I couldn't find the answer I was looking for in the stickies so I figured I would ask here.

I have about 50k on my 03 auto and wanted to do a drain and fill. I also want to drop the pan and clean all the crud out of it.
My question is: if I drop the pan do I have to do a flush, or can I just do a drain and fill? If I have to flush, should I switch over to synthetic?

Thanks.

 

at 50k you should flush. drain/fill only gets 1/2 the fluid.
synthetics - its up to you, but if you do switch, do flush. i did switch to amsoil, and it does seem a bit smoother shift.

before you flush, I'd do at least 2 drain & fills with cheap Dex III to increase the concentration of new fluid & remove the wear metals -- this is because you will undoubtedly mix old/new fluid when you do the actual flush (that is if you do the DIY method anyway - trans tech might eliminate the mixing), and you'd rather mix expensive new synthetic ATF with newer/cleaner "old" ATF - make sense?? otherwise you are just contaminating the fresh, new, expensive syn ATF with residual old, dirty ATF. using a few extra quarts of ATF in the flushing process will accomplish the same thing as the extra up front drain/fills - but you'll be doing it with expensive syn ATF (>$7/qt) instead of cheap dino Dex III ($6/gal). just my .02.

 

What is the recommended frequency of changing ATF per the owner's manual. For a 4th GEN its every 30K, with a flush at 60K intervals I believe.

Have you changed the tranny fluid before? If not, I would be inclined to flush the tranny now, rather than wait for 60K. If the ATF has been replaced before, perhaps wait until 60K to flush it.

The same goes for your radiator coolant. It should be flushed every 30K. If it hasn't been flushed and replaced before, it should be done now as we head into winter.

 

bob I know you have a 5 speed so you don't get to see what these autos do to ATF - it's not pretty. 60k is WAY to long to wait for a flush, no matter what the owners manual says (unless, of course, you've been doing drain/fills every year - which is what I plan to do from now on).
but good point - UGA, have you done any tranny service at all? I was assuming you hadn't. if not, flush that thing ASAP. and then drain/fill every 15k.

 

Thanks for the quick responses. I guess I'm going to have to flush and switch over to Amsoil ATF. A local Orger is a dealer so I can get it at cost.

 

again, before you flush:
1) drain
2) drop pan. clean magnets. replace gasket.
3) fill with cheap dino ATF.
4) drive a couple hundred miles
5a) either trans tech flush w/ Amsoil and you're done, or
5b)drain again.
6) fill with cheap dino. drive couple hundred miles.
7) DIY flush w/ 10 qts amsoil. (read stickies).

 

Thankfully I do own a 5-speed and in fact have never owned an automatic and I have had a driver's licence for 37 years. My parent's had automatics when I was a kid and I don't profess to know too much about their maintenance.

No autotragic for me anytime soon, lol!

 

Thanks again. Trannys are a foreign thing to me and I appreciate the help.

 

Hi,
I am planning to flush the auto tranny on my maxima. But I have read weird things about it, like trannys failing immediately after a flush and stuff like that. My maxima is at 103000 miles. Reading here, it looks like everyone is in favor of doing a flush. I am confused. Please let me know. I have an appointment tomorrow.
Thanks!!!

 

I just did two drain/refills in a 1 month period. You can never go wrong with that. Amsoil universal ATF. It probably doesn't get as much out as a flush, but then again, you don't run the risk of messing up the tranny that way. I'll probably do it again come spring.

 

The only time I have heard of a flush 'possibly' messing up a transmission are on vehicles that have never had regular maintenance. If you have 90 or 100k on your transmission and it has never been flushed... just do a drain and refill. If you drain and refill at proper intervals (30k) then flushing at 60k and 120k will not cause any harm. The people that have problems are usually the ones running on original transmission fluid 13 years after they first bought the car... The transmission starts to slip a little, so they take it in to get flushed. Low and behold, 5k miles later it fails. It was the flush that caused it to fail right?

 

Yeah, but with so many people buying used cars, it's hard to tell what has been done and what hasn't. You can never take the person's word for it when it comes to servicing their cars, it's a guess.

 

You are right. Thats my problem. I bought the car used. I am not sure if it was flushed or not at 60K. I will probably just do a drain and refill. And probably do that once or twice a year. Thanks for the quick responses. I never knew there was a forum like this. Good to know. I am sure I will have more questions. Nice to know you all love your maxima's so much. Cause I love mine.

 

man, if you don't know what was done to that car, assume nothing was done at all. change/flush every fluid there is. including the power steering fluid and brake fluid. the owners manual and FSM say nothing about changing either, but at over 100k miles you definitely need it. use the turkey baster method to change the P/S fluid over the course of several weeks.

and if you don't flush the ATF, then don't do just one drain/fill. do one each week for 4 weeks. and drop/clean that pan before you do the last one.

as for flushing being bad for high mileage trannys - I don't think that would apply to the DIY method outlined in the stickies. the DIY is nothing more than running your car and letting the fluid drain out the radiator as opposed to pumping it back in - this theoretically results in less mixing of the old and new fluids (compared to the drain/fill several times method). I think the flushes that might cause tranny failure actually force solvents in/out to "clean things up" (at least that's how the dealer described it to me). but if there's too much crap in there, then the force might break it loose to plug critical parts of the tranny, or get stuck in the clutches, etc. in my view, if that were to happen your tranny was doomed anyway.