I just bought a 2006 Maxima with 92k. Looked great for its age, very clean. Now that I'm home looking at reviews I am extremely worried. There are so many bad reviews about the transmission. I test drove it, and while I didnt notice any issues I'm worried that its only a matter of time before the transmission starts slipping. Are the transmissions actually that bad?

 

Dude, deep breaths ... deep breaths! You're going to be fine! First off, if you're not sure, venting like this isn't solving anything. Take it to a shop and have the fluid replaced. That's usually how you find out right away if there's problems. Metal in the fluid, plus I think there's diagnostics can be run. Most this should run you is a couple hundred for a fluid swap. Most of the time this high mileage, it's recommended NOT to do a flush but a drain and refill. if the previous owner already did it, and you have record, cool. If not, just drop the cash and find out.

 

The trannys in the 6th gen are fine. I ahve 270k on mine and its still going strong. Change the ATF fluid right away and then every 15-20 k you will be fine.

 

Thanks Guys. Makes me feel a little better. It was just troubling for me to google the car and most of the results that come up are transmission issues. I bought a Nissan because I heard they were very reliable, I was just hoping I didn't pick a bad year/model

 

Please find time to go through this thread
https://maxima.org/forums/6th-genera...ssion-fix.html
It starts with tales of woe, but tapers towards light of hope at the end of the tunnel. That said, let me assure you that the tranny in your car is solid, it only has issues with three solenoids in the valve body. If they've not gone bad in your car, they will most likely do so. The good news is that they can easily be replaced. Read the thread for the full story.

 

Good to hear. Sounds though as if you have 4-speed 2004 SL. If so it's not the same as the 5-speed in the 2006 6th Gen. The 4-speed don't the valve body issues that the 5-speed is known for. The tranny fluid is different too.

 

I had a 2004 that had a myriad of problems over the 9 years 130,000miles, but the transmission (5sp auto) wasn't one of them.

 

Don't get worried, you will have plenty of times warning before your trans dies. It happened to me at 120k miles. My gears started to slam shift from 2-1 and I entered limp mode twice. The problem is the valve body. Nissan bought the VB from Volvo, closed their eyes while putting it on the transmission and called it a day. What i did, what A LOT of people did was buy the Levelten valve body. Levelten heard our pitiful cries for help and reworked our valve bodies with beefier internals. They even have an optional shift kit that you can get for free if the person you are talking to likes you. I had a shop do the valve body swap and it's been golden ever since. I've gone 60-70k miles without a hiccup. However, if you do get to the point where your car is having problems, if anything is damaged in the transmission it stays that way. the VB is only the thing that stops it from destroying itself. So a lot of people bought the levelten VB as a precaution and others bought it the moment they saw signs of a problem; nobody has had a problem since.

food for thought
just letting you know you have options

 

Please call it a transmission, there are lots of transgender org memebers especially the OG ones and they might find this offensive.

 

VRC: Please also be aware of these problems that are inherent on 6th gens:
Motor mounts- 4: usually front & rt. front seem to go out first. Not very hard or expensive to fix.
Spark plugs need changing at 100k mi.
Timing chain, tensioners and guide shoes: Expensive and hard to do yourself. ~$1,500ish
Steering wheel clockspring: Not expensive and easy to do yourself.
Leaking hi-pressure PS hose: Not expensive and really hard to do yourself.
Oil filter O-ring: Easy and cheap
Watch your radiator mount grommets- they disintegrate and allow radiator to jiggle. Cheap and easy to fix.