i went and bought Matic D Trans Fluid from the dealer but later found out i can use Derxon III /Mercon Fluid from Pepboys for 20 more bucks cheaper for 5 quart. can i use those penzoil Derxon III /Mercon on a 97 Maxima? also, while iw as reading. it seems like Power steering uses ATF fluid too. what the heck? i thougth i am suppose to use Power Steering fluid and not ATF fluid for Power steering. CONFUSED.

 

you can use any DexIII you want. and yes, DexIII is also used in the power steering system. see if you can return the Matic D.

regular ATF changes are vital to keeping these trannys in working order, so plan to do a drain/fill every 15k. depeding on the current mileage and previous service history of your car, you may want to do a full flush to begin with, and then go to 15k drain/fills.

 

Could you please explain your definition of a trany flush and a trany drain/fill?

And 15k oil changes is a bit much, try around 30k.

 

you need to educate yourself. I will help you this one time.

A drain/fill only removes ~4.5qt (out of 10 total qts). this means that after a drain/fill you still have >50% old dirty fluid in your tranny that mixes with the new stuff, giving you slightly cleaner (but still dirty) fluid. how dirty depends on how long you wait to drain/fill.

A flush exchanges ALL the fluid. so you end up with 100% clean fresh ATF.

The lifespan of ATF in our trannys has been well documented by the use of oil analysis. it seems to last about 25k, BUT - since you only get 50% out with a drain/fill you need to do your drain/fills more often than 25k to keep the metal content in the safe zone over the long run.

here's a good example: in the following report, the third column of numbers dated 9/15/05 are from ATF just 9.7k miles after a single drain/fill at the dealer (with a previous drain/fill done 25k before that). The first column dated 6/10/06 are from the same tranny 8.8k after a full flush. the data speaks for itself. data > uneducated opinions.

now grow up and learn some respect.

(edit - the fluid from the first column is still in use. that was only a sample)