5sp input shaft bearing - Did the factory ever resolve this?
11-12-2010, 09:42 AM
#1
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Posts: 173
5sp input shaft bearing - Did the factory ever resolve this?
Hey Guys,
Yesterday I was driving with the stereo off for once and noticed a pretty loud whine from my transmission in 3, 4 and 5th gear. My first though is oh crap is this the dreaded input shaft bearing problem?
My 4th Gen was built in Jan of '99 and has just over 80K on it so it's kind of in the window. But I was wondering, if Nissan have been making this car for close to 5 years, was the input shaft bearing ever superseded to rectify the problem from the factory before it began? Nissan by this point I'm sure were well aware of it.
Anyone know?
Yesterday I was driving with the stereo off for once and noticed a pretty loud whine from my transmission in 3, 4 and 5th gear. My first though is oh crap is this the dreaded input shaft bearing problem?
My 4th Gen was built in Jan of '99 and has just over 80K on it so it's kind of in the window. But I was wondering, if Nissan have been making this car for close to 5 years, was the input shaft bearing ever superseded to rectify the problem from the factory before it began? Nissan by this point I'm sure were well aware of it.
Anyone know?
11-12-2010, 10:09 AM
#2
nissan doesn't make the transmissions, aichi-kikai does. they've been making this transmission for a helluvalot longer than 5 years btw, it's the same trans as in the 3rd gen, in older sentras, stanzas, etc.
anyways it's not a design issue that needed to be "resolved" it was just a labor/time issue. the bearing they use is just fine and will last hundreds of thousands of miles if they use the proper shim behind it. they were saving time during manufacturing by just not bothering to measure properly to find out what shims needed to be in it (probably saves them a half hour or hour per trans times millions of transmissions a year times whatever they are paying their employees - millions of dollars a year in savings plus the fact that they will be able to make and sell more transmissions if they skimp on them. tons of money we're talking about here).
the bearings fail when the cars are out of warranty so nissan doesn't care, no reason to spend more money and make themselves less money.
in short, no, no resolution because they have no business reason to.
anyways it's not a design issue that needed to be "resolved" it was just a labor/time issue. the bearing they use is just fine and will last hundreds of thousands of miles if they use the proper shim behind it. they were saving time during manufacturing by just not bothering to measure properly to find out what shims needed to be in it (probably saves them a half hour or hour per trans times millions of transmissions a year times whatever they are paying their employees - millions of dollars a year in savings plus the fact that they will be able to make and sell more transmissions if they skimp on them. tons of money we're talking about here).
the bearings fail when the cars are out of warranty so nissan doesn't care, no reason to spend more money and make themselves less money.
in short, no, no resolution because they have no business reason to.
11-13-2010, 09:05 AM
#5
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Posts: 173
Well, after a chat with Dave B. prior to reading Nealoc187's answer I figured my first step would be to get new trans lube in there, cross my fingers and hope it solves the problem. Replacing the transmission fluid has been on my to do list for a months, as I didn't know if it's EVER been changed it was well beyond time if still original. Luckily, I found some Redline MT-90 locally yesterday and threw it in there last night.
Just an FYI Dave said there is a upgraded fluid for the 350Z transmissions that we should be using in the A32 and that standard fluid dealers use and sell is just Pennzoil crap with a Nissan part number!
Part Number for it is 999MP-MTS00P Cost: $12.50 QT (Which is what I paid for the MT-90)
Dave said not to be surprised if the parts guy wasn't even aware of it but "this is is what you should be running in your 4th gen - NOT the standard dealer stuff" So I thought I'd pass it on to y'all.
Just an FYI Dave said there is a upgraded fluid for the 350Z transmissions that we should be using in the A32 and that standard fluid dealers use and sell is just Pennzoil crap with a Nissan part number!
Part Number for it is 999MP-MTS00P Cost: $12.50 QT (Which is what I paid for the MT-90)
Dave said not to be surprised if the parts guy wasn't even aware of it but "this is is what you should be running in your 4th gen - NOT the standard dealer stuff" So I thought I'd pass it on to y'all.
Last edited by ineedamaxima; 11-13-2010 at 09:30 AM. Reason: Corrected part number per 99greddymax
11-13-2010, 09:31 AM
#8
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Boulder, CO
Posts: 173
11-13-2010, 06:50 PM
#9
nissan doesn't make the transmissions, aichi-kikai does. they've been making this transmission for a helluvalot longer than 5 years btw, it's the same trans as in the 3rd gen, in older sentras, stanzas, etc.
anyways it's not a design issue that needed to be "resolved" it was just a labor/time issue. the bearing they use is just fine and will last hundreds of thousands of miles if they use the proper shim behind it. they were saving time during manufacturing by just not bothering to measure properly to find out what shims needed to be in it (probably saves them a half hour or hour per trans times millions of transmissions a year times whatever they are paying their employees - millions of dollars a year in savings plus the fact that they will be able to make and sell more transmissions if they skimp on them. tons of money we're talking about here).
the bearings fail when the cars are out of warranty so nissan doesn't care, no reason to spend more money and make themselves less money.
in short, no, no resolution because they have no business reason to.
anyways it's not a design issue that needed to be "resolved" it was just a labor/time issue. the bearing they use is just fine and will last hundreds of thousands of miles if they use the proper shim behind it. they were saving time during manufacturing by just not bothering to measure properly to find out what shims needed to be in it (probably saves them a half hour or hour per trans times millions of transmissions a year times whatever they are paying their employees - millions of dollars a year in savings plus the fact that they will be able to make and sell more transmissions if they skimp on them. tons of money we're talking about here).
the bearings fail when the cars are out of warranty so nissan doesn't care, no reason to spend more money and make themselves less money.
in short, no, no resolution because they have no business reason to.
11-15-2010, 12:08 AM
#12
the shims seem to be on perpetual back order from nissan according to what I've heard. it supposedly takes forever to get them (I've never ordered one but I did rebuild a trans for someone who tried to order them himself before I was tasked with rebuilding it).
I would be willing to bet that most trans shops like AAMCO and what not do not reshim them, but I could be wrong. As long as it lasts longer than whatever their warranty period is (30 days, 90 days whatever) they don't care if it fails again 5-10 years down the line. more money for them when they get to charge $1500 to rebuild it for you again.
Everything I build is shimmed properly when I'm done with it. I have access to a huge number of shims from other makes and models and all you need is the proper diameter shim for whichever bearing you're shimming and then he proper thickness as determined from your measurements and the FSM chart (and maybe a little know-how if the trans is going to be seeing racing duty so you know on what end of the spectrum to shim for different types of bearings).
I would be willing to bet that most trans shops like AAMCO and what not do not reshim them, but I could be wrong. As long as it lasts longer than whatever their warranty period is (30 days, 90 days whatever) they don't care if it fails again 5-10 years down the line. more money for them when they get to charge $1500 to rebuild it for you again.
Everything I build is shimmed properly when I'm done with it. I have access to a huge number of shims from other makes and models and all you need is the proper diameter shim for whichever bearing you're shimming and then he proper thickness as determined from your measurements and the FSM chart (and maybe a little know-how if the trans is going to be seeing racing duty so you know on what end of the spectrum to shim for different types of bearings).
12-23-2010, 07:58 AM
#13
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Posts: 2
nissan doesn't make the transmissions, aichi-kikai does. they've been making this transmission for a helluvalot longer than 5 years btw, it's the same trans as in the 3rd gen, in older sentras, stanzas, etc.
anyways it's not a design issue that needed to be "resolved" it was just a labor/time issue. the bearing they use is just fine and will last hundreds of thousands of miles if they use the proper shim behind it. they were saving time during manufacturing by just not bothering to measure properly to find out what shims needed to be in it (probably saves them a half hour or hour per trans times millions of transmissions a year times whatever they are paying their employees - millions of dollars a year in savings plus the fact that they will be able to make and sell more transmissions if they skimp on them. tons of money we're talking about here).
the bearings fail when the cars are out of warranty so nissan doesn't care, no reason to spend more money and make themselves less money.
in short, no, no resolution because they have no business reason to.
anyways it's not a design issue that needed to be "resolved" it was just a labor/time issue. the bearing they use is just fine and will last hundreds of thousands of miles if they use the proper shim behind it. they were saving time during manufacturing by just not bothering to measure properly to find out what shims needed to be in it (probably saves them a half hour or hour per trans times millions of transmissions a year times whatever they are paying their employees - millions of dollars a year in savings plus the fact that they will be able to make and sell more transmissions if they skimp on them. tons of money we're talking about here).
the bearings fail when the cars are out of warranty so nissan doesn't care, no reason to spend more money and make themselves less money.
in short, no, no resolution because they have no business reason to.
Last edited by nissan_man1; 12-23-2010 at 08:01 AM.
12-23-2010, 09:53 AM
#14
12-23-2010, 12:29 PM
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Worcester, MA
Posts: 4,011
Well, after a chat with Dave B. prior to reading Nealoc187's answer I figured my first step would be to get new trans lube in there, cross my fingers and hope it solves the problem. Replacing the transmission fluid has been on my to do list for a months, as I didn't know if it's EVER been changed it was well beyond time if still original. Luckily, I found some Redline MT-90 locally yesterday and threw it in there last night.
Just an FYI Dave said there is a upgraded fluid for the 350Z transmissions that we should be using in the A32 and that standard fluid dealers use and sell is just Pennzoil crap with a Nissan part number!
Part Number for it is 999MP-MTS00P Cost: $12.50 QT (Which is what I paid for the MT-90)
Dave said not to be surprised if the parts guy wasn't even aware of it but "this is is what you should be running in your 4th gen - NOT the standard dealer stuff" So I thought I'd pass it on to y'all.
Just an FYI Dave said there is a upgraded fluid for the 350Z transmissions that we should be using in the A32 and that standard fluid dealers use and sell is just Pennzoil crap with a Nissan part number!
Part Number for it is 999MP-MTS00P Cost: $12.50 QT (Which is what I paid for the MT-90)
Dave said not to be surprised if the parts guy wasn't even aware of it but "this is is what you should be running in your 4th gen - NOT the standard dealer stuff" So I thought I'd pass it on to y'all.
supposed to change the fluid every 30k
12-23-2010, 12:58 PM
#16
Part of the issue that's never mentioned was the transmission wasn't designed for the use 95% of us .orgers do with it. It was designed as a street car transmission for a sedan with 160hp, not something street-raced constantly with 200+hp and raised rev limiters.
It's the same reason those 30,000-mile tires on our cars only last 10,000 miles.
That said, I've opened about 8 Maxima transmissions and found all of them to be shipped reasonably well on the main shaft and output shaft.
The input shaft uses ball bearings, so it shouldn't necessarily NEED to be shimmed according to theory. I have been wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to convert the input shaft bearings to tapered roller bearings and shim the shaft to see how it would work.
It's the same reason those 30,000-mile tires on our cars only last 10,000 miles.
That said, I've opened about 8 Maxima transmissions and found all of them to be shipped reasonably well on the main shaft and output shaft.
The input shaft uses ball bearings, so it shouldn't necessarily NEED to be shimmed according to theory. I have been wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to convert the input shaft bearings to tapered roller bearings and shim the shaft to see how it would work.
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