***PICS AT THE BOTTOM***
Hey, there!! Ok. I posted about this saying that a mechanic wanted $600 to do the job. Best price I ended up with was $475. This was all a few wees ago.
My buddy, who is a mechanic said he could do the job but not at the shop. He doesnt have air tools and would need them for a job of this size. I made him a deal: I buy him an air compressor that he keeps if he does the job for me. He agreed with one detail..I would have to help. Done.
Went and got a craftsman 17 gallon compressor for about $200 yesterday. Now, since my gf is in Florida and wont be back until Wednesday, we're setting up shop in her garage. lol.
Tonight, we're gonna get it all out n get to the flywheel to have it resurfaced. Is it typical to ask a machine shop to shave alot off?? I mean, does that, in a sense, make a lightened flywheel? Would anybody recommend doing that? Its cool if its not a good idea. I just figured while they are at it, they might as well do that.
Also, any tips or tricks or quick advise?
We're doing this in a townhouse garage that has < 3ft clearance on all sides.
Ill keep you guys posted and maybe even take some pics.
Wish me luck!!!

 

lol dont drop the trans on your head... lol


oh drain the fluid before u work on it... cuz ull make a mess..

make sure u clean both the clutch and pressure plate as well as the fly wheel... VERY IMPORTANT

 

Alright...thanks!! I thought after you drop the trans, they make special butt plugs (lol) to stop it from leaking..well, after the initial spillage. Does that sound right?
Clean the parts? Like brake cleaner? The clutch is brand new.

 

lol BUTT plug.... lol

anywayz.. yea use brake clean dont be cheap with it... and check to see if ur rear main is leaking.. you might wanna take care of that as well as long as ur down there.. lol

 

lol@butt plug.......sound slike you gott it all under control man.Goodluck,let us know how it went.

 

Rear main seal!!!! Eff!! He told me about that and thats what I was supposed to ask about. Is this a Poop boys or Auto Zone part? Anybody know? Ill swing by there and pick one up on the way home. Are these known to go bad on Max's?

 

not really known to go bad but they do go bad often. And that just kills you clutch cause oil on clutch... blah...

 

I got my part from the dealership. It's a lil pricey.

As for the air tool, I can only think of the axlenut needing extra tq, but air tools' overkill for this job. Get an extra jack to help lower and raise the tranny, and 1 jack to hold the engine.

You have an option of removing the center crossmember holding the engine up. I removed mine, I think it's easier.

Are you gonna change the axle seals too? That's kinda common thing to do w/the tranny out.

Jae

 

Oh, no! Now the axle seal, too!? Looks like tomorrow, while the flywheel is being cut, Ill be headin to the stealership for some more parts. Rear main and axle seals perhaps? Ill let you guys know. Thx, as usual, for all the input.
Any words on the whole lightening the flywheel bit I was wondering about?

 

DO NOT DO THE REAR MAIN SEAL........... unless you plan to do it PROPERLY, the way listed in the FSM , ie using an engine hoist and dropping the upper oil pan. But feel free to re-tourqe the two rear upper oil pan bolts if it's leaking a little bit, because it almost always leaks from the upper oil pan seal.

 

I had my rear main seal done when I swapped in a newer tranny. That was 11,000 miles ago, no problems.

Jae

 

Update!
Just got in. Everything is out. Jeezz...this is one involved job. I am thankful as hell for that air compressor. Anyway, rear main seal does have a small leak. Gonna pick one up tomorrow. Also, doing the axle seals, just because. Everything else looked good. Gonna squirt some RTV around the oil pan area and thats about it.
I hope to god I get to test drive her by this time tomorrow night. Took us about 3 hrs to get it all out. And thats with a few beers n some smoke breaks.
I was trying to take pics but my cell phone cam sucks and my digi had no batteries. Ill pick some up just so I can at least illustrate the size of this garage. I had to keep the door shut after about 930 since the compressor and assocoated tools are so loud. We're in a townhouse little community thing where all these tight asses give you dirty looks if you change a tire in your driveway.
More to come tomorrow amd thanks for all the pointers!!
Btw, we didnt remove that cross member.
Me. Bed. Now.

 

Why would you need a air compressor? I did everything with a breaker bar, some sockets and a leverage bar lol. You shouldn't use your air gun to re-apply the bolts, you should use a torque wrench and do it right.

 

Ok, I thought about it again, and I think the lower bolts of the struts might be on there pretty tight too. So without a breaker bar, I can see why you'd want air tool.

Congrats on getting it out in 3hrs. Next time it'll take u 2, and after that, I'll hire you to be in my pit crew.

Jae

 

LMAO!! I dunno about the pit crew!
Ok. All the bolts where workable. There was one I know my buddy was wrestleing with but I didnt see because I was taking the front end apart at the time. The air compresser wasnt required but it just made things so much easier and I think saved a ton of time. Just the lugnuts alone, zipped those off like...well...like I was on a pit crew. lol.

 

OK, cool, and you're probably not the only one, but myself, zach342, I30ds, and a few more I can't think of right now had it leak worse than before by trying to half-*** it. It is rarely the rear-main seal that leaks, I've yet to see one that leaked actually, but I've seen plenty of rear upper oil pan seals that leaked, in fact my 3.5 w/44k was just starting to sweat it out the tiniest bit, they are really prone to leak, so why would you want to replace that trouble prone seal by wedging it into the oil pan with a screwdriver just so you can replace the rear-main that rarely leaks? And I know from the experience of having it leak worse than before that it has to leak really really bad to get on the clutch, I know this because mine was leaving puddles after I tried to take shortcuts, so I really recommend just re-tourqing the two oil pan bolts or leaving it alone if you're not going to drop the pan.

Disagree with me all you want, but the fact is that I'm the one advocating doing it the proper way described in the fsm instead of taking shortcuts. I'd love to see pics of your bellhousing @ 80k

For a rundown of what needs to be done to replace it http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....&highlight=rms

 

Forgot to add one big thing, sand your bellhousing mating surfaces........http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=338918

 

I called the dealer. They want $43 for the rear main and 8 bux a pop for the axel seals. I gotta find out if I have limited slip or not first. Anybody know without looking at the car? Ill just buy them all and return what I dont use, I guess.
In regards to the rear main...they say its a whole piece that actually bolts up. Not just the seal itself. Maybe the "short cut" method will work if thats the case.
Again, Ill keep you guys posted!

 

I think you might need to replace the pilot bushing... (you may not have too) but we did... also get the clutch alignment tool... we cleaned the crap out of the whole tranny while it was down (2 cans of o reileys brake cleaner), rubber malet also helps...

 

Thanks! The kit came with the alignment tool and the pilot bearing.
Brake cleaner...yea..I gotta pick that up, too. My tranny, well the inside of the whole clutch assembly is dirty as hell!

 

Do NOT get grease/dirt/grime on the friction material for the clutch. Wear gloves when needed too...I made the mistake and now I have a slipping clutch Don't make the same mistake I did.

 

Since I had the tranny out and had to wait a day for the replacement to be delivered, time was spent to disassemble the RMS properly. And you're right, it sure took a long time. I'm not due for a clutch replacement yet (105k on ACT), but next time, I will take pics.

FSM states a certain order to tq the flywheel. It's a 2step process.

When you reassemble, make sure you get the right bolts in the right slot when mating the tranny back to the engine. Some bolts are longer than others.

Just curious, have you ever changed your starter? If not, how "stuck" were they?

Jae

 

Jae,
Still the original starter, or so it would seem. It wasnt stuck at all, though. Im pretty darn suprised, actually. I know i might jinx myself but everything from front end components to all the tranny bolts and up top related accesories that needed to come out, all came out smooth. I baught this car with 115k on the clock and carfax told a story of 8 previous owners (OMG!) it seems like everybody that owned her, took good care of her. =]
Btw, Nissan did a nice bait and switch sort of technique. When I got to the stealership, the price of the rear main jumped up $10 from the phone price because of this and that. They fkn always get you somehow.

 

Oh ok, cool, my bad, I didn't knnow you dropped the pan.

 

That is the case, but the shortcut method is a dumb idea, believe me I'm well aware of how the rear-main bolts up, and on the bottom side of that one peice seal/retainer is a small half-moon shaped seal for the upper oil pan, and THAT is the puppy that leaks. Did you even get a new one? I just don't want to see you starting a thread about oil leaking from your bellhousing, whether it's right away like it was for me, or two months later. I'm telling you, return the seal and simply lossen than re-tourqe the two long upper oil pan bolts to 15 ft/lb's and call it a day, or go back to the dealer and get the two o-rings for the oil pump pick-up, both front and rear oil-pan seals, an engine hoist, a tube of permetex grey, and print off those pages of the fsm.

 

You should start an OT post and see what kinda jokes we can poke at this. LOL

Jae

 

Damn you, Jae. LMMFAO!!! You sick-o.

Anyway, yea...the rear main seal. Well, this is what Im gonna do...Ill let my buddy read this whole thread and see what he thinks to do. Maybe he knows something we dont? I dunno...this is where I just have to let it reside in the hands of the mechanic working on my car. Im like the annoying side kick, helper. Im learning, though.
I only have tonight to finish this. Then cleanup and make it so nobody suspects that I opened up a workshop in my gf's garage for a few days. hehe

 

Just tighten the bolts with a torque wrench and some people prefer to use Loc-Tite to make sure the threads lock in place.

 

Final note. I finished.
I did NOT do the rear main seal. After close inspection, I finally saw why the shortcut wouldnt work. Since there was a minute leak there, I scraped some old RTV off from around the seam, lightly sanded and globbed on some new RTV around the seam.
Got everything back together just fine. The hardest part was actually getting the tranny itself all lined up and back in.
I drove a lil last night and to work this morning.
The feel of the pedel is softer. It grabs so nice n low. Like right when I lift my toes off the pedel. Grabs firmly, too. So nice. I used royal purple fluid and shifting is way less notchier. Like my gear box was dipped in butter. So smooth. lol. (dont turn this into a MT90 or Amisoil debate)
One concern. I think I might just be from having the flywheel resurfaced or just from new parts in general but I hear this sound....best way to describe it is like similar to TV snow static. That "sssshhhhhh" sound. It seem to be right when the clutch is about to engage. Kinda like if you ride the clutch cause youre on an incline at a traffic light or slowly backing outta a parking spot. Sometimes it does it when just cruising or after a downshift n then goes away.
I dunno. Im not gonna fk with it, though. If you have a suggestion of what it might be, feel free to throw it out there.

 

It grabs low? Maybe you have air in your clutch line. That would also explain why the pedal feels softer. The noise u hear could be the throwout bearing. Did you use a new or old TO bearing?

Jae

 

Sorry to post *****, but I might as well ask you guys...I'm doing a clutch change here too in a few days. This is my first one. Is it safe to assume that if the inside of the clutch is dry that the RMS is ok? My clutch has started slipping pretty bad, maybe it's just worn?

 

I hope he did this...

 

You do know that's what brakes are for, right? Hold the car on a hill with the clutch and expect to be replacing it again in a short amount of time...

 

DOH! Don't know if you did this or not, but I/we dropped the ball when you asked for little tips & tricks, making sure the tranny is in gear before you lift it up makes it a ton easier for the splines to engage. Glad it all worked out, and that you saw what I was talking about with the RMS, congrats, hopefully you can paint that garage floor before the girl comes home

 

What are you referring to? Lift what up and which splines engaging when?

Jae

 

Jae- yeah, new throw out bearing. The sound seems to have gone away. I think it was just the newness of the part, if that makes sense. lol. Im pretty sure it is supposed to grab low. Its grabbing nice n solid.

Maximelt- That sounds about right but like the guys in here where telling me...while youre in there, if you have the option, change it. If not, maybe do what I did and clean up the seam and use some RTV on there.

pmohr- I dont know what a brake is. Please, explain this concept of "braking" to me. I dont get it.

Krrz- Yeah, we left that baby in gear. It was just the whole part of balancing the tranny on the jack, raising n lowering it by centimeters and pushing and pulling it back n forth. We got it, though. My gf's mom was PISSED. I got grease on the couch and a few spots on the carpet. aahahahah!!! Oops.

Thanks so much, guys!!!!!

 

k thanks 3 point slow...quite a job eh? can u post picks at all of your procedure or not?

 

I will try but they really came out crappy. My phone (sidekick 3) has such a crappy camerra, especially, in low light situations. So, I gave up trying to "document" the procedure. I have some but they really arent detailed enough to get you through it if youve never done it.

 

Some pics. I know they suck and thats cause of a lousy cam in my phone. Im so getting the Nokia n95. 5mp on a phone! Yea.
Anyway...you can see the RMS in the one pic. The others are to illustrate how tight the garage was. That door had to be down after 9pm. Omg! Tight flippin squeeze. Not too bad with the door open, though and better then being outside completely. And yes, I cleaned the inside of the housing before reinstalling.

 

thanks...was the transmission hard to get off? u used a jack to lower it right? the RMS is in the last pic, but why do you need to remove the upper oil pan? in fact, where is the upper oil pan lol...