After 220K my auto trans is slipping bad between gears. The local trans place says $1500-3000 to rebuild depending on internal damage. OUCH! I have found several low mileage used transmissions for sale. I have gotten differing reports on the difficulty of changing out a 96 trans. Does anyone have any real experience they could share? Thanks.

jjam

 

Sure, first off, do you have ANY mechanical experience? You don't need a lot, but you do need some. Second, do you have at the very least a Haynes or Chiltons maintanance manual? Besides these, you are going to need a decent tool set, a heavy duty breaker bar (for the axle nuts) a couple of different jacks and some torque wrenches. It can be done by one person, but I HIGHLY recommend having 2 or more people doing the job. Getting the case to line back up can be a real PITA. Be prepared for quite a mess when changing the auto as well, as your going to get tranny fluid all over the place. Hope this helps.

 

Its a lot of work. I did most of the work, but I had friends help me here and there. If you are a beginnner and have no one to help you, you probably need should take it to a professional or have a person that did it before help you. You also need the right tools, cuz believe me, I had to use three floor jacks to bring the tranny down and back up. One to hold the car up (backup in case the stands fail), another to hold up the engine, and the third one is to bring down the tranny. Tranny weighs around 170 lbs. If you feel you could take this challenge good luck.

 

Manual transmission weighs around 90+ lbs. Auto is only about 110 lbs.

 

I just picked up an auto trans not to long ago. No way they are 170lbs.

 

If you have a lot of time on your hands and have done engine work before then go for it. If not I would just get it done professionally.

 

I'm not a beginner at wrenching by any means, I have a lot of tools, and a place to do it. Of course, time and aggravation is also part of the equation. From the description, it sounds like the trans can be split with the engine still in. Is this the case? Can the engine and trans come out as a unit and then swap the trans out of the car? I have done a lot of engine and trans changes, but none in a Maxima. The damn thing has been stone reliable since new. I have changed several FWD engines, but never a FWD trans. I have a problem though with an estimate of $1500-3000.

jjam

 

You will need two jacks. One under the motor, one under the transmission. Once you have removed the axle shafts and all but 2-3 bolts (break torque on them, but leave them tight) remove the transmission mount, and then the lower engine brace lower together your engine and transmission. It will slowly tilt down to the left. You will have to slowly lower it until you get enough room to remove the transmission out the left side of the car. Once you get the transmission loose from the engine and clear of the torque converter, lower the jack holding the transmission down, slide it off of the jack, and get ready to hoist up the new one. Hope this helps.

 

If you disconnect the torque converter first, can you drop the trans straight down? I normally don't split the torque converter out of an auto, but I have never done a Maxima trans either.

jjam

 

The torque converter is bolted to the timing plate on the engine, which is bolted to the crank. I'm not sure how you would get it off without first removing the transmission. It's really not that hard, and you will not damage anything by lower it from the side. Ive done this myself 6 times now, twice by myself (don't recommend!). Hope this helps.

 

Typically in an auto trans there is either a cover plate at the bottom or at least an access hole to get to the torque converter bolts. The access is enough to get to one bolt at a time by rotating the engine. It is a lot less hassle to disconnect from the flex plate before dropping the trans. That allows the trans to drop straight down as soon as it clears the alignment dowels, which is only about 1/2"-3/4". It also keeps the fluid in the trans. The same goes for reassembly. Put the torque converter back in the trans before reassembly and there are no reallignment issues. I have never seen an auto trans that was not like this. From the previous descriptions, I can see why reinstalling the trans with the torque converter attached to the engine would be an allignment issue. Is there enough room to drop the trans straight down after a 3/4" split from the engine?

jjam

 

i can do it in a weekend a few union breaks.....its not hard if you have mechanical aptitude and understand HOW you car works. if you were closer i wouldnt mind lending a hand......you can text me if ya have any questions

9088689161

 

You are correct. I converted my auto to 5spd when the auto failed and removed the tranny the hard way (left the torque converter on, boy what a mess that made). THere is a little access hole where you could disconnect the bolts that hold the tq to that flex plate. Its not difficult. I didnt even remove the crossmember onmine, just loosened the bolts a tad to lower the engine maybe half an inch. I had two jack stands holidng the car up. I layed down underneath the car and just "bench pressed" it off. Its really not that heavy, 100-120 lbs.... After my manual failed due to the bearings, I must have taken it on and off maybe ten or more times to fix it. Havent had a problem since....or about 2 years ago...

 

Thanks for verifying that the access hole is there. From your description I guess the answer to whether the trans will drop straight down (3/4" split)with the torque converter disconnected is YES. It should not be all that bad then. Thanks.

jjam

 

its not that hard to do. its mostly just time consuming taking exhaust and such off and putting everything together after. and you gotta make sure the bell housing is flush without forcing the input shaft into the rear of the engine or else you will cause problems.

 

+1 for the access hole and disconnecting the TC before lowering the tranny.

 

i've done mine twice now, it's not really that bad. If you can work in tight spaces, no need to remove exhaust or cross member. I only removed my exhaust on reinstallation to ease the process of axle bracket bolts and torque converter bolts. So far as i've ever been taught, absolutely never remove trans with tc on the flexplate. You just need 17, 14, 12, 10, and 36mm tools for the process.