bought a 97 GLE with 42k about three months ago. it now has 45k.

i can assume that because this was owned by a senior citizen before me, the transmission has probably never been abused. so i wanted to get an idea of what to do from the majority of you....

first of all, my transmission runs perfectly right now. no slips, the timing is right, everything feels good. now the owner's manual recommends replacing the TRANSAXLE FLUID every 30k, which i assume is the tranny fluid, but i could be wrong.

i drive spiritedly (lots of hard acceleration at lights) and probably am putting the tranny under a great deal more stress than the 92 year old who drove it the first 42k.

so im thinking its about time for some maintenance but im on the fence about which way to go....drain/fill VS. coolant line exchange (flush).

given my low mileage i assume that the coolant line exchange would be the best option, but i CANNOT AFFORD to replace the tranny, so i wouldnt do it if there is even a 2% chance of something going wrong. if that is the case, id rather just be safe and do a drain/fill.

are those my only two options? is there another?

- if i do decide to flush, is there anything i should be aware of?
- should i get it done at a dealership or my local mechanic?

- what AT fluid? amsoil? what kind of amsoil? be specific please

- what is the capacity of the tranny system? 10 quarts? how much should i buy?
- how much will the coolant line exchange replace? all 10?
- what about the drain/fill? how much will that replace?

or should i just leave it be for now.....my uncle is telling me to wait until 100k but that sounds wrong.

thanks for your input.

 

I would just drain and fill. I have done every way and this is the best way with least problems. I did the coolant line from an oil shop and it acted funny. I did the coolant line at my house and it was a mess. Just pull plug and you should need about 5 quarts. Add a bottle of lucas transmission seal if you want for added protection, the stuff is like honey out the bottle. I like chevron ATF and its about 35 a case.

 

dude, just do a T-tec flush with some Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF and forget about! That's what i did, and i had 131 K miles. I'd reccomend doing an AUto-RX treatment 1st.

Definetly the way 2 go!

 

Big to everything else you said, but if you take it on the highway, than let it drain for about 45 minutes with the front end jacked up as high as possible you'll get about 7qt's out of it

 

I would not recommend the T-Tech flush (Sorry heynow) as it may blow the little metal particles all over the solenoids and gears.

I would recommend going to the dealer for a basic drain and fill,. why dealer ? Becaue here where i live it was cheaper for this service at the dealer than any other shop i phoned.

DO NOT wait until 100 K to service the tranny, follow the manual to the T on transmission service. because even if you have no problems with it now, thats the way you wanna keep it, and you will - by putting in fresh fluid every 30K Mi.

Go check the fluid and let us know what it smells and looks like, wipe it on a napkin and see how much metal particles you see...oh and PLZ take it easy on your street light launches, this is not some 5spd, this is a granny-tranny ;-0

 

T-tech is a gentle flush, it won't "blow" anything anywhere. (unless you think that your tranny can destroy itself) It's not a high-pressure flush. It uses the tranny's own pump to <<<exchange>>> the fluid. The fluid flows as would thru the radiator, only the old fluid is left behind, and the new flows in.

Simple as that. Beleive me, i wouldn't risk my own tranny by doing a machine flush on @ tranny. (that WILL destroy a tranny). I've done plenty of research on this. It's as safe as doing a cooler return line flush, but none of the mess.

(thanks for your comment Andrei, your input is always appreciated)

 

i checked the fluid the day i bought it 3 months ago and it looked great. pink reddish with virtually no debris whatsoever. i just checked it again tonight and it looks the same.


so what kind of AT fluid do you all suggest? amsoil? mobil?
is there a big price descrepency? i can get 10 qts of amsoil from tatanko for 88 bux.

is there a certain viscosity or characteristic that i want in this fluid? does the fact that i drive in a hot climate change anything?

 

I'm the original owner of a 96 max . I've done , at most 4 drain & fills , using the cheapest atf I could find . 287,500 troublefree miles on original tranny.

 

Go with Amsoil. Get it from talkinghorse in the GroupDeal forum.

Viscosity is per the owners manual and the Chilton repair manual you just bought. Or check out the Fluids forum..... Here's a sticky for ya..

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=110363

Hot weather is irrelevant. You'll fall into schedule A or schedule B for time intervals based on your driving habits etc. It's all explained in the back of your owners manual as you have seen. Follow the owners manual, it won't steer you wrong.

 

go to the dealer so if anything goes wrong they will fix it right away thats wat i did

 

i dont know about your dealership but mine are a bunch of ****ing imcompetant sloths. if they do a drain/fill and my tranny starts slipping 600 miles later im sure they will deny responsability.

id rather just take it to my buddy who has a lift and doesnt know much about trannys.

 

True and tested, drain and fill!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

At your mileage and since you came back with good results on your fluid from 3 months ago and it is consistent to your recent ATF check, I would conclude you do not need to bother wit ha full system flush, regardless of the machine that can be used ;-) If you keep with the interval you will not have to do a full system flush simply because the fluid will always be fresh enough to just drain 50% of it (or so) and refill. Every other drain (ie 60K Mi) i would recommend you drop the pan and clean the magnets, but the dealer wont do that since Nissan thinks its not needed, so you will have to go to a private shop for that.

Fluid: i dont have the MSDS charts and various graphs on all the chemical contents of fluid A VS. Fluid B

I do know that Nissan recommends using its own brand of ATF (Matic-D), but the manual also states that if that is not available then any regular Dexron 3 ATF can be used.

I have never been able to find out any difference between Matic-D and any other ATF though. But then again, Toyota has its own ATF, so does BMW, and Mitsubishi, ect...how much different could they all be ?

These guys here did not see any difference either http://www.artsautomotive.com/GenuineFluids.htm

Oh and BTW, if you get your friend to drain and fill your tranny, make sure he doesn't over fill it. Check the level on a straight surface while the car is running in P.

 

Big here, I just purchased 5 qts. of GL-4 and had it within 72 hours of payment. Great guy to deal with.

 

Good advice, the transmissions seem to be fragile from what I've heard.

 

the auto is more solid than the 5spd on these cars is what i heard here

 

Definitely Amsoil.

-Evan

 

Since your transmission is not abused (baring the recent spirited driving from ur end after buying it from the old man), this is what I would do..

1) Do a drain and fill of the tranny pan with 4/5 Q of Castrol MV Import ATF.
2) Let the new ATF do the majic inside the tranny.
3) Repeat step 1 after some 1000 miles.
4) Do a complete flush at around 5000 miles with Castol MV Import ATF or Nissan Matic D ATF. DONOT use the machines to do a flush. Read thro the Fluids thread for doing flushes (FYI, I do a flush on my own with no help, if I could do it, so could you).
5) Disconnect the battery after every fluid change/flush overnight for resetting the TCM/ECM etc.

Good luck.

 

Whether you use Amsoil, Castrol, or Chevron, and whether you drain+fill or do a cooler line exchange, the important thing is that you DO IT -- maintain that transmission. The 4th gen automatics have a good reliability record.

My recommendation: If you drain+fill then do so about every 15,000 miles, perhaps twice close to each other to start with. If you do the cooler line exchange then 30,000 mile intervals will probably suffice.

If you use Amsoil ATF you can go with longer intervals.

As you can see, although there is some conflicting advice in posts above, I agree with most of them.

 

Question for you guys:

I got my car at 203.000 KM, next day did a drain and fill right away at the dealer, she now has 225.000 KM (30K Mi = 48K Km) more than a year later. I don't have any issues with it and never have.

Question 1) Should i wait for the interval to come up, or cut it short for the next drain and fill?

Question 2) How important is it to drop the pan and clean the magnets ? (nissan tells us its not needed, but i have seen the tranny magnest on my other car and they were nasty). I do not know the history of the car?

Just want your input, and i also think it applies to the thread.

 

Good advice. I must add Nissan Transmissions are brutal on ATF, shearing them. If you put in expensive ATF be sure they have less viscosity improvers which artificially keeps the viscosity in a desired range -- once the VI's loose stream, so does the viscosity. You will be back to a DexronIII like fluid.

 

Following up on my recommendations, I must add a pan drop and cleaning of the magnets anywhere from 60K-80K miles is a must. The amt of debris is far less over time once the break in material collected over the first 60K miles. Cleaning the magnets is a must for keeping the magnets clean to accumulate more grime. Also, replacing the magnets at 100K miles is a suggested PM measure, though I haven't done it. I did do a pan drop to clean the grime on the magents @ 60K.

A bypass filter is a good option too.

 

bypass filter ? thats too complicated lol im not planning to double the mileage on the car