So my max shifts kind of hard. I was going to change the ATF but am not sure if I should. Ive read that it can cause problems if it hasnt been done regularly. My car has 117k mile on it, and may never have had the fluid changed.

One more thing that concerns me is that when I checked the fluid the dipistick read full, but the fluid was an orange color, not red. I thought ATF was red.

Any opinions.

 

ATF starts out red, but as it gets dirty it may become darker, maybe orange-ish.

Do a drain and refill several times over a few months and you should be fine.

 

Its a very light orange though. Im kinda worried the po put the wrong kind of oil in there.

You think the drain refill is a better idea than going to a shop and having them do it all at once?

 

Go to the How To: section, IIRC there is a tutorial on there on how to do a proper drain, gets almost all of the fluid... And yes if your fluid is mis colored its most likely either contaminated or burnt... Typically when fluid is burnt its going to darken, and when its contaminated its going to develop a pinkish hue.. so im sure its got to be varnished or something..

go ahead and disconnect one of the coolant hoses that go to the radiator, and have someone you trust with your cars future.. TAP the ignition and it should pump out a bit of fluid every time.. takes a bit of time but should be your best bet.. than fill her up with AMsoil...

http://forums.maxima.org/fluids-lubr...eck-level.html

Oh, and heres the how to: on a typical bleed out, but shes got a lot more than just 5 Quarts in her so youll have to repeat THIS process multiple times... Very time consuming as well as Costly....

http://forums.maxima.org/fluids-lubr...in-refill.html