Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

For you guys who've done this yourselves this post is meaningless, old news.

For this who haven't, I thought this was cool in that my mechanic emailed me photos of the teardown needed to get to the RMS.

The cost here in Tampa was $770.00 which included two new upper oil pan gaskets and 5 (well, 4.25) quarts of synthetic motor oil.

S1cTech

RMS=Rear main seal?

if that is what ur referring too.. then danggg thats expensive...

99BlackMaxMS

iTrader: (85)

I sure hope you changed the clutch while you were in there....

Nice pictures tho.

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

i guess it's expensive cause the rear main seal is what i'm referring to.

two dealers wanted anywhere from $1500 to $1800 for the same work.

it's an auto.

black_maxed95

iTrader: (41)

ya thats not a bad price for replacing a rms considering what all needs to be removed.

JSutter

iTrader: (46)

Funny thing is we dont have oil pan gaskets, its RTV gray.

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

Huh... that is funny.

http://www.partsamerica.com/productd...pe=103&PTSet=A

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Short of the two half moon seals at either end of the upper oil pan, correct.

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

No argument there...

Brittonj85

Could you e-mail me the photos? I can't see the photos ''brittonj85@yahoo.com''.

Also how effective will it be if I do replace my RMS sense my main seal is leaking well more like pouring. I just bought the car which the mech said he replace the seal but I wasn't there to confirm that he did plus one person in the shop told me that they didn't have the part so my guess is that he left the bad seal on and replaced the clutch.

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

photos are back up... sorry. rearranged my photobucket albums and neglected to relink a bunch of them.

so you're saying that both the rear main and the crank seal are leaking? are you sure?

as far as the rear main goes, be sure to check your rear valve cover gasket b/f you tear into the seal. oil from bad rear VC gasket seems to leak to the same or similar spot(s) as the rear main. if the rear main is truly leaking and the leak is a notable one, not much you can do but change it out.

regarding the crank seal (front main)... check the front valve cover, the front crank position sensor (REF), the camshaft postion sensor and the oil pressure switch. leaks at these spots can lead one to believe the crank seal has gone bad. if it really is the crank seal then again it really just needs to me changed out.

Brittonj85

Well the mech looked at my car yesterday because there is fluid leaking from the bottom of my transmission. He said it's the main seal that's leaking and needs to be replaced. He is going to charge me only $300 to do the work. I was doing some research and I found info on RMS so I thought that meant the same as Main Seal. If not then what would be the correct term.

I notice on here that some people say that if you replace the seal you could still run into the same problem, that's what I'm worried about.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Chances are, it's just the oil pan seal underneath the RMS that's leaking, not the RMS itself. They rarely leak.

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

$770 I guess I'm so used to doing my own work but I guess its a good price if other places are charging double.


Hope they Seal it up good!

Blackwind

iTrader: (9)

you really need to drop the lower oil pan?

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

To do the RMS, and do it properly? Yes.

fat_kid

iTrader: (13)

i spy a whale tail....

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

I despise Z32s.

nismology

iTrader: (8)

Ohhhhhhhh +1.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Guess who I first learned that from

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

sure you do sponsor

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Actually, I really do hate even the sight of them. Well, they may look okay...until you pop the hood (TT, at least).

So much crap shoved into such a small engine bay (relatively speaking). PITA to do most anything, god help you if you want to remove the UIM...

After working on a Z32TT I complain less about Z33s, and after working on Z33s I don't complain at all about working on my A32 or Merlyn's A33B.

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

very true. the engine bay looks very cramped but the Z32 takes the cake.

They are still a dead sexy vehicle to me, I might not say that as much when I have to work in that engine bay. Thats why I never got a Z32, it looked so cramped in there that you'd encounter massive headaches trying to change the simplest of things.

Glad the fuel filter is in plain sight

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Took me like 2 hours to change the O2 sensors on that POS...granted, most of the time was cursing and trial and error.

The master mech at my job has done countless Z32TTs, he apparently used to be the only one at the dealer that would accept the work when they'd come in. He was able to show me a few tips and tricks, but regardless of how you do it - pulling the UIM is a complete PITA. Took me forever to get the damn thing off...never seen so many vacuum hoses and galleries in my life.

Brittonj85

How will I know if it's the oil pan seal or RMS?

I did check to see what the fluid smelled like and notice it was the gear oil. I parked the car until it get fix this Thursday but I just wanted to make sure that I have all the correct parts for this job. Also I installed a new clutch and flywheel last week so I hope that this gear oil didn't damage the new clutch & flywheel.

Today I went to fire up the car sense it's been sitting for a couple of days where I've notice some noise coming from the tranny. It happens when I push the clutch down & then back up, like a slight ticking noise.

This is the part that I bought, I've never seen a RMS but this is what came in the mail.


Also my engine light is on, I know my y-pipe is not on the car, so it sounds like a bad *** 300z but I will replace that next week if the part comes in time. How do I tell if there might be something else causing the engine light to come on?

To many questions... I'm trying to get this Maxima right!

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

If it's gear oil, then it's neither the RMS nor the oil pan seal. If it's coming from between the trans and the block, then it'll be either a crack in the bellhousing (unlikely) or the input shaft seal.

Check the codes. Before you ask how to do that, search.

Brittonj85

Is there a differental in my transmission? I notice the shop that I bought the car from put gear oil in the tranny.

The leak is comnig from the bottom of the tranny where you would use you're flathead to help remove tranny from engine. So I should buy a new input shaft seal too just to be on the safe side?

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Yes (you have a transaxle, not a transmission...but around here no one seems to know the damn difference, so transmission is easier to say) you do have a differential in your trans. Although I don't see why gear oil would clue you to that, most manual trans(axles|missions) use gear oil as lube...though there are the oddities that use ATF, or even plain motor oil.

If it's gear oil, and not engine oil, why bother buying the RMS? It has to be leaking from the trans, and the only two ways it could leak from within the bellhousing:

Has the trans in your car ever been serviced before? When they crack it open to replace the input shaft seal, be sure they shim the diff bearings properly.

Brittonj85

Yeah it's diffently gear oil, it has that onion smell. So you're saying leak can be the input shaft seal or the bellhousing. What does the bellhousing look like? I guess the only way I can find out if it's either one is by taking the tranny off again.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

That really is the only way to figure it out, is to take the trans off. Either way, they're going to have to open up the trans.

The area I'm talking about is the recessed area here:

This is an RS6F51H, but same principle applies. The shiny shaft in the middle of the recessed area is where the input shaft comes through to engage with the clutch disk.

You can see the input shaft seal here:


It is the dark seal dead center, which is exactly opposite the area I pointed out above.

Brittonj85

This doesn't sound like a quite easy job, sounds like the transmission needs to be rebuild in order to replace the input shaft seal.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Not really rebuilt, though that would be a good idea while you're in there, if you can afford it. Really the only parts cost for something like that would be some RTV and an input shaft seal, I believe everything else can be reused. A bunch of labor though...

I would just toss in a used one and give the leaking one to me (since I'm in Jessup and doing a 5 speed swap)

Brittonj85

Yeah I'm going to call this company Redmonds and see if they have a 5speed tranny. Today my friend drove it and told me that the noise I hear is the flywheel trying to grip. When I got the car last week I had the clutch replace, didn't know if the flywheel needed it or not nor did the mech mention to do so. The noise sounds like a microwave plate that turns but needs some greesing, you can also feel it if you're foot is on the clutch. My question is, how do you tell if you have a bad flywheel? Also I'm going to have someone that knows what they are doing take a look at the tranny inside and replace the input shaft seal. Today this guy told me that my tranny pump could have gone up but if I could remember someone on this thread said that Maxima's don't have tranny pumps.

I heard it's rare to find a 5spd. This guy down the street from me has a white 5spd supercharge max. My friend tells me it's bad ***, spankin upgraded SRT-4's.

Anyway, what should I do 1st, replace the clutch, flywheel and input shaft seal? The input shaft seal, would that also be known as gasket?

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

It's not rare, per se. It is, however, a PITA to find them (locally). Crazy Ray's in Jessup gets one every few weeks, by the next time I'm there with tools the damn thing's gone. Figures.

Yall should come down to an AAM meet some day, we have some...fun: http://forums.maxima.org/members-rid...8-06-28-a.html

The 5 speeds don't have front pumps, no. Most of the time you go to the dealer, either the service or the parts guy is an idiot. (Anecdotal evidence: Merlyn and I went to a dealer up in Pasadena for a neutral position switch for his 6 speed, and the guy absolutely denied there ever being a 6 speed Maxima prior to 2004...we just left)

If you're pulling the trans/getting it pulled, it's a perfect time to inspect the clutch and flywheel to see if they require replacement. Even if they're at half life, the amount of labor required to drop the trans would make it cost effective to have them replaced (unless you can do it yourself, where it costs nothing for labor). If the input shaft seal is leaking, then definitely replace it, unless you're getting another one as you mentioned.

And if you do replace it...how much you want for the old one?

Brittonj85

I'm thinking about keeping the tranny, it doesn't grind gears and shifts smooth, the flywheel is noisy and from what you said the input shaft seals needs to be replaced. If all fails then I will replace the tranny, or even if the place I call tomorrow has a deal on the transmission then I still will replace lol.

How often do you meet up? When I get this car driving I need to get some tints and a y-pipe bad! I can't stand this rear purple tint anymore. I also want to get a front lip but not sure where to find them and I would like to hook up my kicker subwoofer then eventually get some HIDS.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Heh, actually we really don't meet up often at all. That was sort of an impromptu thing, where AJ stopped by with his 'entourage' as Iron Scimitar calls it, then Weeble1 drove up from VA, and we all just kind of hung out while Merlyn and I finished his car up, then had some fun in the parking lot.

Brittonj85

Oh I see, I thought you guys have meets down in MD.

Question, I'm ordering a clutch kit, does the flywheel come with a clutch kit? I'm going to add you to my AIM too, my SN is mrbachelor85.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Well there are meets, it's just hard to actually ever get anyone there - the trick is to not announce it at all, until it actually happens...heh. 12 people said they were coming to the official AAM Nissan meet, only one person showed up. This time, we didn't mention it until that day, and we had a few maxima guys there.

Flywheels do not come with the clutch kit, no. Those would have to be bought seperately. Easiest is to see if it can be turned first, it would be a lot less expensive as well. If you're going to buy a new flywheel, an aftermarket version would be cheaper than most OEM parts you can find.

Brittonj85

This flywheel does but it makes noise when the car is idling. How much would a stock aftermarket flywheel cost? Salvo Auto has a new clutch kit for 188 but they have to find out if they can get a flywheel.

Brittonj85

My guess is that the flywheel is dirty/clogged full of old tranny fluid that may have leaked from before. I can hear and feel the squeel during 1st gear when talking off but other then that the car shifts good!