Hello all, need some help from the experienced 6th gen. gurus.

I got a used 05 maxima with 82000 miles and came with a free tranny flush. I had to wait few days for it, no problems.

Upon driving for the few days, I noticed that the gear shifting from 2-3 had slight kick, all the others worked fine. Also, after driving of 20-30 mins on local roads with several gear changes, the transmission shifting changed.

Shifting from P to R and to D in the mornings, no problems, very smooth and normal. After 20-30 mins of local driving, D to R and R to D has delay of 3-4 secs followed by a big thump.

I go to the dealer for a free tranny flush, and they informed me that they can only do a drain and fill as the 05 maxima doesn't have a return line for a machine flush. I read lot of info. on the forums and it seems that they are lying and didn't want to perform a full flush.

Any input on this will be appreciated.

 

sometimes a full flush can cause wonky problems on auto transmissions. i know Toyota does the same and says they only do drain and fill, no flush. you can hook a flush machine to the trans cooler input and output lines, ive done it on vehicles before but even my own stuff i just drain and fill. to me, its far better to drain and fill the trans via the pan a few times vs a flush

so someone else than Nissan did a trans flush prior? if so, i would see if they used the wrong fluid. someone correct me if im wrong but i believe 6th gens use Nissan Matic-D fluid.

 

Thanks chrome91,

I'll stick to drain and fill. The 05 maxima is a 1 owner car and the drain/fill or flush hadn't been done on it ever. I was told that the trans fluid drained looked like oil color, which assures that it was never changed at all.

The manual calls for Nissan Matic K if i remember right. Hopefully, 3-4 more drain/fills will smoothen out the shifting overall.

 

I'm afraid with 82k miles you're getting to the inevitable: valve body change. Yeah, it's good to drain/refill, but it'll ultimately avail little in the circumstances. I'd suggest you scan the car, if no codes I'd say you watch it closely for these budding gear shifts.

 

Hey Costee,

I was thinking along the same line after reading the forum and different cures other max. users have. I know where/how to use the OBD inside the car, any other place I can plug it and scan it besides under the steering wheel? I think that OBD machine might be worth investment. Plus the car comes with 12mo/12K mile powertrain warranty, of which the dealership covers all the costs for first 3 mo/3K miles.

I got a P0455 code couple of days after filling my gas tank up, stealership just resetted it. They didn't know that I had a print out from Autozone's free diagnostic.

 

Under the steering wheel (DLC-data link connector) is the only place, I believe, there is.
If you ask me, you can't do without , as you call it, an OBD machine (scan tool). If affords you to keep constant tabs on your car.
As for the cleared P0455, let's hope it was just some fluke resulting from the procedure you had your car fuelled on that occasion.

 

only place there is an OBDII connector is under the drive side dash, its universally mandatory for all OBDII vehicles that the connector be located there

 

Hey Guys, thanks for posting your experiences and insight on the 6th gen. maxima. It has helped me a lot in learning about the tranny issues. From what I gather, the VB replacement might be best in future. Here is a recent update on my 05 max.

Since I got the car, I've done couple of drain and fills within 350 miles of driving.

One of the issues I see a big difference is the shifting from D to R and R to D after 40-45 mins of driving.

The D to R shift makes no bang/thud noise anymore. The delay is only a second or so, I can feel the far move very slightly when I put it in R, but no noise, which I can live with.

The R to D also no bang/thud noise. The delay is the same about 3-4 secs and the car bumps like it wants to jump ahead or being pushed from the back. When the car is on downhill lie, it seems to shift harder, when it uphill lie, much smoother shifting.

The overall shifting is the same, only 2-3 shifting issue, no noise from 2-3 shifting, but feel the car jerk slightly, almost like it is skipping/slipping into the gear. The 3-2 shift, I noticed the RPM goes down to 500, once the downshift happens, back to 2000 depending on the speed. I've used triptronic shifting on local roads and that works fine.

All the other shifts are normal and no issues.

I was thinking about switching to Wolfshead Universal Synthetic ATF fluid and adding 6oz. of Bestline product during my next drain/fill. What do you guys think? Any experience in using either products?

 

Costee,

After the P0455 code was reset by the dealership, the light came back on again the next day. They ended up replacing the eval. vent control valve, for free. SOB reset the code because the car was 5 days old and under 200 mile satisfaction warranty. Bit him in the *** the next day, the sales team took care of the tab, which was nice.

Now I'm hoping that the codes for tranny shows up soon so I can get that issue resolved soon.

 

Lol. Yeah, the inevitability I mentioned. Just take your time. The good thing is you're prepared for it. I got my car on 92k miles, when at 96k it began to show the signs I was ready for it. I changed the vb forthwith.

 

Costee,

do you have any experience in using synthetic atf instead of matic K and other additives like bestline? I did transtune before 1st drain and fill.

as always appreciate the insight.

 

No I don't, and I don't intend using any additives. The vb of our cars seem to have a fundamental design flaw (Nissan used it only for two years 04-06 and abandoned it thereafter). Whatever improvement an additive could provide can therefore only be one of degree and not of kind.

 

My suggestion is use only k matic. It was designed to run on that.

When my car started being rough, I drained and filled 3x (driving 2-3 minutes in between)
cured all roughness.

Then a month later, I did another one.
And now, I do a drain and fill every year. Takes 3 bottles, something like 50$, worth it to keep the transmission good I guess.

I would not powerflush or run any solvent in the transmision.

 

I've started to notice a very slight kick when my car shifts from 2-3 gear.

So, if I do a drain and fill with the recommended ATF, would be cured?

 

did you read my last post or something?

 

hello all, just an update after 750 miles and total of 3 drain/fills and welcome any comments/suggestions.

Added transtune 100 miles before first drain/fill. Added Bestline power train lubricant during 3rd drain/fill. Fluid color was still dark, brownish red during 3rd drain/fill.

Overall, the shifting has improved, still pronounced jerking on 2-3 shift, but sometimes very smooth. After 25-40 mins of local driving (frequent 2-3-4 shifting back and forth), slight delay from D to R is present most of the time and got better, but delay from R to D is still there, the car jerks quietly and the bang noise has gone.

If I shut the car off for a minute or so after long/local drive, the shifting R to D and D to R is back to normal, no delay and no jerking.

Still no codes of any sort. I've used triptronic on purpose to see if anything shows up, that performs better compared to when the car is running in auto mode.

Did the free multipoint inspection at AAMCO after third drain/fill and 100 miles later, they found nothing wrong during the test drive, in auto and triptronic. They hooked the car to their computer, checked shifting etc. and no codes were present, everything including solenoids was fine, no defects etc detected.

I was baffled and so was the AAMCO owner that nothing showed up after I described to him the usual issues of delay, jerking etc. so I guess that it doesn't seem to be any major issue..........yet.

Will keep updating, I plan to do more drain/fills until I get the normal color fluid in the tranny.

 

You should drain and fill and cycle through the gears including reverse until your color is the same coming out as going in. There is quite a bit of fluid kept in the torque converter. As for the shifting issue, you need to completely reset your TCM "Transmission Control Module". The TCM keeps your settings and remembers how you drive. So resetting it will help relearn how to shift. I recommend doing this after you finish your drain and fills.

 

Appreciate the insight po8pimp,

It looks like I might need to do few drain/fills at once, to get rid of all the old fluid. I plan to drive for 2-3 miles in-between each drain/fill and i'll shift thru all the gears using the triptronic shifter.

Could you please provide more information to me on how to reprogram the TCM module? With bit of research, I saw that it requires Nissan Consult II Scan Tool. I also downloaded the PDF file, NTB05026.

Thanks!!

 

If I remember correctly, you have to remove your battery cables for a period of time. Even when the car is off the TCM is getting power. Nissan can also reset it for you.

 

Quick update on the 05 max since I got the car at 83k in '13. The car now has 105k miles now. did about 10 ATF drain fill over last two years, and most of the trans shifts fine. The delay is still there between 2-3, 3-2, R-D etc, but the bang between the shifts is gone. It is just softer delay now between the shifts. Change the battery month ago, other than that no major issues. Did the brake fluid flush, PSF changes(baster method).
Upgraded rotors and pads about a month ago, now got to tackle the fog light issue since they do not turn on.

Any feedback from the experts on the tune up? Looks like I'm due for spark plug change now.

 

ATF fluid I used was anything but Matic K. I used Wolfshead Synthetic and this year switched to Valvoline Maxlife.

 

TCM reprogramming is only necessary when the transmission assembly is replaced. NTB05-026 has indeed been superseded by NTB08-064a. It states:

The TCM needs to be initialized when:
• Replacing the Automatic Transmission and not the TCM
• Installing / swapping a TCM from another vehicle.

The initialization procedure is eminently less cumbrous. Of course, you need Consult II or III.