Armani

(mods, please do not move this to the oil/lubricants forum)

Here is what happened:
I drained my old transmission oil into a pan and poured in Redline MT-90. Then, when I emptied the pan of the old oil I noticed something very strange. On the bottom of the pan there were two things: a bearing-like metal sphere and a miniature spring. The length of the spring is perhaps one inch, whereas the diameter of the sphere is approx ¼ of an inch.

Please help, what is that?

NOTE: Ever since my oil change, the transmission acts funny. Ok, it works perfectly well when in first, second, and fifth. However, I notice that when in third or in fourth it is awfully effortless and sort of stress-free to get out of the gear.

So, shifting into third or fourth is normal (there’s some resistance that has always been there, the way it should be), but shifting out of these gears gives no resistance whatsoever.

When I shift into third or fourth I must do it by using the clutch obviously. BUT, when shifting out of third or fourth I don’t even have to use the clutch because the gear slips out so easily and I know this isn’t normal. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

sean05

iTrader: (13)

wow, thats strange. Im not sure what it is but ill look out for it when i do my tranny work. Someone should know what it is!

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

According to the FSM, it looks like one of the interlock *****:


Soory, I have NO idea how one of those would just fall out.

Mark97SE

iTrader: (2)

I don't know what it is, but I know where it goes.
You must have taken out a small bolt to drain the tranny. When I changed my tranny fluid I couldn't get the drain plug out, so I tried to find a different point to drain it from. On the front(toward the radiator) of the tranny down low there is a small bolt. The bolt holds them in and puts the spring under pressure. The ball goes in first and then the spring. There may be more then one of these, but it should go with whatever bolt you took out.
I hope that this explains it well enough...

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

If you look on the left side of the diagram I posted, that's where the bolt goes that holds all those ***** and springs in.

Armani

OMFG guys, thank you SOOOOOOOOO much! That's exactly what happened. At first I drained the trans oil out of the wrong whole, then the right one lol. I'm such a newb. Now it all makes sense.
So I guess I must drain the oil again and put the spring and the ball back where it belongs by unscrewing the wrong drain plug again, correct?
Why and how does such a little thing have so much to do with gears slipping out of third and fourth? Will the spring and the ball fit back in there no problem?
Thanks again guys, you are lifesavers!!!!!!!!

2 Da Max

iTrader: (2)

that is what the org is for! if it wasnt for the org my car wouldve been on fire

Armani

You guys think it's ok to drain the oil and then dump it back in since it's new, used only for maybe a week?

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

Shouldn't be any problem reusing the tranny fluid.

SkoorbMax

No problem reusing the fluid. No idea whether the bearing will go back in or not, since i know nothing about trans (although honest, that fluid is fine ), but goodluck with it!

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

It's not a bearing. That little spring loaded ball is what makes the shift forks "click" in and out of place. Without it, there's nothing to keep the shift fork from just sliding right back.

Armani

again, thanks a bunch mzmtg and others!

A Flood99

iTrader: (6)

mzmtg knows his stuff......although i think he needs to stop "shifting" his automatic

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

Nevar!!!!!!!!!!!!

larryseibel

iTrader: (8)

I Think That The Bolt Is Supposed To Have A Certain Torque Spec On It. The Spring Has To Have A Certain Amount Of Pressure On It To Work Right. I Would Take It To A Place That Specializes In Transmissions Just To Make Sure.

bearded

The same thing happened to me but I used the neutral position sensor to drain the fluid. I never replaced the parts and my tranny still shifts great six months later.

JSMEXUSA

I took my car to a friend of mine who knows a liitle about mechanic to replace my transmission fluid (gear oil) beacause 5 spd; he had hard time finding the way to drain it out, finally found a very small nut and unpluged, drained, then pluged back in. As soon as I start driving felt right away the transmission slipping really bad and tought probably was because the transmission had to start getting use to new gear oil; it got a little better with time (about a week) but it has been hard to shift since then, specially 1st and reverse and sometimes all of them. I think probably the same thing happened and never noticed that those parts felt down and got lost in old gear oil plastic pan. Do you think are the same parts that got out of place? should I buy them at dealer and try to put back? how can I check if they are still in there?
By the way, before changing gera oil I called at least five Nissan dealers and ask them how often to replace gear oil and 3 of them told me never, just add some when necessary and 2 told me every 30, 000 miles; so that was the first thing I tough happened that it never needed to be replace. Now I am very confuse. Car was fine before changing it.

Wrightsfd

I was shocked to see your post since the same exact thing happened to me when I changed the fluid in my car on Monday. I saw the spring and put it back in, but I did not see the ball. I will have to drain my drain pan to look for the ball. Hope I can just put it back in without problem. Good luck with yours.

Armani

Hopefully it'll all work out for the both of us.

Prophecy1

For Future Reference resize images to 640x480 or smaller plz

Proph