I am new to the forum and I have a 2009 Nissan Maxima. I am looking to change my transmission fluid to synthetic (maybe redline) but I hear the dealers tranny oil is the only one you can use. Is this correct??

 

I would stick to the OEM fluid. Just my opinion. They designed it so why stray from the factory fluids?

 

Thanks for the fast reply.. Much appreciated..

 

dont change the tranny fluid..... its not even a standard tranny

 

Don't change the tranny fluid?

He has a 2009 so the fluid is probably 4 or 5 years old and he probably has 70-80k on it (just guessing). Its probably time to change it.

 

60k is the change point. You can inspect it yourself to see if needs to be changed.

You can get the CVT fluid from a Nissan dealership or probably buy it online. IIRC it's around $100.

FYI, the labor cost for this if you decide to do it at the dealership is less than $50.

 

i think he just meant don't change brands since it's a CVT. you'll wreck it using manual or automatic transmission fluid. only use Nissan approved CVT fluid for this. if you wanna do it yourself its about $100 just for the fluid, you need 5-6 quarts. I did a write-up on here for how to do it if you want to save some money. otherwise dealer charges 150-200 to do it.

if you drive hard, id recommend doing it every 45k instead of every 60k.