acamara

New to this Forum and have been reading to try to see if I can find a answer to my question on whether the RE5F22A Transmissions has an Overdrive or not

I purchased a used 2004 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SE a few days ago and have noticed that the RPMs on this Vehicle are much higher than any other Vehicle I have owned or driven.

The Manual says that this Vehicle has a 5 Speed Automatic Transmission and in Manual Position it displays M1, M2, M3, M4, M5. Yet on my Vehicle when I push the Shift Lever to tne Manual Position it only has M1, M2 and M3. When I move Lever to 'D" the Engines does drop in RPM at same speed but as I accelerate the RPMS keep climbing higher

Here are the Speeds and RPMs I have notice on my 04 Maxima in 'D' (from Memory) will edit when I get actual figures

30 MPH - 1200 RPM
36 MPH - 1400 RPM
42 MPH - 1600 RPM
48 MPH - 1800 RPM
54 MPH - 2000 RPM
60 MPH - 2100 RPM
66 MPH - 2200 RPM
72 MPH - 2300 RPM

As can be seen at no time did the RPM drop, indicating that no Overdrive is available at these speeds. I do not see any indication that the transmission on this car has an Overdrive cause the RPMs just keep on climbing no matter what speed I am at.

My last Vehicle was a 96 Bonneville 3.8L SSEi and these are the actual Speeds and corresponding RPMs.

30 MPH - 1500 RPM No O/D
36 MPH - 1700 RPM No O/D
42 MPH - 1400 RPM O/D
48 MPH - 1500 RPM O/D
54 MPH - 1600 RPM O/D
60 MPH - 1700 RPM O/D
66 MPH - 1800 RPM O/D
72 MPH - 1900 RPM O/D

One can clearly see the difference in RPM for a given speed with Overdrive

SO just wondering if other Maxima Owners are noticing the same speeds that I am or is there something wrong with my transmission

Thank you

po8pimp

don't remember there being an overdrive for this car in any model. As far as rpms only going up and never going shifting down, I have never heard of that. Next time you take your car for a drive, shift it to the manual mode and only use that up to 60mph. you should be able to get it to "M5". You could even go the other route and stay in "D" up to 45mph and shift to manual and see if you are in 5th. Don't go too high and shift from "D" to manual, because if your car only goes to M3 in manual, you will be too high of revs when you shift and could damage your trans. 45mph is safe and ensures you get to 5th in "D".

acamara

Tried that Thank you and here is what I found.

In Manual I can go from M1 to M5..... I guess I was trying at city speeds below 60 Kmh, or 36 Mph.

Looks like M4 kicks in at around 60 Kmh or 36 Mph and M5 kicks in around 70 Kph or 42 Mph.

I then drove from 0 - 100 Kph, 60 Mph in 'D' slid the Shift lever to Manual and it was in M5 no change in RPM.

Increased it to 110Kph or 66 MPh, slipped into Manual and it read M5

So looks like the Transmission is working as intended, just needed to take up to highway speeds and slip into into Manual to confirm it is in M5 at speeds over 70 Kph or 42 Mph.

So clearly this transmission does not have Over Drive which is really a shame cause these cars could be getting much better Gas Mileage in Highway if they did.

Thank you po8pimp for getting me to test Transmission at Highway Speeds.

acamara

The more I think about this the more is seems that Nissan decided to use the 5 Speed Automatic to replace the 4 Speed Auto with Overdrive Option.

What is unfortunate is that they decided to use a lower Gear ratio for the 5th Gear than needed to.

The Engine displacement has plenty of Power that a higher Ratio Gear could have been used which would have resulted in lower RPMs from the Engine to obtain Highway Speeds which would have resulted in better Highway Miles per Gal.

I know that the Maxima SE was released as the Sports Model but I am sure they could have had Gearing to produce Better Gas Miles and still been able to retain a Peppy Car

Guess this is why they decided on releasing a 6 Speed Auto Transmission with the 7th Generation Transmissions then the CVTs.

I just have to keep reminding myself that it is what it is and this is after all a 2004 Model.

Over all I am very impressed with the Car and the ride although it does get Noisy in Highway from the rear Wheels.

Hoping to get it Undercoated to protect against rust and hopefully protect it against road noise as well.