pawn

does anyone know how durable the auto tranny is the 97' se, is there any regular maintainence that i should do, i dont want it to go out like it did in my auto eclipse, also is flooring in an auto bad, like when it downshifts, or can the tranny handle it??????????thanx in advance

Kashoggio

iTrader: (11)

ohh boy

Ramius83

The Maxima Auto tranny is a very durable piece of equipment. Flooring it is something that many of us do on a regular basis. Nothing that you can do to your car is "good", but flooring your car doesn't hurt, except your walet because of the excessive gas consumption. All flooring does it take up fuel, your tranny will heat up, but nothing will come of it. The only thing that "will" hurt your tranny is down shifting it when you are coming up to a red light. This WILL destroy and mutilate it. Just keep the tranny fluid replaced when the Max manual says to and you are fine.

brubenstein

The transmission is pretty good (the basic trans, in RWD configuration, was first used in the Q45 w/275 hp). The thing that kills an auto tranny is heat. It causes the fluid to break down, and damages the internal seals, rings & clutches.
The best way to make a transmission last is to change the fluid every 30K miles (synthetic ATF strongly recommended) and add a small transmission cooler. If you're going to drag race with it, talk to Level 10.

Kashoggio

iTrader: (11)

The Maxima tranny is not the strongest one. It is pretty weak. Most people know this, ask some people on this board about their new trannys Aslo flooring the tranny is not that great. Yes it heats up which will shorten the life of the tranny. For that u get a tranny cooler. Also when you floor it the tanny does not shift all to well. If you notice it somethmes red lines and that my frind is not good for the engine. No ifs or but about it. Buy you can still do it. Have fun

max1ma97se

iTrader: (1)

is the weakest link in my car (tht just my view of it) but i also blame myself stupid manual downshifting now gotta get it rebuilt at 54k miles =[

supertool

The tranny is a piece. It has a mind of it's own. Sometimes when you floor it, it pulls smoothly. Other times, you floor it, and it doesn't do diddly for a while, and all of the sudden redlines.
It's not a smooth operator by any standard. I might put in a tranny cooler next weekend. Does anyone know what the how much difference there is in cooling power from size 403 to 404? It says 403 is for midsize car, but some people put a larger one in. Is there a significant difference?
Also, does putting that cooler in front of AC radiator make AC work any less effective?

brubenstein

The size of the transmission cooler should be based on how and where you drive. If you live in a cooler climate, and don't drive very hard, get a small one. Warm climate/very hard driving bigger cooler. If the cooler is too big the fluid takes a long time to come up to full operating temperature. When it's down around freezing, this is hard on the transmission, because the fluid thickens up. This is one of the other reasons to switch to synthetic ATF. Large coolers also block more of the air flow through the A/C condensor and radiator. They Hayden Tru-Cool LPD thin coolers (http://www.dcflags.com/) and B&M Super Coolers (same cooler www.bmracing.com) are more efficent designs than the 400 series coolers. So you can use a physically smaller cooler (with less blockage) and get equal cooling.

supertool

So cold is not a factor.
I am mostly in Silicon Valley, I occasionally floor it, but only a couple times a day. I guess I drive a bit harder then average, but my trip to work is only 10 miles.
I take trips to LA often, but then I just cruise around 85ish.
If I were to get a LPD cooler, which size would fit the maxima well? And which size would be an overkill.
Thanks.
Also, how messy of a job is it? I read the shoptalk. Also, how do you change the ATF? I just bought this car 3 months ago. My old car, a 90 Taurus, never needed an oil or ATF change, because these liquids wouldn't stick around long enough to need changing. It was more like adding.

plrod Black 95 SE

put in 100% sythetic ATF

brubenstein

If you go up in the mountains, or head off into the desert get the 5 3/4 x 11; otherwise the 4 x 11 is big enough. Changing the fluid is not much worse than changing the oil. To do it the really right way (once is enough), the pan should be dropped and all the crud wiped out. Just pulling the drian plug is probably ok. Replace the fluid from the drain (about 3 qts.). Disconnect the return line from the radiator to the transmission, put it in a catch pan, start the engine and let the transmission pum out about 2 qts, shut it off, replace the fluid and repeat until you've gone through 7 more qts. (I made a male to male hose couple out of the fittings that came in the cooler kit to add a long piece of hose to watch the fluid coming out while standing by the side of the car.)
Installing the cooler can be a bit of a pain, literally. If you use the nylon pieces to attach the cooler to the front of the condensor, you have to get your hand in between the condensor and radiator, and that's a bit like sticking your hand in a cheese grater. The LPD coolers have mounting flanges and come with pieces to be used as brackets. If you can mount it this way it will be less painful. You will have to remove the grill and one of the underside shrouds for proper access. The whole thing (flush and cooler install) took about 3 hrs on a 3rd gen.