Hey all, long time lurker but haven't posted much. I've always wanted an I30 or I35 and I finally got my hands on one last week. Its a 2001 blue on tan with 122k miles. Anyways I didn't look the car over nearly good enough before purchasing, I think I may have just got a bit too excited lol. I bought it mainly as a daily beater so that I could make my other car a more HPDE / Auto-x focused vehicle. now that I've had a chance to drive it around more, I'm noticing that the trans slips pretty bad on the 1-2 shift when its cold when under aggressive throttle. It's not nearly as bad after the car is fully warmed up (and yes I realize I shouldn't beat on a cold vehicle) but the trans still shifts slowly / lazily on that shift at WOT. My question is, how much time do I have and how serious might this be? as long as I Drive civilized it doesn't seem to have any problems, but that's hard to do with such a silky smooth and Torquey V6! Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks! Here's a pic:

 

Before writing off the tranny, drain/fill it with new fluid three times, preferably with a drive cycle between each change. Only use Matic-D. I'd also add a bottle of Lubegard Red. The 1-2 shift is known to be firm on these cars and the Lubegard seemed to soften it up a little on my I35.

Unless you know the service history of the car, I'd change out ALL the fluids. For the future, always have a mechanic check out a car before you buy it.

 

Do you think it's safe to change the trans fluid at this mileage? The good news is that the fluid on the dipstick looks relatively clean so I'm guessing it's been serviced at some point. The motor in this thing is STRONG though, very happy with the way it runs. I definitely plan on flushing all other fluids, though, no doubt.

 

Could be the dealer or the previous owner had a shop do a power flush. Who knows what fluid they used. By doing a 3X drain/fill with a few days gap in between, you gently freshen up the fluid without shocking the system. If you're worried, space it out over a few weeks/months.

 

as long as you dont use a pressure machine yes. pressure machines are what blow away material on the clutches, my own stuff i just change the filter and drain/fill the pan every couple years. may as well do that and see how your trans acts, might fix the slipping for a bit but expect to be replacing the transmission eventually

trans is gravy to replace though, i did one on a auto I30 i believe it was. dont even have to drop the subframe and its a easy swap

 

My car did the same thing when it's cold. There was a TSB for the solenoid packs to be replaced with revised ones. Had the service tech at the dealership check my fluid and said it was like brand new (I had changed it a few months prior). Since the fluid was new and it was really only bad when its cold, I'm pretty much set that its those solenoids. I believe the TSB is ITB-00028B but I have no idea what the cost of the part is or the P/N. Heard it isn't a very difficult job, though.