Ok since the weather has gotten to 90 degrees here my tranny seems to not want to act right. It shifts fine thru all gears for the most part. But unless i get on the freeway for and hour and half drive doing 70 to 85mph is when it starts to act up. Doing 80 and i try to push it to 90 it seems hard to do rpm is over 3k. Still going 80 and a car slows in front of me i slow down to about 60 and give half way throttle it downshifts like its at wide open throttle and struggles to 80. Then it will go into overdrive. Most of the time if i come to a stop after this incident and start back out. The tranny wont shift into 4th gear unless i turn the car off. Wat is going on?

 

if you don't have low fluid it's probably going to be the solenoid pack

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...+solenoid,8476

 

Yeah the fluid is good on the stick at the hot mark. Sometimes it randomly shifts rough between 2nd and 3rd but not all the time. What is the possibility of sumthing else wrong. And how much would it cost to get solenoids installed if thats the problem.

 

not likely.
mine also does what yours does when it's hot but it downshifts kinda rough when coming to a stop.
it's the solenoids for sure.

common problem on allot of old trannys of all makes.
when you turn the car off the solenoids will reset thats why turning it off and on works.

mine will basically slip the shlt out of 3rd and kick me into 2nd and won't shift out of it on 100f days.
that burns out the clutches so pull over right away. oil cooler is a good idea or a good bandaid.

the pan right next to the downpipe is 200f even though the other side is 175,
so probably another good idea is to wrap that section.

 

Nice Catch.

Where does that Switch go (where is it installed)?

?

 

go to page 314.
https://nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/2003/at.pdf

it's like this basically.


here's some more info.
http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/tsb/NTB98-049d.pdf

 

Well mine drives good and shifts good until after maybe 2 hours of driving 70mph. Then if i slow down or come to a stop during this episode it will still go into overdrive as long as i dont come to a complete stop. Once i stop after a long drive at high speed is when it will not come out of 3rd gear until i shut the car off. Is this a fail safe mode or something. How much would a shop charge to install the solenoids? I do want to keep the car around for a little while.

 

idk man. like 500bux labor.
i assume the maxima is new enough to go into a limp mode and that's what it's doing staying in 3rd gear
but like i said it over heats the shlt out of the fluid and will burn up the clutches driving like that so just pull over and let it cool down alittle.
it could be the start of a failure.
mine started to do it about 4 years ago when its close to 100f
and now it's starting to downshift pretty hard when coming to a complete stop sometimes.

think about getting an oil cooler as a last attempt to get alittle more life from it maybe

 

Ill try the cooler first and see if it still does it.


OK i will try the oil cooler, but ill prob be looking around for a used tranny since they are like $200-300 bucks around here before it completely dies on me.

 

first thing i did with mine was get a aux transmission cooler, haven't given much worry after that.

 

Kool i will see if pep boys still sells them and prob install this weekend and change the filter as well if it isnt hard to get to. And change a little bit of the fluid.

 

there are two types, one w a thermostat that shuts off if extra cooling isn't necessary, for example in colder winter months, but you are in SC so i doubt you need to worry, i am up in the north east and i got the one with out the thermostat so on winter mornings first 10-15 mins very cold shifts because its still being cooled even though its cold outside. but still no issues even at that. dont forget extra ATF ! i think you will need 2-4 extra quarts.

 

^ have you checked out the temps and how it cools?

https://www.mishimoto.com/engineerin...-and-overview/

i have my eye on this thing i could bypass the cooler to the stock radiator cooler to
warm it up faster which is pretty cool. But getting a cooler and this it'll cost the same as the solenoids.

i don't get it buying an old used trans and putting it in. costs the same and probably takes the same amount of time to install.
and it might do the same thing later.

 

That looks pretty kewl (and pretty complicated)

I looked for videos....Where do you install it..?

 

na man it' super easy. you just splice it into the lines.
one side going to the cooler other side going back to the tranny.

 

http://bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/1091413

this guy just changed his temp sensor and got a new harness but i think it was just
a temp sensor in his case.

i think the nissan sensor is integrated into the harness though

 

Majority of the time ive never had a transmission problem until now. This i35 idk if previous owners did much maintenance far as tranny fluid. Its not bruned jus a dark red. My 02 i35 i drove til 315k miles with no tranny issues at all. But im gonna try the cooler. Wat type of fluid should i go with?

 

maxlife is supposed to be one of the best.

how dark?

mine was a dark red as well on the dipstick but in a container i was more like a cola.
same with the power steering.

 

Like a light pink when warm but dark cherry when cold. Im gonna drain a little today and see and take a picture of it. May go ahead and change the filter inside also. But its not burnt and doesn't smell burnt or anything like that. I had a 93 maxima where the tranny died on me. Smelled almost like sumthing was on fire. But i managed to drive it almost 30 miles before it completely gave out.

 

Well finially got around to changing some of my tranny fluid today and this is what it looked like. I got a gallon of valvoline maxlife from walmart and a pan.

Not too bad but dark enough

 

Well i dont wanna talk too soon but i took the car on a drive after changing the fluid prob 60-80 mile ride in 95 degree weather today. So far so good, it pulls up the hills and slight inclines like a bat out of Hell. I really feel a difference, Got a check engine light but it was for dead 02 sensor.

 

Well after a week with new tranny fluid ive noticed a big difference. There is much better pickup at high speeds even in 100 degree weather. Also i took a 2 hour trip of speeds at 75 to 85 mph in 95 to 100 degree weather and slight hills ect and she performed well the whole way. Unlike before where the car would slip out of overdrive after an hour of high speed in hot weather. I was impressed and happy that i may have saved the tranny for now.

 

great to hear !

 

Thanks man for all the help. I also changed the revolution sensor and the knock sensor as well. Feels good with that fresh valvoline maxlife.

 

Remember it only drains half the fluid out on a change. Always check the dip stick.

person a bought the I30 from had to much fluid in the trans.

It takes 9.9 quarts but you can't put that much in. I full trans flush will take all 9.9 out.

 

Yeah i dont think its a good idea to flush a transmission on an older car. Just a few drain and refills should be ok.

 

^whats the difference?

what i do after drain and fill i unhook the line to the cooler and run it for a sec until new stuff starts coming out.
top off as needed.

use a magnafine filter too should be good.

 

I mean with a machine flush is not a good idea on an older car

 

Brilliant! Thanks for mentioning this! My tranny lines go to a Mishimoto cooler. Piece of cake to install. I've got Jeff Bezos sending one off to me as we speak.

 

unless it was maintained very well and machined flushed before =) in other words dont go machine flushing it for the first time at a later age.

 

gotcha! Well update! So far so good after the tranny fluid change, the car has been driving alot better and has not had the same incident as before. I did have to replace the radiator last weekend, so that gave me a chance to get a tiny bit of fluid drained from the lines to radiator. So far so good and ive taken multiple trips.