I would first off like to start of by saying I have done considerable research on changing my ATF (Thank you all how have posted). I am just trying to be as safe as possible so I am going to ask a couple easy questions. My 03 has 28K miles.

1. The fluid line I want to disconnect to flush the system is one connected to the radiator closest to the front driver side tire? Yes, NO?

2. Does anyone out their know if any reason not to use Mobile 1 ATF? The reason I ask is because a friend of mine is an ex-Nissan mechanic (no Later than '92) and swears up and down that I need to use Nissan fluid.

 

what is the difference between nissan fluid and the mobil fluid

 

I don't think Nissan has a synthetic ATF. I did a drain and fill at the beginning of the year with the Nissan stuff and it was non-synthetic.

I plan to switch to synthetic (Mobil 1 or Amsoil) as soon as I do a flush in about 1,900 miles.

Personally, the only time I wouldn't use synthetics is if the car has high mileage and was purchased used.

 

I've used Mobil 1 ATF in both my 01 Maxima and Altima without any problems at all. It's good stuff, and based on the uoa of ATF in Bill's spreadsheet, I trust it more than Nissan tranny fluid.

Here is a link that shows the location of the return line you want to disconnect that will flush out all the fluid. Just enlarge the middle picture in the text titled "Left" and "Below"...about a 1/3 rd of the way down the page:

http://www.greghome.com/Greg's%20Garage/1999%20Nissan%20Maxima%20SE/Xmission%20Cooler.htm

 

Been using Mobil1 ATF for over 15k miles with no issues. As recommended, just flush the old ATF out.

Pedro

 

First, Nissan ATF is a highly friction modified fluid and Mobil1/OTC DexronIII only just meet the specs and not completely. I flushed my tranny with Valvoline (Group 1 base) DexronIII ATF and the shifts were tighter that NissanMaticD fluid -- the reason was Nissan ATF had HFM in them. I have overcome the problem with another flush with Chevron ATF (GroupII stock) + Lubegard Black.

My tranny shifts are excellent and remarkably improved!!!

http://www.lubegard.com/automotive/trans_atf_hfm.html

There are 2 reasons I am against Mobil1/Amsoil.

1) I don't like their "universal ATF" argument calling their ATF universally acceptable to beat DexronIII requirements (I bet they have to some extent HFMs and definetly better base/additives). In short I added Mobil1 to my tranny and it ran hotter, no over/under filling, this with an external cooler too...... If you do want to use syn then try Amsoil in place of Mobil1.
2) I prefer to flush my tranny every 24K miles with dino fluid in place of 60K with syn (30 minute job the least to say). It adds up to the same, 3 flushes with dino = 1 flush with synthetics (Chevron DexronIII(G) =$1.79 vs $4.99 for Mobil1, I don't know how expensive Amsoil is ).

The best choice would be to wait till the year end for GM DexronIII(H) fluids to be out there -- some Kragen stores do carry them already -- it is priced higher than the G spec of Chevron Dexron III though.