Well boys, I blew my tranny today on my way to work. It was early Saturday morning and I decided to have a little spirited run on the freeway. Everything was going great until I started to downshift to get on the offramp. When I hit 3rd gear, I heard a loud CLUNK and I knew I was in trouble. From that point on, I only had 5th gear. I called a tow truck and as of now, my car is sitting in front of the tranny shop. IMO, the ACT clutch is to blame because my tranny only had 50k miles on it. I don't abuse that much and I use Redline tranny fluid. For all of you considering getting an ACT clutch, please look at my situation and the numerous other Org. members that have blown their trannies in the same way. Maxima 5-speed trannies blow monkey *****.

 

You didnt miss a shift at all ??...maybe your bearings were beginning to go, therefore more metal shaving in the tranny that cause too much friction...50k is about 10k miles before you should start to see bearing failure but I wouldnt be surprised if thats what happened...or your bearings totally failed and blew metal chunks around your tranny, causing the gears to go

-matt

 

You might be right. I'm going to the tranny shop on Monday to check things out for myself. However, I think that some of the blame has to rest with the ACT clutch.

 

sorry to hear about that, good luck with finding a replacement tranny.

another 3rd gear lost, and he had ACT, how ironic..... i think people need to stop getting the act if they are not running boost, doenst everyone see a pattern here. also 3rd usually is the one to break, yet when a 5speed maxima wants more power, where do u downshift too.... 3rd!! so obvsiously 3rd is getting the most stress, and all that extra grab the act buts on it is killing the trans and especially 3rd gear. im not a certified mechanic or anything but i do notice patterns and logic shows that act is killing maxima trannies

 

sorry to hear that. what are you planning to do, rebuild or replace tranny?


this is why i recommend a clutch other than ACT.. go ahead and flame me!

 

It all depends how bad the damage is. I think my best bet is to replace the tranny itself because I'm getting a supercharger soon and a new tranny would be a wise investment.

 

how about rebuilding your current tranny w/ more durable parts? Maybe even cryofreeze it while you're at it. Much better than spending the 2k for a new one.

 

Sorry to hear about your trans. I just blew 3rd gear on mine. I don't blame the ACT clutch though. I hope that everything turns out for the best.

Later,
Alfonso

 

FOR THE LAST TIME!!!!!!! (though somehow i doubt it)

CLUTCHES DONT KILL TRANNYS! PEOPLE KILL TRANNYS!

 

So...you guys saying I should buy one of those Exedy clutches?:

 

*cough* act uses exedy discs */cough*

 

and they wonder why no one wants to make parts for maximas...people flame them i.e. fiber images hood...act clutches...turbo kits... The list goes on and on..

 

I lost 3rd gear last week in my 120k old 5 speed. ACT clutch went in 5k miles ago...............

Doug D

 

I lost my trannyt too, but this is without the act. i still had the stocker in there. is there anything that i can do with my new tranny to make sure that the next tranny i get stays together? I am planning on using redline mt90 in it. I will be using a pacesetter sts, and a centerforce stage two dual friction clutch. Is there anything that i need to watch out for?

Has anyone had any trouble with the centerforce?

 

i believe that it is no coincidence that people with grabbier clutches lose gears more quickly. i also know that the act is the most popular aftermarket clutch on this forum. but to blame blown gears on a particular clutch, act, and no other clutch, is absurd.

 

Well I went to the tranny shop today and looked at the tranny myself. My bearings were OK and the mechanic thinks that the ACT clutch was to blame. I decided to have it rebuilt rather than get a new one. Pointless to say, my supercharger will have to wait because I just dropped a load of cash into the tranny. By the way, I'm getting rid of my ACT clutch and going back to an OEM piece.

 

None of your power will be held by the OEM peice, stick with your ACT if its not too old...good luck

-matt

 

I can't wait until people make the mass "exodus" to brand "X" and then their tranny dies... then they will blame it on Nissan

 

This definately proves denial is the strongest human emotion. Look at the numbers of tranny failures compared to how many are running ACT clutches. It's errie. It's not to say your tranny will definately fail with the ACT, but your chances increase dramatically. Once people start running these new Exedy clutches, I think we'll see even more failures. Clearly the Maxima tranny cannot take the constant stress of WOT quick shifts with a high clamping clutch. I'm pretty sure the tranny will do just fine with the stronger clutches assuming you don't slam the gears. SC/turbo/nitrous Maximas really need stronger clutches and many have lasted with said clutches. The difference is most of the drivers shift a lot easier because they understand what can happen. Yes, it does sound odd not to be able to "slam" the gears with a better clutch, but when you're running with a clutch that transmits a ton more instant torque, you've got to be very careful. You might be .1-.2 second slower granny shifting, but that's the price you pay.

As for companies not making aftermarket Maxima products because OEM parts break is BS. Companies don't show much interest in the Maximas because they're bigger import 4-door sedans. A majority of the Maxima buying public is 35 years+ old and younger adults show very little interest in these cars. Seriously, how many kinds of intakes, exhausts, UDPs, y-pipes, etc do we need? We've got ECUs, intake manifolds, y-pipes, catbacks, mufflers, UDPs, intakes, shifters, turbos, nitrous, sperchargers, clutches, differentials, cams, springs, shocks, body kits, and rear sway bars. Seriously, what else do we need?


Dave

 

 

Rev-matching downshifts wouldn't hurt. I know this wouldn't solve the problem by any means, but wouldn't this be just as much a cause of excessive tranny stress as slamming into the next gear? Because the original poster's went while he was downshifting. IMO, a properly rev-matched downshift can cuase very little stress on the tranny. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

yeah ok, well the exedy better not F up my tranny or ill be heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeella ****ed. i'm either gonna swap trannies or rebuild mine and put in the exedy at the same time... it should last the rest of my life w/ the car

 

amen brotha.

 

It s scary that people have trouble with the 5 speed trannies...Would be chipped teeth from damaged gears that are hurting the other gears or what ? Or is our driving style that kills them ? To me is pretty hard to belive that the clutch would kill the tranny,but I may be wrong...I guess well just have to prey that will never happen to OUR tranny. Interesting tread...

 

In general Maxima transmissions outside this forum are not known to be weak. Putting in a stronger clutch simply moves the weakest point to the transmission gears (or whatever) instead of the clutch slipping. Nissan didn't design the tranny to withhold the impulse force the aftermarket clutches can provide because they never happen with the stock unit. The ACT does what it is designed to do, grip like a ****, with the unfortunate side effect of being capable of transmitting an impulse force greater than the transmission can withstand. You could blame Nissan for not making the transmission strong enough, but let's face it, we're moding family cars. Building the Maxima tranies to hold 400hp is not on the top of Nissans "to do" list. The problem is how the car is driven, but disaster can only ensue when strong clutch is present to do the dirty work.

 

I drove my car 100k miles with a Clutchamster clutch. It wore down and the disc was shot. So I repalced it with an ACT clutch. Drove the same way and 6k miles later the ACT clutch s**t the bed. The tranny seems fine. New clutch to be installed Wednesday - at my expense because ACT and Stillen won't stand being their POS product. I started a new thread on failed ACT clutches, please email me (seth@ecamp.net) or post to that thread if you've experienced failure as i want to bring this to Stillen's attention.

 

Word to the people with the reasonable opinions. My clutch isn't gone yet, but it's getting a little worn and I was considering getting a grippier one. However, there is OBVIOUSLY a problem since people are blowing out the same gear and having stuff die right after installing the clutch. Obviously we've disovered a weak spot. The person who talked about the mass exodus to another product, which will inevitably case blame to shift to Nissan is on point.

Clearly it's the shock loads induced by the grabbier clutches. I mean, it's a clutch...there's really not a lot of ways it interacts with the rest of the transmission other than transferring loads to it...not rocket science. The rev matching your downshifts thing probably would help. I'm sure lighter flywheels aren't helping either since I'm sure they only increase the shock load to the rest of the tranny when you're really rowing through the gears.

BTW, not slamming anyone for trying stuff. Some people just have more money to put into the car and are able to have it off the road if something goes wrong. I can't do that myself, so I mod conservatively...and will clearly avoid grabbier clutches.