98SterlingMax

I've got a 98 SE auto with 122,000 miles now, bought in late 99 with 32,000 on it and have had absolutely no problems till now. When I'm going say 65 mph and I start giving it more gas gradually it will come out of lockup as normal but it slips when it is in 4th and as I keep applying more throttle the car doesn't accelerate as it should and the revs keep going up until it goes into 3rd and then it accelerates well. Also when it is cold it hangs in 1st gear much longer than it used to. I went to a local dealer and the service guy said they could hook it up to a diagnostic gizmo for about $110 but he said that it sounds as though the transmission is just getting worn out and if it isn't too bad to just continue driving it. I do a lot of sierra mountain driving and I don't want to keep manually turning the O/D off to keep it from slipping in 4th as it seems that a lot of slipping will destroy the tranny. I have read that on newer Max's there was a TSB out on shift solenoids and control modules. Could this possibly be the problem or am I looking at 2 - 3K$ for a transmission replacement (since the dealer dude said that rebuilding this one really didn't make much financial sense, seems logical)? Help...this car is awesome and otherwise still drives as new. Also under light throttle the transmission now goes into lockup at about 42 mph where it used to go into lockup at around 35 mph. Any ideas?

Jatan

iTrader: (3)

I think your tranny is dying (had mine rebuilt for $1000) because of heat. Check your fluid level and check is the fluid smells fine (not burnt). Did you replace your tranny fluid before?

Since you do a lot of mountain driving, get a tranny cooler after you get your tranny rebuilt/replaced https://maxima.org/shoptalk/sub_modi...er/index.shtml

98SterlingMax

Yeah, it probably is dying but can I trust someone to do a quality rebuild? Did you have yours rebuilt or was it an exchange deal? The fluid was changed about 8 months ago and does not give any indication of burntness. If I could find a quality rebuild for $1K it wouldn't bug me much considering that's 2 payments on a new car . Not to mention the CA sales tax and the absolutely absurd CA registration.

kingpin4

my transmission is doing really weird things.

Jatan

iTrader: (3)

I had mine rebuilt at a tranny shop near my home. They did a great job on my dad's Accord so my dad told me to do it there. They usually charge $1500 for it, but the owner of the shop told my dad he'll do it for $1000 (since my dad goes there to get his car fixed all the time).

All the other places wanted $950-$1500 just for the rebuilding, but they wanted more to fix the problem (car didn't go in reverse). He told me it'll be $1000 even (with parts, labor, and tax) and he'll fix the problem. He didn't give me no BS and he finished it in 2 days

My dad bought his Accord used with like 25k miles and his tranny died around 90k. He had it rebuilt there ($700 back in the day ) and it was running great at 180k miles until he got rid of the car. My dad never did much maintainance so his car had problems

goldmax

I wouldn't give up on the tranny just yet. Check the fluid as described and if it's black or nasty looking, you've got a problem. If it looks ok and you haven't changed it in a while, do the drain and refill to start...that will cost you $10 if you do it yourself. Also...if you've been messing with the idle speed and other stuff in the engine and haven't been re-syncing the transmission with the engine, you need to do that also. All the procedure does is makes sure that the engine and trans are synced. If the auto doesn't know where the engine's start point (idle) and stop point (WOT) are, then it won't shift as well as it could. It's described in the shop manual and is fairly lengthy (number of steps) but easy to do. Search the forum if you don't have the shop manual - someone posted it months ago. It makes a huge difference if things are out of whack. Also....if you are driving in the mountains a bunch, your car will definitely lose horsepower and it's not unusual to have to downshift. Try what I mentioned...it will only cost you $10 to try and not $110!

goldmax

Yo....

You're in luck! This thread has the auto sync procedure you need to use....


https://maxima.org/forums/general-maxima-discussion/198875-good-article-about-horsepower-torque.html

98SterlingMax

The fluid was changed a short time ago and it does look good on the stick. I have not done any tampering or adjustments. I'm now thinking that I might just go for dealer diagnostic ream job considering the transmission doesn't make any odd noises or clunks and it seems like something isn't telling it when to shift properly. BTW, tomorrow I get a new set of Conti Extreme Contacts if that tells you how committed to this car I am. Thanks for the responses and if anybody else has suggestions please post.

ivelweyz

How exactly does this help him???

goldmax

If you have an auto and have reset the idle speed you need to do this procedure to make sure the auto computer is synced with the engine. If things are really out of sync you'd be amazed at the difference it will make. Shifting will be much better. It's free and only takes a couple of minutes. If you don't ever do it, the car will run ok, but the shift points won't be quite as good as they could be. It could explain alot of posts complaining of crappy shifting, etc. with the auto.

PolarisGT

But I only saw AT diagnostic procedure, not some steps to resync the engine and tranny.

goldmax

It's the same procedure. If you have something wrong it will throw a code, otherwise it will set the auto computer to match the engine. Notice one of the items says to floor the accellerator...that sets WOT. Just run thru all the steps and if you don't get any bad codes you are set to go. It's worth a try!