Yeah I have a 2002 Maxima SE. I bought the car used about six months ago. I have about 53,000 miles on the car. I recently started having a problem with my automatic transmission. It shifts fine from 1st to 2nd gear but from 2nd to 3rd it kind of doesn't shift right away. They rpms rev a little and then finds the gear. It doesn't slam into gear though. Should I just change the tranny fluid? Is it just an ajustment or is my tranny on its way out? If someone could help me out that would be great. Anyone have this same problem???

 

First thing to do is change the tranny fluid. This will tell you what condition your fluid is in and may even buy you a few more months/years.

 

Someone posted a similar problem a little while back. A tranny flush would be good since you have 53k on your max. Some people on here that changed their fluid around 20-30k said that it was pretty dark, had quite alot of junk in it and smelled a little burnt. Although based on the earlier post, there seems to be a mechanical problem with your tranny. 3 people reported experiencing the slipping/reving between shifts. It turned out to be a valve/valve + switch malfuncting in the tranny. Here is the link:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=305605

-Jesse

 

The 2-3 shift is a bit soft on every 5th gen i have driven, it is possible the valve body modification could do what you are looking for

 

My max's 3-4 shift feels really weak at wot. Of course I've only done this one time cause the top of 3rd is 110mph+ and now I just ease off a little to not put so much stress on the od shift. I don't want to find out how much it cost to rebuild one of these tranny's. Does anyone know why the auto trans shifts so soft? Was it because of comfort or what? A soft shift probably does more harm than good over many thousand miles.

Dave
02 Maxima SE
85 El Camino w/Turbo V6 swap

 

I have a 2001 Max Se. I haven't changed the tranny oil yet. My car has 70K ... Dumm question? Should I change it and where should I take it? Dealer or Firestone?

 

If you're going to do a full flush, definately take it to some quicky place (Jiffy Lube, Firestone, Merchants, etc). It will be a lot cheaper and the same thing as the dealer.

You could also do it yourself by unhooking the incoming and return lines. There is a procedure on this site. Then you could put whatever fluid you wanted in.

 

My 02 Max w/only ~16K miles also shifts kinda funny like you describe (I think from 2nd to 3rd) when cold. I took it to the dealer and they said they couldn't repro. I left it overnight and they said they still couldn't repro and that the shift points are different when tranny is cold and that probably what I was seeing was "normal". Sigh... At least I have plenty of powertrain warranty left.

 

I am having slipping issues between 1st and 2nd even after the car is warm.
Appointment at Germain Nissan is set for Wednesday, so hopefully they'll find something.
I've had them do a few things on my car including a few TSB's and they don't put up any resistance.
47k miles so powertrain should cover any repairs.

 

have the same minor slip but for 1st to 2nd but doesn't happen all the time so i don't want to waste a day at the dealer for that right now but when it start happenin all the time dealer here i come