it was the speed sensor leaking. I checked the car at home instead of having them do the work because something sounded a little fishy. I checked it out, and there was NO oil residue at all where the speed sensor was. The oil is coming from somewhere on the driver's side of the transaxle I think. All my boots look fine with no leaks. I can't tell for sure if the park/neutral switch is leaking again or not. Are there any other seals that could fail that would cause a leak like this? If my transmission needs rebuilding, wouldn't there be other signs of failure (i.e. obvious whining through the gears; not just 1st and 2nd)? Or can my tranny need rebuilding without providing any other signs? Please tell me what advice you do have ASAP. I am a little in the dark on this because I'm unsure of the problem. Thanks in advance.

Aaron

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

dam bro, i'm sorry to hear this...if you don't get a reply as soon as u want, hit up skeelo34, ericdwong, and hlh0501, and cbr2...these three people have been through conversions and know a great deal about the good, bad and ugly when messing with trannies...

amb4081

bump

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

5 speed tranny + Oil leak around the Drive axels = Bad Differential Bearings. Time for a tranny rebuild.

Nissan may try to change the seal to stop it but it will come back. Make sure you don't get screwed on your 1/12 warranty. Nissan knows these trannys go bad, and I'm sure they know exactly why your car is leaking too. If the service manager is a smart guy, he'll try to milk your car by replacing seals for you until the warranty is up. Then he'll hit you with a tranny rebuild.

funnylittlman

iTrader: (1)

I hope you don't get conned!

amb4081

I'm out of my warranty. the 1 month/12,000 mile warranty on the park/neutral switch replacement wouldn't cover the tranny work. A friend of my dad's owns a transmission shop. Will they be able to tell the problem without pulling the transmission out?

The car drives fine. No excessive whining whatsoever. Just the tranny oil leak. It could still be the differential bearings?

StygianMax

iTrader: (8)

This might be a bit of work but you could consider wiping the tranny box really clean. From there, look to see (after a few days of driving) if there are signs of a trail of tranny fluid.

Good luck with the detective work & licking the problem!

amb4081

I think that is a good idea. Before I get too ****ed, I'll get everything cleaned up. I'm flying out of town on Sunday and will be gone a few days. Maybe that will give it time to seep from wherever it's coming from. And the location of the seeping fluid will not be altered by wind or water from driving it around.

I still had the question: If the differential bearings are bad, wouldn't I be able to tell from driving it? I mean, wouldn't there be excess noise or feel? Thanks for all your responses. I appreciate Maxima.org more and more every day.

Aaron

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

If the bearings have started to wear down, your drive shafts become a little lose. When that happens, the excessive play causes the seal to fail. All seems fine except for the extra play which doesn't allow the seals to seal correctly. Replacing the seals may give you a few miles, but the leak will come right back.

In more extreme cases of bearing failure, the tranny could start to wine. This isn't always the case thou. Most of the bearing failures are noticed when the leak is discovered. It's the first sign that something isnt' right.

amb4081

Is there a way to check the drive shafts to see if they have become loose? And what causes this problem? Design flaw? Excess wear from abuse? Or just general wearing down and age?

amb4081

So if it is in fact the differential bearings that have failed, will the oil leaking be evident where the drive axles enter the tranny? I'm not very educated when it comes to transmissions at all. I'm just trying to get an idea of where the oil is coming from if it is the differential bearings.

nadir_s

Welcome to the club.


I discovered the tranny leaking at the driveaxel a month ago. Totally sucks. The reason why you noticed the oil leaking some more w/ the synthetic oil is because synthetic oil isn't as "thick" as the regular stuff so it seaps out more... and you will notice it leak more after driving alot or if the temprature is hot outside.

My tranny started to leak... then it started to whine... now it's even worst. I had it checked out, you're looking at $600-$800 in labor alone... unless you're comfortable w/ dropping the tranny yourself and getting it done. Let us know how things go, i'm just driving it as it is now, it's not so bad if i drive "normal"... sometimes you can't even notice the whining.

BTW- I have a 141k miles on my car. Differential bearings suck... whatever you do, just make sure you get the damn thing fixed the FIRST TIME AROUND, or you'll be ****ed a year down the road again.

Curt Deiner

iTrader: (1)

My diff bearings went out on my '97 at 54K miles. Call Nissan at 1-800-nissan1 and they may help you out. There have been quite a few people on the .org with this problem. The oil leak on mine was on the divers side output axle shaft of the tranny. After the third axle seal replacement they opened the tranny to find the worn bearings.

RI-Max

i have to get mine done too i replaced the seal 4 times still leaking im gonna pull the trans out my self and send it out

amb4081

Thanks for the number. I ran the car up on my ramps after work today and found that the oil level was a little lower than last time I checked a few months ago. I had to put about 20-30% of my finger in to touch oil. I don't know in quarts how low that is. Maybe a 1/10 of a quart or something. Anyway, I performed a pretty good visual check and saw NO OIL around either drive axle/shaft exiting the transmission case. There was some oil residue still on the underneath side of the case though. I can't seem to pinpoint it. It has to be the park/neutral switch. There is no oil around the speed sensor either. That makes me think it is still the park/neutral switch even though it seems tight and silicone is around it too. Any other ideas? And thank you so much for all your help. I'll keep you all posted and thanks again for the phone number. I will keep it handy WHEN my tranny does fail.

Aaron

ericdwong

I really hate the manual transmission on this car.

matty

iTrader: (54)

Did you ever find out what was wrong with it ??? Did it ever start whinning through the gears ?? Stop leaking ??

WizzaMax

iTrader: (9)

I have a tranny for sale if it will help you...

amb4081

It whines pretty much the same way it did when I bought the car at 46K miles. It whines in first and second and maybe a hint in third. Pretty normal for a manual tranny. As for the leak, I wish I had time to clean off the bottom drive it around for 2 minutes and check again. But it's been too hectic for that. From a pretty thorough visual check, there is NO leaking out of either drive axle. The boots have no tears in them with no oil seeping from either. The oil seems to be isolated on the bottom of the tranny case which indicates it is the park/neutral switch still leaking. One of these days I am going to drain the transmission and put a new o-ring on that and thoroughly caulk around the seal. As for the leaking, since Friday, there has not been a drip or drop on my garage floor with the car sitting overnight. I checked the level on Saturday and it remains just below the plug opening. That is with only the front end up on ramps. So the oil naturally shifts back in the case and gives a false level. So it appears to be fine to me. What do you all think? I'll keep you posted and post again when I pinpoint the leak for sure.

Curt Deiner

iTrader: (1)

You should be able to check the level with the car on the ground. I didn't have any problem. Seems to me if it's not dripping, you'd be ok. Oils cheap right? Also I seem to recall in a post I think by the late great Daniel Martin that the use of an after market (not Nissan) park/neutral switch seals better. Maybe try some thread sealant. Teflon tape won't work well with oil, fyi.

Dave B

Has anyone else seen the strong correlation between the manual tranny with synthetic oil and the seal/bearing failures?


Dave

Curt Deiner

iTrader: (1)

I actually changed to Redline MT-90 synthetic about 3000 miles after my tranny bearings were replaced. I've had no leakage.

amb4081

The seal I was indicating was leaking maybe easier from the oil was a park/neutral switch leak. Not a bearing or leak from the drive axles. As far as I know, there are no visual indications that there is a bearing failure with my tranny.

matty

iTrader: (54)

Yea but you already had Nissan change that Park/Neutral switch already so thats prob not your culprit...The only real sign to Bearing Failure is a slight leak, or a whine in the tranny in 2nd and 3rd...now the thing is your still under warentee so wipe the case off, and bring it in the next day after about a 20 mile ride and let them look at it...if it the park neutral switch you can tell..if its leaking at the axel seal you can also tell

Im going through all this crap now with my LSD tranny off of an I-30...its a pain...but hopefully my bearings wont need to be done
Im feeling a rouf kind of exceleration through the gears, low end, the Jeff on LI at Maximum Tunning also said that may be bearings too

-Matt

Ill get it fixed

skeelo34

iTrader: (4)

Try to see if you can move the axle where it goes into the tranny. If you have any play, your bearings have failed. Been there, done that. Get it repaired, or the bearings will completely fail and float in the tranny and mess up your gears. I kept driving till they completely failed. They wound up flying out through the seal, pouring out all the fluid, and chipping my differential gear.

matty

iTrader: (54)

Skeelo34,

Did yours whine before you did them or it just started leaking ? I got my new tranny in my car now, I-30 LSD 63K miles on it, and the drivers side axel leaks at the seal...there is alittle play in there and I plan on just gettin the tranny opened up and done...Im going to get a new axel first jsut in case the guy ordered the wrong one...I have no whines...and I maybe drip a Dime size of oil over night. I dont think my bearings are bad...I think its a wrong axel and that seal still isnt in right cause there is no seal stopper on our trannys and easily messed up...the seal has been changed once so far

-Matt

skeelo34

iTrader: (4)

You can tell if you have the right axle by looking at the thread pattern on the end of it. If the grooves are curved toward the tranny (almost perpendicular) its an auto. If the grooves are more parallel to the tranny, its 5spd. Think of as the automatic grooves pointing almost straight into the tranny, and the 5spd ones just look like they surround the axle (as if you wound a wire around it). My car did not while. I had little play at first and a little leak, it progressively got worse. This took about 2 months. Its not too difficult to rebuild the bearings, just getting the old ones off is a REAL pita.

matty

iTrader: (54)

Well my seal may not still be in right and the axel may be the wrong one cause im gettin a rouf feeling trough throttle...I dont know what that is...

-Matt

matty

iTrader: (54)

Im going to get a different axel just to make sure its not that...worse case, Ill have to have the thing rebuilt Im probably going to take the tranny out myself and bring it into a trans shop and make sure they know what there doing..only the diff carrier bearings need to be measured for preload ?? or all of them need to be measured ??

-Matt

skeelo34

iTrader: (4)

I have a rebuilt axle for a 5spd for sale if you need. Check fs forum

matty

iTrader: (54)

Nah I need a LSD axel and mine is still under warentee, i hope

-matt

I30tMikeD

iTrader: (8)

Very informative thread. I have had a small leak on my drivers side drive-axel seal for a few months. I recently found out that the seal has been replaced twice already. Reading this thread makes me conclude that my bearings may be going bad? Would my assumption be correct??

skeelo34

iTrader: (4)

If you have play in your shaft, then pretty likely.

I30tMikeD

iTrader: (8)

If indeed it is the bearings, when a friend of mine and I replace the cluth in the spring would it be much more work to replace the bearings as well??

ericdwong

Yup sure would. Not only do you have to drop the tranny, you must open it and dissasemble most of it to get to the bearings.

amb4081

True. I did have them change out the park neutral switch. If the bearing has failed, where are you saying the "slight leak" would come from? Because I do not see any oil around the drive axle boots at all. It is only on the bottom side of the case and a little on the driver's side, which to me indicates the park neutral switch is still leaking. It's already been discussed that that seal on that thing isn't the best in the world, right? Plus this same leak has been present since day 1 when I bought the car. That was at 46K miles in February of 2000. It is almost three years and 41K miles later. The tranny would not have lasted that long had the bearings been the culprit, correct?

Ramius83

Bearings can fail at any time, so please don't think that mileage will have something to do with it. If you are noticing oil at the bottom of the casing, originating from the driver's side, most likely that differential bearing has failed. The leak would come from Driver's side CV axle input, where the axle goes into the transmission. The leak itself would NOT come from the CV axle boots, those are an entirely different thing.

amb4081

There is not oil coming from anywhere near the drive axle. I will try to take a pic and post today. I have even tried the test of tugging a little on the drive axles and there is no play. I will investigate tonight since now I am very interested deteremining it is not the bearing.

And what I meant earlier was, if all this time it has been the bearing failure since 2000, wouldn't the transmission have started to act much worse and failed after 3 years of driving and 40K miles? The driveability of the car does not seem any worse than before. Just traditional manual tranny whines in first and second.

amb4081

Well, I didn't have time to take the pic because of school last night. It might have to wait until this weekend.

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

Well, the hard part is pulling the tranny, which is going to have to be done to replace the clutch, anyway. If you're competent enough to do that much, then taking the tranny apart and putting it back together again isn't all that much more complicated. Just be sure to get a Nissan FSM first and follow the instructions, take your time (allow for a couple of days) and do the work in a protected, clean environment. Don't do it in the parking lot of your apartment complex. You will need a dial gauge to measure how much shim thickness you need, and you'll need a good torque wrench, but you won't need any other special tools,IIRC. When you get the tranny back together, be sure you can shift into every gear BEFORE you put the tranny back in the car.

Motorvate.ca is an excellent reference for disassembling and reassembling your transmission. (I actually used that site instead of the FSM when I rebuilt mine, but I would recommend getting the FSM.)