My old Max has 306,700KM (190,574 MI), and i'm getting mixed reviews from mechanics on wether or not to change the fluid at this point. I've read the threads on this forum on the topic.

I don't exactly remember when the last time it was changed, it could be 3-4 years ago or more, but I know it was done at some point back then. I went to the Nissan dealership today and one of the mechanics looked at the dip stick, and said I could go ahead and get it done. The fluid looked pink with no visible dirt in it.

Can one really tell just by looking at the dipstick?

I'm in a predicament, I do want to keep the car for much longer so do I forget it and just top up what's in there when it needs it and run the same fluid until the end of the cars life, or could changing it prolong the life of the transmission MORE.

Another service guy at the dealership said to just forget it and leave it alone. If there are no problems (there aren't any right now) don't do anything. If the fluid becomes dirty or I start getting slipping, I should then change it. He also said if I do change it, don't do the pan service and clean the particles off the magnet, he claims the magnet can be left alone for the life of the car, is there any truth to that statement?

Any recommendations appreciated.

 

The general appearance and smell of ATF is often used as a general, non-scientific indicator of whether the fluid needs to be changed or not. If the fluid is dark and smells burnt, it is a pretty good indicator that you have some transmission issues going on and/or the transmission has been neglected. However, if your visual inspection of the fluid indicates it is bright in color, with no evidence of burning/oxidation that is generally a pretty good indication that the transmission has been serviced and is generally healthy. But just because the fluid looks good; the vehicle has a lot of miles on it; and/or you don't know the history doesn't mean that you can't/shouldn't initiate a good routine maintenance program.

I'm a firm believer in preventative/routine maintenance and I change my ATF every 30,000 miles...without fail, the used fluid coming out looks as good as the new fluid I put in. I do use synthetic ATF, but I'm not sure there would be much benefit in you using synthetic given the amount of miles on your car.

Concerning your question about the magnet, I have always done the drain and refill method without removing the pan...and that is consistent with the (only) procedure detailed in the FSM for my vehicle. Some people have reported slippage on high mileage cars after a total flush.

Recommendation??? You have to do what you're comfortable with, but I see no reason why you shouldn't do a transmission drain/refill on this vehicle...a good maintenance regimen could prolong the life of the vehicle, which is your objective.

 

Thanks Horse - do you do the drain & refill yourself?

I think I'm going to attempt the drain & refill myself. I have a few questions such as how many litres or Pints of ATF did you have on hand to re-fill. Also does the angle of the car affect the draining, meaning is it necessary to have the car level on jackstands, or is it OK with chocks and wheel ramps. Is the drain plug gasket generic or a Nissan part? I've found a spec of 22-29 FT-LBS for the plug, if this is incorrect please correct. I went to the dealership and bought their KEYLINE P/N# 99998-71050 ATF.

 

Yes, I do it myself...simply a matter of removing/replacing the drain plug and refilling to the proper level.

Total system capacity on your car is approximately 10 quarts, so depending on the temperature of the oil when you pull the plug, the length of time you let it drain and angle/attitude of the car, you can expect to replace anywhere from about 4 to 5.5 quarts...it just depends. The best thing to do to prevent overfilling is to check the fluid level before you start the process and make sure it is at the proper level...drain the ATF and measure the amount that comes out. Use the amount drained as a reference point when refilling. Doing this will reduce the guesswork when refilling and help guard against overfilling.

The angle/attitude of the car will definitely affect the amount of ATF drained from the car. I believe the drain plug on this car is at the very bottom of the pan (not on the side or the rear), so the car should be level to get the most fluid out of it. I typically don't even bother to raise the car when doing this...a drain pan will fit under it while parked on a level driveway or in the garage. I wouldn't recommend ramps for this process as the angle of the car will be too severe and it will affect the amount of fluid you get out of it; plus you'll have to back it down before you can even to do an initial fluid-level check.

Nissan uses a copper crush-washer that actually threads on to the drain plug and crushes down when you torque it. I don't know about using a generic washer...you should probably stick with an OEM washer...they're inexpensive.

Torque spec you cite is correct.

This is a very easy process...you shouldn't have any problems whatsoever. Let me know how it goes.

 

Hi Horse:

Finished the procedure on the 93 GXE last night. Total time for the whole job took me 9 hrs. I let it drain for many hrs, it kept dripping slowly. Plus I wasted a lot of time trying to jack the back up and put the car on jack stands. I can't seem to find good points to transfer the load onto jackstands. I've been using the control arm joints for jack points, but then can't transfer onto jack stands since I'm using those points. Parts are getting rusted down there, so i'm very careful to try and find 'cast' looking metal for doing this. I ended up doing what you said, ditching the idea of jacking it up to drain.

The guy at the Nissan dealer sold me the wrong copper washer. In fact when I took the drain bolt off, there was no washer, but there looked like there was sort of a rubber gasket built into the drain bolt. It was grey and may have been gasket sealant built into the bolt - I don't know. The drain bolt is quite large - 25mm length & 25mm width. The design is good, it has a built in magnet which was coated in this fine metal sludge that took forever to clean off in the tub. This was an RE4F02 model and the drain bolt took a 1/2" drive directly. This was a very stubborn fastener, we couldn't get it off by hand, so we had to use the impact wrench (500 FT-LB Burst) and I just put the 1/2" drive of the air tool directly into the bolt, it came off easily.

Exactly 3.25L drained out. It was a very dark purple color, not completely black, but extremely dark. It didn't smell burnt but it did smell different than the new. Before the drain, my dipstick was reading incorrectly. The last person may have over filled it.

So when re-filling, I started off with 2.3L new fluid. Started the car and while idling put in the dip stick in quickly, and noticed it was not even on the stick. Immediately turned car off. Put in 200mL increments after that doing the same procedure, until it started raising on the stick.

I finally finished at the exact amount of 3.05L filled. The dipstick reads correct for both HOT & COLD tests. I had to drive up the car onto car ramps to torque the drain bolt at the end to finish it, as the long handle couldn't get clearance from the ground prior. I torqued the bolt to 23 FT-LBS to complete.

ODOMETER OUT: 307,254 KM

 

Sounds like you did a good job on it. You might want to consider repeating the process in the near future to raise the concentration of new fluid. The process should go much quicker now that you've gained some experience.

 

Do you think there would be any downfalls of draining the fluid from the A/T Oil Cooler Hose, as a number of people have done on this forum, to get out a larger volume of liquid for a true exchange?

I notice in the FSM they don't even mention this method of drain and re-fill. I wonder why.

 

No downfalls...but you won't get much more out by simply draining the fluid from the hose...not much capacity in there. You should only remove the hose if you're going to do a flush.

Probably not mentioned in the service manual because the advantages are minimal and not worth the additional time involved.

 

^^^^^I think he is referring to a flush via the trans line in leiu of the drain plug. If you want to get all of it out at one time, then, yes, you would do a drain/fill via drain plug and then fill it back up and THEN flush it via the trans line. This way all of the fluid is replace at one time rather than just 1/2 of it.

THe manual prob does not mention it due to risks involved in running the pan empty and such, but should you do the drain/fills often enough you dont need to mess w/ changing the fluid via the return line since the concentration of new is always large.

 

OK thanks guys. I won't bother then with the cooler lines. I already am into a tedeous job right now...I'm replacing every hose under the hood...so far it's like 40 or 50, they are annoyingly hard sometimes to get off - and I don't want to brake anything...it's like they fused to the pipes they were attached to.