Well, after 50K miles and numerous grinding problems and hard shifting back into 1st, I took my Max into the dealer this morning and asked them to replace my radio under a good will, oil change and have them look at my 3rd gear grind. They told me they would have to drop the transmission and look at it and most likely would have to be replaced since they know about his issue with the 6spd trannys. My buddy Javier at Quality Nissan even hooked me up on a rental car since he told me it would be about 5-7 days or so. I told him to take his time. Only drawback is they gave me a Dodge Neon, which isn't really that bad....just a cheap car.

I'll keep you guys updated on the results of the new/rebuilt tranny.

 

Is it the same problem affecting the G35? I haven't heard of anyone with the 02-03 max with 6sp trans problems but you're the only one I've heard of so far driving the car past 50,000 miles.

 

Actually, there have been plenty of people with problems with the 6 speed...

I know WILLSE has had his replaced at least twice, maybe even three times. It's funny, but it seems like the problem is more common in the 2002 model.

 

i had mine replaced at about 12,000 miles


dave, they are replacing it at no cost to you? how did you get them to do that?

 

Yep....no cost to me. I know most of the service writers there, and they hooked me up on a rental which I thought was cool. I just bought them Pizza Hut

 

Mine's in the shop right now (and has been since Monday) for having the tranny replaced as well. The tranny wouldn't engage into 6th gear, and was extremely notchy in 3rd and 5th gear.

When you refer to "them knowing about the issue with the 6 speed trannys", what is it that they know, other than the fact that they are locking up and causing holy hell for the driver?

Please elaborate a little. My poor car has been sitting on a dealer's lot all week long, with no sight of it returning to my possession before Christmas.

And for those who care, I didn't take the rental car option because I'd rather drive the 350 than to drive a Neon or other P.O.S.

 

The Neon is not costing me anything except gas. Once this is taken care of I will post the RO and let you know what they did.

One of the service writers owns ann '02 Spec V with the same 6 speed notchiness and grinding. He told me he is going to replace his too under warranty.

 

is it being replaced with a newer version that won't have the same problem, or are you going to have this same problem again in 40k miles or so?

 

dunno yet. When they diagnose the problem, I'll let you guys know

 

If your dealer is doing what mine is, they won't actually diagnose the car until the new tranny arrives. For some reason, the service manager (mod friendly) told me that Nissan wasn't allowing them to dismantle the tranny at all. They (the dealer) were asked to completely replace the entire transmission by NNA. Also, NNA told them to order a new transmission, not a rebuilt one. As I have said previously, this could mean that another TSB (or a possible recall) is probably heading down the line.

I just hope that they don't put a "bad" tranny back in the car. Because at 40k more miles, my powertrain warranty is gone. If they put a "bad" tranny back in my car, then release a TSB, and then the tranny fails, I'll have to contact NNA to get them to pay for the tranny to be swapped again.

Maybe I need to call DaveB and see if he knows anything about this....

 

Thats a great idea
call Dave B to see if he has a inside word abou this. My buddy at the dealer ship told me that they need to quote "tear down" the tranny to figure out whats up. I betcha a TSB would be down the line.

When NNA told your Nissan dealer to replace your tranny with a new one, did they use your old clutch and other stuff with it?

 

is this problem found only in 6 speed maximas?

 

update...

Nissan approved a brand new transmission today

The cause of the problem was a bad 3rd gear synchro. I asked my buddy at the dealership if there is a TSB or a recall on this and he said "not yet" so it may be soon or it may not. Nissan told him just to replace the whole transmission than just the syncros.

He suggested that when you go into the dealership about your shifting problem, tell the dealer you have a 3rd gear grinding problem and if you are still under the drivetrain warranty, Nissan will hopefully replace your transmssion.

don't tell your Nissan dealer if you have transmission fluid other than Nissan OEM fluid

Hopefully this will help with the other 6-speed owners out there...

 

I just took my car to the dealer for the same problem but they say that it is normal and not defective. I had my clutch replaced several months ago under the TSB and supposedly the fluid was brought up to the new spec but I had them change it again anyway but they didn't have any 75-85w in stock which makes me wonder if they ever even put that in to begin with. Anyway, he changed it with some new 75-90w and it does feel better than before. This is the fourth time the fluid has been changed and the car only has 40k. I am going to see how it behaves because now I have a bad throwout bearing and when I have that replaced, they will put the new stuff in if I want. I am really disapointed with Nissan's service (and build) quality as are many other people on this board. I can honestly say I will never buy any Nissan product again, even Infinity, I don't care what they have to offer. When I was describing the problem to the tech he says " there's a lot of moving parts in there you know"! No $hit! How do all the other companies do it then? I don't care what anybody says, third gear should not crunch when it is engaged. I will keep bringing the car back for every little tiny problem from now on just to **** them off. Thank God I travel for my job so I can leave it there all the time. Does anybody know how a TSB is originated? It seems to me that this is a very common problem and it would give us some leverage to get it fixed if there were one....

Thanks everybody for your input