Stru

So upon messing around under the hood of my 01 Max SE, I see a dipstick next to the block. Thinking it's the oil dipstick, I proceed to "check my oil". Looks very dark, but full so I figure hmph and put it back. A few days later, I see another dipstick that reads "engine oil" so I think to myself "what the hell was I checking?" Then I realize that my transmission fluid was black....

Uhh, is there any hope in saving the transmission now? Is it too late to drain it? If not, where do I drain it from and what fluid do I add?

Mr. Blue Sky

iTrader: (1)

If it is working fine(no serious slipping, etc) then I say leave it as it is. If the transmission fluid has never been changed( or at least not in a very long time), and is a dark color, it is not a good idea to change it. The fluid itself probably has particles that are actually aiding in causing enough friction for normal shifts(at this point). The transmission may start to slip if you suddenly change it, due to the wear on your bands/clutches.

ateick

iTrader: (1)

Change it! Just like engine oil, transmission fluid has additives and modifiers that wear out. These are vital to a transmissions proper function. If your engine oil went black wouldn't you change it? The problem with doing a flush or drain and fill with the fluid black is not introducing new fluid (with all the good stuff that transmission fluid is supposed to have), the problem is usually this -- the owner starts to have a problem so they check the fluid and see that it's black. So they decide it's time for a flush to fix everything up. They do the flush but the tranny is already cooked so the initial thing that made them check the fluid starts to get worse and worse. Tranny eventually fails and they end up blaming it on the flush.

2damax

^ you told OP to change fluid and then gave a great reason NOT to change it lol.

ateick

iTrader: (1)

No I explained that it's necessary to change it just like any fluid but that if your tranny is already on its way out dont blame the flush for future failure

Amerikaner83

iTrader: (17)

I call on "don't change it cuz it's black"...that may have been true back in the day, but with today's cars it's not. My wife's 97 Outback had trans flushed (full fluid exchange method) at 210K with no issues (changed at 100K originally). I did it on my 97 Grand Am at 195K miles (first change as far as I could tell, no records, but I put 110K on it since I bought it adn never changed in that interval), no issues. Did it to my 99 max at 141k (first time change), no issues. Grand am was sold but has 210k on it now, outback has 230K, and max has 160k.

No issues.



Simply draining and filling the trans 3x in a week will be fine, and get about 95% of the old fluid out. It's the harsher methods (power flushing) taht can break the transmissions...fluid exchange method (a writeup of such is here on the org, using the return line and funnel) is perfectly safe.

Stru

Okay, so change it myself little by little to clear the system up. Any of you guys could give me a hand on where to drain it from, how much to drain at a time, etc.? I'm not a big mechanic and don't know too much about this car yet. Thanks in advance

Oh, and I should probably mention that the transmission still seems to be in good shape (knock on wood). It's got 160k on it and I'm currently dealing with ECM/IACV/TPS problems, and without many options I'm driving it around and putting a lot of wear and tear on the tranny. My TPS isn't calibrated correctly and my idle is high so my tranny is being sent all over the place, but hopefully after this bout with ECM cancer my vehicle will be okay.

nsnrider

iTrader: (59)

absolutely right.

this is how I think about it.

remember how back in the old days before showers, people would take baths to wash themselves. Now, you fill up the tub with water, get in and wash yourself, rinse off in the water and get out and dry off with a towel. Now the next time, you fill tub with new water and repeat.

when you don't change fluids in the car, you are basically going back to the same tub with dirty water to bath. You can see how quickly the water would be very dirty and do more harm than good.

same thing in the machinery. Drain and fill with new fluids so the parts have the proper "nutrients" to prolong there life and stay clean.

Just my $0.02.

ramriv777

In 2003 I bought an 02 SE a/t with 15k miles on it (the Tungsten Blue one on my profile pics). Due to ignorance, I never bothered to service its transmission. At 70k miles, I asked my Nissan dealership about it because the oil was kind of dark. He said it should've been serviced every 30k miles and it may or may not fail if we changed the oil. He recommended to do a drain and fill (absolutely no flush!) and see how it went. Well, about 8k miles later, it started slipping. Luckily, I had an extended warranty, and I only paid the $100 deductible for a new transmission.

Now I have an 03 SE TE a/t (Merlot) with 140k miles, and to be honest, I am puzzled as to whether I should service it or leave it alone. I bought it with 130k miles and I don't know how often it was serviced. The oil looks pretty clean (pink) right now. I'm guessing its previous owner serviced it. So I'll probably ride it for another 10k miles or so and worry about it then.

Based on my experience, my advice to you would be to leave it alone and ride it out. Just check the oil level once a month or so, and make sure it's topped off. Based on the condition of your oil, I'd say that changing it now would definitely kill your tranny.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

for craps, post a picture of the tranny oil. some brands actually make transmission oil that has the same golden brown colour of motor oil.

TravisCadello

Never failed for me. everytime i change tranny fluid bout 6k miles later a few times sooner then 6 it would start slippin n jumpin in random gears happened to 4 cars I've done it on.


your call,may get lucky n it last for ever or just fail. on two of them trannys i drained n filled with a bottle of lucas stop slip to condition the seals n **** put extra film of protection then last two i thought to myself i bet lucas caused the issues n ran straight atf and still bad luck!!


I vote for leave it alone.

BlackThornDemon

I think of changing tranny fluid like conventional oil vs synthetic. If you have any leaks, switching to synthetic will make those leaks worse. If you tranny is slipping, changing the fluid will make it slip more.

ateick

iTrader: (1)

Hey it's your tranny. If you want to let it ride go ahead but just realize the implications of brown or black transmission fluid. It means that the fluid is very old, it has likely lost all the properties that are important to trans fluid like anti-wear & friction modifiers, cleaners, seal conditioners, anti-foamers, etc. Heat is what kills transmissions. When they lose the abililty to cool themselves properly they burn the fluid which is what you have with the brown/black colour and likely burnt smell. Leaving it wouldn't be my choice but again it's your car.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

i had the opposite on my 3rd gen, around 400,000km it would sometimes lag going into drive and sometimes it would go into drive rough and do a light slam. changed the ATF which probably wasnt changed in years to Royal Purple ATF, the clunks and lags went away and i got 10-15,000km more out of the trans before it started to slip

Stru

Well, it's not exactly black and burnt YET. It's a semi-dark brown color, looks like it's got some time left in it. I'm gonna get the TPS issue fixed first before touching anything in it. I might even sell my car once I get it to run correctly again (with the ECM, IACV, etc.). Sorry to say, but this Maxima has been nothing but a godamn headache since I bought it. I'm sure they could be great cars, but I've grown to hate the damn thing after dumping a ridiculous amount of money into it. I'm 19, only making $300 a week and I'm sick of dealing with all these damn electrical issues.

Probably gonna get something basic with absolutely nothing but an engine, transmission, and battery in it. Atleast then I won't have to worry about god damn electric motor mounts failing and destroying my car's computer -_-

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

if it doesnt smell burnt, it probably just needs to be changed then. over time, transmission fluid will turn brown naturally from heat in the transmission. completely normal, just needs to be changed. when the fluid goes black and smells like burnt toast, you have issues

Mr. Blue Sky

iTrader: (1)

i agree with chrome. my initial response was assuming it was burnt/black, so you may be able to change the fluid without issues.

vqmaxman

If the tranny was never flushed/serviced, I would leave it alone. I would say if your to do a flush/service to the tranny that has only 30k-100k that car has to at least shift good and the color has to be anywhere from pink (being fresh) to raspberry red. If the tranny has the brownish color and not black and it has no odor or slippage take the risk and change it. hopefully the tranny was once or twice has some serviced done to it.

Pilm

Given your bad luck with the car so far, I wouldn't open up another possible can of worms by changing ATF, especially since it doesn't sound urgent. If later you fix the idle and decide to keep it, then consider it again, but for now just get the stupid idle crap fixed.