First and foremost... I LOVE my Maxima, but the people at Nissan Customer care are worthless!

My tranny was hard shifting, shifting weird in general, and "clunking" during some shifts. Took it in... dealer said fluid was low (although it had never been serviced before) and filled it. Problem persisted. Took it back in, they said it was the valve body (TSB 04035). Replaced valve body which made problem worse. Replaced o-rings in valve body... no change. Replaced computer... no change. Now, they have supposedly determined the valve body they were sent was defective. They ordered new one, received part, however they need a particular gasket (Nissan p/n: 31729-8Y000) in order to complete the replacement. Apparently, this gasket is on a worldwide backorder until May 6 !!!

They have had my car for 2 1/2 weeks now and will be one month by the time this saga is finished. They are paying for (most of) a rental car, but my frustration is becoming unbearable. I need answers and specifics on when the part is coming in, etc. Nissan Customer Care (1-800-Nissan1) is a joke and they don't know ****.

Does anyone have any contacts in the Nissan parts distribution that I can contact to find out info on this part backorder!?!?!? I'm desperate... I need my car for a 2 week roadtrip due to leave on May 12 and I don't want to wait on Nissan until the last minute.

By the way, I found out that TOYOTA makes the transmissions for Nissan! WTF?!?!

 

HUH, TOYOTA! Where did you get that info?

Not sure what to say bout the situation with your max, but I'd keep calling the dealer. They have your car and your money so you have reason to call till you get answers. Can you try a different dealer?

My experience so far with the 6th gen parts ordered through the dealer is that they are always on worldwide backorder. I'm currently waiting for a fan blower and heater core box. It's been three weeks, and not a word! At least I can still drive my max.

dla

 

Yep, unfortunately, it's true. According to Nissan, the max transmissions are made by Toyota.

Unfortunately, my trans is in pieces at the dealer, so I'm stuck driving this gas guzzling Dodge Durango rental.

 

Can you Lemon Law it?

 

Why are you paying for a rental...did you bump it up from the free ride from nissan.
Secondly, Look in the stickies to see what to do if you have problems with your car. I have outlined in great detail what you should be doing. If you need any other help PM me.

 

can't lemon law it... don't think there are enough probs with it to warrant a claim...

they were fresh out of loaners so they gave me the biggest piece of shi!t Altima off the lot... was hail damaged beyond recognition, external trim pieces coming off, driverside door had major rattle, stunk like a$$, etc... i told them it was unacceptable so Nissan is paying for rental.

thanks for the tip, msoemax... i'm looking at your thread now.

 

they have had your car for 2.5 weeks, 30 days out of service and its eligible. Check out the lemon law stickies. Good luck!

 

Its really made by toyota? I think thats ok...as long as its not a ford tranny.

 

I am guessing toyota doesn't make their tranny either. I bet Nissan and toyota buy from the same tier 1 (or 3 i forget which is higher up) supplier. Not too many companies make stuff in house any more...too much $$$. They rather pay someone else to do the hard work and stand by the product. in the long run it makes toyota and Nissan more $$$$$$.

 

My Nissan mechanic told me that the transmission is made by another company (not Toyota) and that Toyota and Nissan both use the same transmission from this company.

 

Do we know the name of the Trans manuf.? Would it be Daihatsu, Hundai or Hitachi? I was thinking this as they are all big players in the Industrial Equipment arena and are probably masters at Trans's, even little ones. I guess it's kinda like GM getting Allison to build the Trans in their HD trucks. I would much rather own an Allison transmission than a GM trans. any day.

 

Aisin is the maker of the Toyota/Nissan/Mazda auto trannies......
Good luck with your car....

 

Try JATCO. That is a Nissan Mitsubishi jointly owned company,which I believe manufactures all Nissan transmissions including the CVT

 

The supply chain goes in this order.
Tier 1 (first supplier of major parts directly to automaker)
Tier 2 (usually supplies directly to tier 1 sometimes direct)
Tier 3 (supplies tier 2 or 1)

At least on the Japanese market. I work closely with some tier 1's and 2's for Honda rarely have I dealt with a tier 3.

 

According to what I found today, a lot of Nissan transmissions are manufactured by TransTec. Their sight says they make the 04 Maxima SE and SL transmissions among others.
http://www.transtec.com/selector_guide/NissanDatsun.htm


Aisin also makes a transmission for the Max, but does not list the model years.
http://www.aisin-aw.co.jp/en/02produ...1ff/index.html


Jatco also makes transmissions for Nissan, but I could not find any for the Maxima.
http://www.jatco.co.jp/E_JATCO/SHOHIN/CVT_E.HTM

 

August 3, 1999
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
TransTechnology Ltd.
JATCO Corporation
Agreement Reached for Merger Between TransTechnology and JATCO, Affiliates of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

Tokyo...Today a basic agreement was reached between TransTechnology Ltd. and JATCO Corp., both Nissan affiliates. Based on this agreement, the two companies are scheduled to merge on October 1, 1999.

By the way. Who cares as long as it works? Which mine does very well.
This is a very complex transmission that does many things well. Much better than any 4speed automatic I have seen.

Most car manufacturers are parts bins anyway.

 

I'm curious about the transmission manufacturer issue myself. If the transmission is really the same one used by toyota, does that mean that the 5AT transmission in the Camry and Sienna are the same as in the new Maxima? My boss has a new Sienna, and it the transmission was actually quite impressive...between the extra ratio and the decently powerful V6 (nothing like a VQ though) that heavy van could move fairly well.

Who owned TransTechnology? What is the name of the TransTechnology/JATCO merger? What other manufacturers are involved? I would doubt Mitsubishi, as they have a legacy of affiliation with Chrysler (remember DiamondStar Motors?), Mazda because they're partially owned by Ford, and Subaru because theyr'e partially owned by GM (through Fuji Heavy Industries or something like that).

 

MaxKlinger if you are curious just google JATCO.

The 1999 Nissan press release is there.

The JATCO website with the Mitsu transmissions is there.

The joint ownership is there.

 

So far no site proves that their tranny is in the 6th gen max.

 

Or here from Nissan in 2002:

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS...020325-01.html

 

Nissan Maxima 2004 5 speed automatic transmission Model No. RE5F22A is manufactured by Aisin AW CO LTD as Model No AW55-50SN.

Toyota has a 40% equity share in Aisin AW CO LTD.

 

If it's the same mfgr as my 98 trans was then I'm sad. If they changed suppliers since then, then YAY. Good luck man. Like I stated in earlier posts Nissan tranny are not built to match the power of the engine. Maybe they figured out this new trans was better then they could produce and saw the light.

 

The 5-Speed A/T is made by Aisin, a huge Japanese automotive component supplier, owned in large part by Toyota. However, variants of this transmission are also installed in some Volvos and GM products. It is a quality tranny. The 4-speed auto used in early SL models is produced by Nissan of a Jatco design. Nissan has a majority stake in Jatco. The reasoning behind this is that Nissan and Jatco are focusing heavily on CVTs in the future and does not produce a conventional automatic transmission (for FWD applications) with 5 or more gears.

 

This auto transmission saga is never ending