westie13

I have 87,000 miles on my 2001 automatic Maxima, and need the transmission replaced/rebuilt. The car developed a transmission "flair" between gears 2 and 3 a couple of years ago, and now there is another "flair" between gears 1 and 2. I've been nursing it along (I live in a rural area where I don't shift a lot). The estimate to do the work is $4100. My concern is that more can go wrong with this 18 year old car after the repair. What is the history of this vehicle over 100,000 miles? I ask because my 1993 Nissan Sentra SER needed a new engine at 103,000. I would hate for that to happen to the Maxima. I'm pondering the economics of all this, and welcome people's thoughts.

maxiiiboy

Slow down:

• What exactly do you mean by "flair" ?
• So, to fix your transmission "flair", you got an estimate for $4,100. Presumably for a transmission replacement, but WHY ? What is the PROBLEM you/they are trying to fix?
• Your car, a 2001 with 87,000 miles, is a low-mileage car. Ask anybody on this forum .... . Unless its maintenance was severely neglected, you should be able to drive it for another 100k-150k miles.
• When well-maintained, our cars can do 250,000 - 400,000 miles. My car (2000 Max SE/AT) has 153,000 miles on the odometer, uses no oil, and I expect it to last at least until 250,000k.

I suggest you do a "triple drain&fill" of your AT and see what happens. Buy three gallons of the Valvoline Maxlife ATF ($17.95/gal at Walmart), and do three "drain&fill's" within 4 weeks or less. If your "flair" is really bad, drop the AT pan and clean the magnets. When you do that, take a picture of your magnets and submit it here for a review.
If your shifting is still bad, make sure your ground distribution is good. If you are not sure how to do that, ask. Even better, install a grounding kit.

Good luck!

mclasser

^^this^^

Donkeypunch

Does it depend on temps?

Does it do this?

cdoublejj

i have had techs tell me of cases where replacing the ATF made things worse, but, not mention of a triple flush. TransGo sells a kit for the flair issues but, only works if you head off the problem, like mine it's probably too late. i know mine has gone too long and been abused.

westie13

If I buy the fluid and take it to a mechanic, can they do this all in one go, or do you mean I will need 3 separate visits? (I have no idea how to do this myself.)

The engine goes VROOM and the car jumps a little at 15 mph. It's been like this for a couple of years. I think this takes place when it's shifting into Gear 3 or 4. This occurs when I'm driving on a flat road, and when I'm driving up a hill.

Lately, it has started to VROOM the same way, from Gear 1 to Gear 2, after I've been driving and the engine has warmed up. The original VROOM/stutter/flair doesn't depend on temperature.

I watched the YouTube video below, and had no idea what was happening, but I'm glad it worked for somebody.

Thanks again! It hurts to think about losing this car.

Derrick2k2SE

iTrader: (3)

These cars generally go for hundreds of thousands of miles with little trouble. My 00 has over 300,000 on the original motor and tranny. I did have to swap out the shift solenoids at 300,000 but that's not a big deal. I've had very few issues, none major, since getting it in 2004 for my ex. She's gone but the car is still here.

No way I'd dump $4,000 into a car that's not worth anywhere near that. Put that money towards something newer if you're not one to do your own repairs. Old cars like these don't make sense if you're paying people to do all the work.

maxiiiboy

You can do this, it's very simple:

1. Buy 3-4 jugs of Valvoline Maxlife ATF at Walmart.
2. Take the car to your mechanic and ask him to:
   • Drain the transmission fluid,
   • Refill with new ATF fluid,
   • "Drive" the car for a minute or two to mix up old/new fluid (Note: "Drive" can be done on the lift, just shift through the gears to mix the ATF),
   • Repeat the above three steps two more times.
3. Chances are pretty good that your problem will be fixed.

It will only cost you about sixty dollars for the ATF, plus whatever your mechanic will charge you for the labor (can be done in 1/2 hour).