I have a 95 SE (5-speed) that I have owned since new with 56,700 miles on it, mainly highway. I know there is no recommended factory replacement interval. I was talking to a service rep at a Nissan dealership yesterday and he said they generally inspect the fluid and advise the owner if it requires replacement. He said in my case, given the highway miles, that I am likely "good to go", ie. leave it alone. Given the car is going on 10.5 years old. is this something I should change regardless when the 60,000 mile service is done.

I also inquired about the PCV valve and he said they don't have any problems with them, like their were years ago, and not to bother replacing it. I believe they cost peanuts. Any opinions on this as well?

 

There is not seperate differential fluid in your transaxle. It would not hurt at all to go ahead and change the trans fluid since it's ten years old.

Modern PCV valves can get gummed up with carbon just like old ones. Go ahead and clean or replace that too.

There's no reason NOT to change/service either of those items.

 

What ever you do, use GL-4 tranny fluid not GL-5, or at least a GL-4/5 service that won't eat up the soft metals in it.

 

Anyone know what model or size PCV i need for my 98 i30?

 

how come when my differential bearings on my tranny went, the fluid that poured out looked nothing like tranny fluid? it was a totally different color and viscocity (sp?)? so there isn't a seperate fluid for the diff?

 

The dealership told me yesterday that with a 5-speed transmission there is differential fluid replacement, not transmission fluid. Transmission fluid replacement relates to automatic transmissions.

 

Ok, then have them show you in the owner's manual where it shows two different trans fluids (one for the transmission and one for the diff).

 

Not to confuse the stealer, use the term "gear oil" (again, GL-4) instead of "transmission fluid".

 

Forget about the dealer. Change the fluid yourself if you're going to.

 

Granted, but I get the feeling he's not mechanically inclined.

 

I'm mechanically-challenged and proud of it, lol! However, I know enough to only use GL-4 and yes I have read the service manual.

 

Lucky you. My knuckes are sore and have a couple of good bruises in my arms from my weekend (unsuccessful) project... Weather and wife permitting, I'll be at it again tonight.

p.s. Find a new stealer.

 

After a fruitless endeavor to locate Amsoil, Mobil 1 or Redline synthetic gear oil in these parts (all I could find was Redline but a GL-5), I elected to take my car into a Mr. Lube and get the gear fluid replaced in the transaxle (5-speed transmission) The dealer I talked to on the weekend said I probably didn't need to replace it. The car has 56,800 predominately highway miles on it. Mr. Lube suggested the gear oil be replaced every 2 years or 30,000 miles, the same as radiator coolant. They said that the gear oil should have been replaced sooner as it was quite dark and I didn't particularly like the thick consistency relative to the new amber-colored gear oil.

Does anyone know anything about the quality of Boss GL-4 gear oil which is what they used? It is not synthetic.

For the cost of the replacement (Cdn$30 plus taxes), I am inclined to just continue getting this type of replacement every 30,000 miles and forgetting about synthetic. Is this a foolish approach? I don't know why the stealership doesn't advocate replacing the gear oil more often as the cost is not high and seems like good insurance to me.

 

PCV valve is very cheap. It's generally not too hard to change - I mean it's very, very easy. It's just it may require a little brute force to pull it out Put a bit of oil on the new one when you put it back in to aid next changing.

I called 3-4 nissan dealerships and other than one of them (which I knew before hand sucked) they said there is no change schedule on our cars, so that confirms your original post. On nissandriven there is some convoluted schedule you can find and it mentions it, but really it's not a requirement. That said I still think it's probably a good idea if you've not got much else to do. I did it on my 00 and will on the other one once I have $50 burning a hole in my pocket for some more redline MT90.[q]The car has 56,800 predominately highway miles on it. Mr. Lube suggested the gear oil be replaced every 2 years or 30,000 miles, the same as radiator coolant. They said that the gear oil should have been replaced sooner as it was quite dark and I didn't particularly like the thick consistency relative to the new amber-colored gear oil.
[/q]Filthy lies. Remember these guys are in the business of making money doing quick-work things like changing oil, coolant, etc. 30k is a very hardcore change interval on tranny fluid. Unless you're ******* your car at the track every night it's simply money wasted.

Now, whether the stuff was dark or not is not because of the interval per se, but rather another possible problem. Of course it will slowly degrade in quality/appearance, but every 30k is nonsense. I wouldn't worry about the color of it in this case though, because remember they'll tell you whatever they have to to get you in there paying them more money. These are the same guys who encourage changing oil every 3k miles (brutal overkill).

I'm glad they found GL-4 oil though. Damn me if I could find ANY besides ONE place locally (in a 1 million person city, no less) that had Redline MT90. It's hard to find a GL4 lube. I'm sure yours is fine. GL5 is bad, we know that, but I've still not had a conclusion on whether a GL4/5 combo oil is fine. I'd suspect it is fine, but I'm not sure (anybody...?).

I am surprised you got it done for as cheap as you did, but all the power to you! It can't hurt, and I guess if I was in getting coolant and all that changed, then I may pay the $30 every 30k miles, but overall I think it's probably a waste of money doing it that often.

 

I hear you on the frequency part. Obviously it didn't hurt to replace the gear oil since its been in the car for over 10 years now. As evidenced by the mileage on the car, the mileage on its is mainly "quality" miles and is not used for commuting, although it was from time to time until 3-1/2 years ago. What I won't know is what the stealership would have recommended at 60,000 miles when they actually looked at the fluid.

Anybody know anything about Boss gear oil?

 

How do you know the Boss gear oil is GL-4, or at least safe to soft metals?http://www.bosslubricants.com/Specs/...LUBRICANTS.pdf

 

My invoice specifies GL4 75W90 gear oil, which is what I asked for. After I read the above message, I phoned the Mr. Lube I went to. They assured me that they used GL4 and carry both GL4 and GL5. This is a nationwide franchise and the location I went to is the 2nd highest volume Mr. Lube in British Columbia so I believe I am ok.

I don't know if its a placebo effect, but the car seems to shift a touch smoother although I have never had any problems with it before.

I may not change subsequently at 30,000 miles, but likely before 60,000 which is a number of years down the road the way I am going.

 

Further to the above and after checking another Mr. Lube, and then back with the one I went to, I find that they did not use Boss gear oil. They in fact used Quaker State in a GL4. The only GL4 they carry is Castrol and Quaker State. I suspect Quaker State is a decent brand to use. The invoice does not specify the manufacturer, just GL4 75W90 gear oil. I told them that I am rather **** about this, lol!

 

I find it funny that Mr. Lube claimed to use GL-4 Boss gear oil, when their website only has GL-5. Trust nobody, **** or careful, it's your ride, nobody is going to take care of it more than you.

 

Thanks for the input. I am satisfied that I have GL4 gear oil. I have now phoned two more locations who have told me they would use Quaker State GL4 in my car. Three locations told me that the Boss is a GL5 synthetic. That is not what they put in my car.

 

What type of fluid did you have? What color was it originally and what color was it when it leaked out? I am dealing with fugged diffy bearings as we speak..

 

well....when my diff bearings went and I pulled over to the side of the road, gushing out at an unprecedented rate was a fluid that was kinda thick, goldish/greenish/brownish with metallic flakes in it--from the diff bearings I presume...I then called a nissan master tech friend of mine and told him what was leaking out my tranny, I told him the color and look of it....and he immediately said differential fluid...so I guess there is a difference in fluids as a nissan master tech over the phone immediately told me what it was after I described it...

I know the difference between tranny fluid and diff fluid....tranny fluid is rather thin like motor oil in comparison and has a red tint to it....this was definitely not that...

 

So, then, there would be two sets of drain and/or fill plugs on the trans right?

Are there?

No, there aren't.

There's only one place to put fluid in the trans becuase there's only one fluid in there.

 

don't ask me, ask a nissan master tech....lol....I know what I saw coming out of my tranny that day looked nothing even remotely like tranny fluid....but it was clearly coming out of the differential side of the tranny....ie...wide part of the bellhousing...side that mounts to the engine....

and I know fer sher that there was tranny fluid in the trans as well...cause that whole week before there was redish, slick droppings on my garage floor right underneath the axle seal areas....

 

Why is only one fluid capacity listed in the FSM?

 

Call it what you will, but our cars are FWD and if you have a manual transmission there is only one fluid to deal with; definitely not a separate transmission and differential fluid.

 

The fluid that came out of my transaxlel was black and viscous, nothing like what they put back in which was amber in color and not gooey like what was taken out. For C$35, I'm glad I elected to replace it regardless of what the stealership said. Now I'm scratching my head. My brakes have never been replaced and I'm told I have 50% on the front and 40% on the rear left. The way I'm going I'll be another few years on the original brakes. Is there any need to bleed the brakes and replace the fluid? I'm inclined just to leave well enough alone as they work just fine.

I had the power steering fluid flushed last summer after I mistakenly put about 2 ounces of brake fluid in the reservoir. I'm a mechanical genius, lol!

 

Brake fluid is hygroscopic. That means it readily absorbs water. This has two main effects. It lowers the boiling point of the fluid, reducing braking performance. It also corrodes the brake lines and other steel parts of the system.

So yeah, change your brake fluid.

 

Recent link on brake fluid

 

hmm....well....I know what I saw, but I guess there is only one fluid...which is what I always thought until I saw it gushing out of my bellhousing...I will be taking out my tranny soon...so I will take a look, but I don't know why the tranny fluid would go from redish to almost black/brown and very thick with a metallic look to it...(altough the metallic look is understandable as it was prolly shavings from the actual diff bearings...

mtmzg...did you ever find out for me if you make the long travel rear shock mounts for the 3rd gens?

 

4th Gen only so far.

 

is it possible for the 3rd gens?