So as some of you may know I have done a lot of work on my car lately. I put in a new tranny all by myself (and I was so proud) then a week later the alternator died. I also discovered that the axle seal on driver side was leaking (Cause I jacked it up trying to shove a non LSD axle into an LSD tranny prolly )
By this time school had started and I had no time to deal with the crap anymore so my dad told me to take it to the dealer and let them replace alty and axle seal and he would pay... normally I won't let anyone (much less the dealer) work on my car but I was beyond arguing. So I get it back a day later, all seems well... but as I drive around the following week I notice it is a little difficult to shift and it clunks more than it did before. I convinced myself that it was just me and that is was a used tranny and prolly a little worn out... but by the end of the week I decided I needed to at least check and make sure they had replaced the tranny fluid from when they drained it to change the seal.

well... big surprise... I open up the fill hole, stick my finger in and it comes back dry. .... so I pour the 3/4 of a quart that I had left over from the last fill in and it still isn't full. I stick my finger in again and it still comes back dry.... the freakin dealer didn't fill my tranny back up... and I had just filled it with freakin 60 bucks worth of good amsoil tranny fluid... so I have to go buy more to fill it up, not to mention there's a good chance that I screwed my new tranny up by driving almost 200 miles with little tranny fluid!! DON'T EVER TRUST THE DEALER!!! EVER!!! How stupid can these people be!!!???
So I have to call them tomorrow when they are open and have a nice little talk with the bastards... at the very least they are buying me a couple quarts of tranny fluid.

It was clear lake nissan for anyone around here.

 

oh man keep driving it with no fluid untill something blows then blame them and get them to buy you another one! i work at nissan, and lets just say some of the mechanics are less then gifted, alot less... On the other hand there are a few at my work that know there sh*t, and i would NOT have a problem with them working on my car.

 

Well... I am not gonna willingly destroy my tranny... I worked hard enough putting the damn thing in... I dunno what I will do yet. If I notice the tranny starting to develope any bad signs I will make them replace it. I am really worried that something bad could have happened from driving it like that. I don't even know how much more it needs to be full. It had to have had some in it. I mean I didn't have to force it into gear. It just seemed a little notchy and it cluncked when I shifted sometimes. But still driving with 2 quarts missing is not good!! anyway.. I'm not gonna get started again. Has anyone else had any crap like this happen to them? What did you do?

 

So today I got in two more quarts of tranny fluid and put them both in my transmission. Yes.. both of them. the fluid finally reached the top of the fill hole right as I poured the last of the second quart in (my estimate was right). So basically they drained more than 2-1/2 quarts from my tranny to change the axle seal and then didn't put it back in. And I drove around for 350 miles and destroyed my tranny before I noticed the noises and decided to check the fluid level. There is definitely differential bearing noise AND input shaft bearign noise... so... clear lake nissan screwed me. They destroyed my new freakin tranny... I am going to have a nice friendly conversation with them tomorrow.

 

OHHH I can't wait for this one. I smell a new tranny heading your way.

 

Rip those @ssholes' heads off. I hate dealers.

 

take them for all they're worth!

 

Driving with little or no oil will absolutely damage the tranny. The gear tooth faces and bearing rollers will get hot, and begin microwelding to each other, and tearing bits of metal out. I would be surprised if there was no damage. But if there is no gear noise, I would probably drive it. A friend of mine forgot to refill his tranny with oil after changing it (2nd gen RX-7) and took it out the next day to drive to NJ. Within 100 miles, his 5th gear shattered, and when we stopped a few miles down the road it refused to move again. Gearburger, all of the gears.

Say nothing about the fact you just replaced that tranny. Tell them about their mistake, and demand that they demonstrate there was no damage done. To me, that means having them pull the tranny, take it apart, and inspect all gear teeth and bearings. There is a good chance you can leverage your way into a reman tranny if they damaged this one.

I guess the hard part will be getting them to agree that it had oil in it when it arrived to them. If it had a leaky seal, they can argue it already dumped its oil and any damage would have been done beforehand. Plus, changing an oil seal doesn't require them to drain the oil, so it's possible (and maybe even reasonable) that the mechanic never checked the oil. Stupid, yes, but I'm not sure how you'd argue that filling with oil is required for the job. What would answer that question is to get your hands on the procedure the dealer uses for changing an oil seal - if checking the oil level is in there, you've got them. If not (and I don't recall the FSM even having a procedure for changing just the seal) I don't know how you'll get them.

(Maybe you can call up and give them some crap about the labor for the oil seal change. If you get them talking about how much is involved with changing the seal, you might get them to say the oil drain/refill is part of it.)

Dave

 

I don't know... It *MIGHT* be difficult to get an LSD tranny out of them, since yours came with a non-LSD stock and you know how dealers are on OEM parts...

 

Yeah I've had all these thoughts. I know they're gonna try to weassle out of this. I don't know how I can prove that they screwed up, I mean I called when I discovered it and the guy told me to fill it up and see if the noise goes away and let him know if it gets better. But If it doesn't I don't know if they are gonna do anything. And I'm not stupid enough to think that there is no damage, or that filling it up will fix what was already done. I also printed out the FSM page where the first step in axle seal replacement is drain the transmission. lol
even if they didn't drain it wouldn't it spill out when they pulled the axle?
And I know that 2 - 1/2 quarts didn;t leak out in the week that I drove around before I brought it to them. I mean it was just a slow drip from the seal. My old tranny was leaking from the seal and I drove around for a month and only leaked 1/4 of a quart. We'll see what they say when I visit them today.

 

bro never take your car to a dealer please tell your father this again and again. dealers are the worst to take your car to they are cheap and most of them are morons.....ive had first hand experience over and over with more than one dealership. i only do my work myself for everything !

 

yeah i know. My dad insistead. I didn't feel like arguing... but now i can be like.. told you!
anyway... too late now.

 

Just remember, in negotiating, do this:
0) Find out who you're talking to, and write down their name. Let them see that you've taken note.
1) Make the problem known
2) Make the reason it's their fault known
3) Tell them how you'd like it fixed
4) Explain what you'll do if they don't. (1. See service manager, 2. Write to Nissan USA) I've never had to complain about a dealer, since I don't go there, so I'd research how to twist their arm. I'm betting that if the service manager tries to refuse repair, write a letter to their big cheese (nissan), and copy the service manager and the owner of the dealership, and explain the problem.

Then don't say a thing. Don't swear, don't get red, just let you silence show that you're not satisified. If they offer something that won't work, don't answer to it. Stand there until they do, or leave and proceed with number 4. If you stray off that course you lose your bargaining position. Of course avoid driving the car at all - first off, driving it suggests there's nothing really wrong. second, it 'destroys the evidence'.

As for the LSD tranny, I think a new OEM LSD tranny is cheaper, and remind them that they'd need to supply a new axle if they wanted to switch to open diff.

Dave

 

where'd you get your lsd 3rd man? You remember where that write up for the installation is? Sorry for whoring your thread btw!

 

"Okay, well just so you'd know, my uncle is an agent at the Better Business Bureau, I am sure he'd love to hear how Nissan of <insert name> likes to treat their customer. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys get a letter, or two."


Works every time

 

BBB is good, local news is another good one, write your congressman, and so on, of course do all this if they dont fix it for you, not before you ask

 

Ok. I went to dealer today. Of course service manager wasn't there and he is the only one I can talk to. They know of my problem, I've called and talked, and I have been very calm about it all. I haven't lost my temper. I will do just what you said, Dave. Unfortunately I have to drive the car cause it's my only way to school. But at least it's all filled up now. On monday I will call and on friday when I have free time I am going back down there to talk to them whether they ask me to or not. I doubt I will get much accomplished over the phone. If this doesn't work out and they tell me they didn't do anything wrong I will definitely go to the BBB and write a letter to Nissan and send a certified letter to the dealership so that they can't say they never got it.

For now the car is still drivable and probably will be for quite a while, but it definitely has been damaged, there's no doubt in my mind. Bearing noise, more play in gears than used to be and the clunking when shifting, has not gone away since filling it. I might get another 10000 miles out of it... but before I might have gotten 100000+ miles out of it.

It just makes me mad cause I spent a whole damn weekend and got help from a couple of friends, and we busted our *** changing out my old tranny and a week later the freakin dealer has reduced it to pretty much the same state that my old one was in.