No real warning. Noticed the car was reluctant to go into first on the way to work today but this happens on and off with 4th gens anyway. The real problem started on the way home. The car refused to start in first gear, only in second. Reverse is not working either.

Questions:

1. Is it okay to drive the car with no 1st gear? If so, for how long? Could this cause additional problems?

2. Since I'm in NJ, Level10's complete service seems to be the best choice now, right? Are there any feasible alternatives?

3. If you had this or any services done by L10, please post or email me at jwengert@rcn.com. I need pricing for their various services and group deals currently in effect or any other info!

Jim

 

Do NOT let them touch your car.
I won't go into details...
But lets just say that my father has (HAD) a Level 10 tranny in his car...which he paid $3,000 for...
They give you a 1 yr warranty...his car had to be brought back TWICE in the first 1 year to be rebuilt AGAIN because it kept losing 3rd gear...
It seemed OK after the last rebuild (for a while) but then it blew AGAIN!
That's 3 TIMES within LESS than a year and a half...
The STOCK transmission lasted 3 years before it needed a rebuild....the Level 10 was rebuilt 3 TIMES in 1.5 yrs....

Make your own decision.

 

Go into details please. What kind of car was it? Was he racing it? Any/all info is appreciated.

Jim

 

what about I30Krab...hes had it for a number of years(i think?)...and now i suddenly feel freaked out that I got the L10 service done

and why didnt your dad just report L10 to consumer reports...then he wouldnt have to pay a dime...well...i im going to go through a CR or BBB if my tranny does that kind of crap

 

My fathers car is a 1996 Impala SS.
His car has been to the track on about 5 occasions over the past 6 years...so no he doesnt race it very much...
80% of the cars mileage (60Kmi) is highway miles from him going to and from work....

OK...to make a LONG story a little shorter:

The stock transmission started slipping after about 3 years (his car was SuperCharged)....
He brought it to Level 10 and they supposedly went all out on his transmission (the guy told him this long story about how the Arabs or something put twin turbo's on their Impala SS's in the desert and flew him out there for R&D to make a tranny that could hold up with 600HP+ and very high temps. Supposedly the King flew him out there and gave him an unlimited budget....YEA RITE!...what a line that was!)

ANYWAY....

He had them build his transmission for a cost of $3000.
They gave him a 1 year warranty...
After about 6 months it blew....they rebuilt it.

My father decided to remove the supercharger and go the naturally aspirated route thinking that the blower was the culprit (although this tranny is SUPPOSED to hold 600+ HP and twin turbos!)....so he removed the S/C....

6 months later....bye-bye tranny #3....
Brought it back and it was rebuilt AGAIN....

THEN...just 2 weeks ago it blew for THE THIRD TIME!
This time out of the warranty....so he was screwed....

He brought it to Cottman Transmission in Pt.Pleasant, NJ because my friend (mechanic) reccomended them...cuz there is this one guy that works there who has 25+ years experience building race transmissions....
So he spent another $2g's on this new transmission...
When he picked it up the guy at Cottman Transmission said that Level 10 did NOT even do the things that my father was told...it was basically still a pretty much stock transmission! The only differences were a better torque converter and clutches.

 

I haven't heard one good thing about level 10. Why don't you try the place Jim W went to? Did you ever get the tranny cooler? How many miles did you put on while on SC?

 

their VB modification as well?

BTW 1MAX2NV(Tony), I think I saw your car this past Sunday at that chrurch on Piney Branch around 5 or 6?? I was heading towrds DC and I knew it looked familiar!

 

Yea, Jim's going to get me his tranny guy's number. No tranny cooler but I will now. My car has 94k miles on it and 32k of them are with the SC.

Jim

 

What if someone buys the parts from Level 10 and do it themselves (or have a shop do it)?

 

kev, from wut the 5th gen people say, didnt one guy said he beat the hell out of a level 10 tranny max and nuthing happened?? wuts happenein to this guy?

 

The only 5th gens I know of are Pmp-n8a and YJ that has the Level 10 rebuild.

 

it's probably something that only L10 can use...their secrect hush hush parts...

 

i'm surprised the tranny lasted this long w/o a tranny cooler when you're running boost.

 

hahahaha...yea...their "secret" mods...
know what the secret is?
they take your $$ and dont do shiet to your tranny.

 

"OK...to make a LONG story a little shorter:

The stock transmission started slipping after about 3 years (his car was SuperCharged)....
He brought it to Level 10 and they supposedly went all out on his transmission (the guy told him this long story about how the Arabs or something put twin turbo's on their Impala SS's in the desert and flew him out there for R&D to make a tranny that could hold up with 600HP+ and very high temps. Supposedly the King flew him out there and gave him an unlimited budget....YEA RITE!...what a line that was!) "

---- When I talked to L10 (Pat) a few years back he told me the SAME story, but the car wasn't a SS, it was a Chevy truck (like the one I was going to get the tranny for)...So now I know the BS line when I hear it!!!

In a nutshell I emailed JJW last night with this info: , here's my experience with L10, what I found out 2 years ago, and what I did to build my "bulletproof" tranny...

When I first started this tranny stuff a few years ago, I talked with Pat at L10. I was trying to get him to tell me what I got for my $$$$$. He told me that he would NOT do a rebuild without doing a VB modification at the same time (most likely he included this in that price). ****THIS TOLD ME THAT THE KEY TO THE LONGEVITY WAS IN THE VB MODIFICATION!!!

So I asked him about clutches, he told me he would use Raybestos Blue Plates. I told him that there was no part number for this application, he told me that Raybestos makes them just for them. I called Raybestos, the guy there (Chris in R&D) told me that was bs, unless Pat was buying 300,000 plates at a time. Which of course, he's not.

So I called Pat again, told him this, and he said, "well, they must be Reds....I said, no not Reds either, he said, then they are Greens"... Guys, Greens are just OEM replacements, good, but nothing superior to OEM.

When he told me the VB was the key, I knew I could just rebuild my own, and use my VB.

Make your decisions from that....I know that someone from the 3rd gen board had a problem the next day after it was finished and Pat gave him some problems, but it could have been the customers BS too.

My thoughts would be to get a rebuild (or get yours rebuilt) from Nissan...Call Courtesy or any other dealer, they might be able to find you one....Do the VB upgrade (mine preferably). You should be set....Thats what I did, but I found a VLSD (I30t) when I was looking.

Not sure about what's wrong now. you can do the ECU codes without the computer (look at the manual). Not sure if it will tell you anything, but it might.

Sometimes low fluid, too much fluid, or it getting too hot might cause these problems.


I'm not stating these facts because I offer a modified VB and want to compete with L10 because I can't. I was completely sold on buying a L10 tranny until I had these conversations with L10... Make your decisions from that

Don

 

Yep..that was me. I was at a funeral.

 

I know. TRD when they sell their SC upgrade for the trucks. They include the tranny cooler as an option. Toyota trannies are much better than Nissan in the first place.

 

My tranny recently failed and someone from the 3rd gen BBS told me to look up this thread about Level-10. Here's my story as short and brief as possible.
After 5yrs of driving my car I recently started having stalling problems which never happen before. It started two weeks ago during a recent warm/hot day in N Cali, after driving thru the hills it started acting up and stalled while in gear, nuetral it ran fine. Did a few things once I got home hoping it might help (clean connectors, etc) A week later it happen again during another warm/hot day, no warning (MIL,etc) Nursed the car back home as best as possible and park it. Later that night while going to work (grave yard shift) and cruising on the hwy in 4th the car jerked and drop to 3rd (o/d off indicator not on). Pulled off the hyw check ATF level = ok, got back in car and nothing no forward/reverse gears at all. I happen to have my Nissan service manual with me so I did a tranny self diagnostic. No codes stored, all clear. Could my stalling be due to the tranny being in a higher gear while idling at a light and in gear, could my tranny have failed due to excessive internal heat build-up. Who knows? By the way I do have a tranny cooler, had it in for about 8-10 months. I have to mention that I recently installed Trans-go kit, about 7-8 weeks ago. I had a problem after the kit was installed, a part was left out, my error. Corrected the problem after a few days, all was well. If I wasn't aware of all the unexpected 3rd/4th gen tranny failures, and those who have used the Trans-go kit for months/years I would have sworn the failure was due to the Trans-go kit, again who knows? Anyway now I'm in the market for a reman tranny and like others I called Level-10 for pricing 3,264 for a complete rebuild and possible 1,000 more if any internal gears are bad. Since they are not informative about their rebuild it's possible they can say I have internal gear damage without any proof. I asked about buying thier rebuild kit alone, but they highly recommend for me to send in my unit and I will get 30yr tech experience behind the rebuild. Can anyone justify the cost of the rebuild? Besides since I'm on the right side and they are on the left side it will be hard/costly to warranty any job. The car is in the shop and they haven't had a chance to open it yet to find the reason for the failure. So, Don (if you didn't un-check the email notification box) have you had a chance to see if those who have the Trans-go kit and wanted your VB upgrade is it possible? By the way, car has 99K
So I lie, it wasn't short