Hello Everyone,

I have been reading about the 2004 Maxima's having transmission problems. My 04 has 70k miles on it and the transmission is working great. I have never had the fluid changed in the Maxima, and was wondering if/when it I should. The dealership told me to change it every 30k miles, but I am wary of their suggestions. I visual checked the fluid; it looked fine and didn't have a burnt smell to it.

Thanks,

 

I would do it ASAP. It is supposed to be 30k and I would stick with that to preserve the life of the transmission.

 

When you drain the transmission fluid does 3.5 quarts come out? How much comes out if you drain it with the car hot? (Or does the fluid get to hot, & not reccomended?) Car won't be level it will be up on a wheel ramp if that makes a difference in the amount that comes out.

Is 4 quarts enough, or should you get 5 to be safe?

 

When I changed my 4-speed 04"s fluid, exactly 5 quarts drained out. Don't know if the 5AT is the same or different. However, unless you have canine nose genes and eagle eye genes, I would take your service guy's advice and replace the fluid that can be easily drained every 30K. You could even replace it twice spearated by a couple of days' worth of driving to change some of the converter fluid.

 

I wouldn't do it yourself. 30k is best even though you can push it a little further. There is like 11quarts but it doesn't all drain out when they change it. You must use the right fluid too. I would just pay the dealer to do it. They quoted me $80 for drain fill. Not a bad price.

 

I've been told it will take a couple drains/refills to get most of the old fluid out. Is there any truth to this? Also, what fluid do you guys recommend?

 

That would be true.

Per our resident tech from previous threads:

My recommend is take it to the dealer, save yourself some grief.

 

You should get a pressure tranny flush that's gonna get rid of ALL the old oil and then refill with the Nissan K oil. I got a quote from my stealership today for $250 which seems kinda high.

 

They told me not to change the oil at 50K cause the tranny is going to fail anyway and they will replace it under warranty. Uh, I checked and I dont have this on paper.

 

[QUOTE=Apollos2;6884991]That would be true.

I never heard of "J" fluid.
This is whats in the manual.

Automatic transaxle fluid (ATF)
4 A/T 9 3/4 qt with flush Genuine NISSAN Matic "D" ATF


5 A/T 7 3/4 qt with flush Genuine NISSAN Matic "K" ATF


I just did a drain and fill at a little over 100,000 miles and I used 4 quarts of "K" fluid. I never did a flush and have had no problems. The dealer where I live charges 180 dollars for a flush job.

 

is there a differenct between flushing the system and changing the fluid? What are the pros and cons of each?

 

a fluid change only changes what you have in the pan, which according to the post above is about 5qts. a flush is a push of all the fluid out of the tranny, so you will need about 11 qts. a flush uses pressure to push all the fluid out which may affect you seals.

 

Got my 04 flushed at the dealer today..76k miles on car..asked service guy how often should i get this done..he said i'm good for another 70k

 

i do it every 20K .. when i drain/refill it, i normally smell burnt fluid. my 04 is holding up strong. i've been doing this drain/refill every 20k since 30,000s ago. now i am at 88,000. car is still running strong.

 

If you have the 4 speed auto then your trans should be pretty solid, I would say you should be good to go 40-50k per change. If its's the 5 speed, do it every 20 or so just to be safe, those things are touchy

 

dealer told me you cant flush 5 speed.... just 4 speed.

I did flush/refill 4X. at 80 000 miles. 3x with 5 min drive, then 1x at next oil change. Super smooth now.

I'll do it once every year now. (just 1 flush/refill)

 

I haven't had to flush my trans yet. It seems that my car eats transmissions faster than the recommended fluid changes. New transmissions come with new fluid!

 

first of all, let me accept that I am not an expert in transmission , its internal details and functionalities of different parts .
I am due for an transmission fluid change- mainly becuase of I want isolate the cold shifting problems.
Question 1 : Do you guys recommend Mobil 1 or Amsoil for 5spd or just stick with nissan matic k ?
Question 2 : I know it will sound like s**t but can anyone check and tell me what should be the fluid level on the dipstick when the tranny is cold , like in the morning. In my case, it just slightly touches the dipstick lowest point. I know thats not the way I should check, but checking the level while tranny warms up gives me different readings. So just wanted to compare during cold as thats consistent. ( if this at all makes sense ) and ultimately that will also provide a comparative results. (between ur car and mine )

 

Dont use any other fluid except Matic K.

 

No, you check it when car is hot at operating temp after a drive. Park, switch all gears, then go back to park. Leave the car running. Now check the level. Thats how you check it.

Not like engine oil.

 

Are they high? I just got a quote for $74, that's with tax included. (For a power flush and my own fluid)

 

you cannot presure flush the 5 speed. thats bs. how do they do it? I bet they just drain and refill 3 times....

 

I have an '05 Maxima. The transmission dipstick parameters are confusing. At the bottom, there are 2 cuts on the edge of the stick. A little higher is a cross hatch area. Then even higher above the bends in the stick is the word HOT. What gives? Which exactly are the range marks? Thanks for any help. I just want it to be perfect.

 

Newbie here. I have a 2008 Maxima SE 83,000 miles (yea...I drive alot). This is my 3rd vehicle. First vehicle in High School was a 1995 Altima 289,000 miles. Engine just recently went out. Next car driven by wife is 2002 Altima 153,000 miles going strong (regular wear - needs new struts & engine mount). I have never changed any of my transmission fluid... ever. Since young I was told do not play with it and so I've kept that with me. I have never had transmission slipping or hard shifting with none of the vehicles I've owned. I guess since never changing the transmission fluid it is in my advantage to not change them now since all vehicles have lots of miles on them. My wife and I are not hard drivers at all, mainly highway miles. But I think the obsession of changing transmission fluid a bit of a rip off from stealerships. There is no need to keep switching that fluid every 30K. It is an enclosed capsule for Christ sakes.... I do not know anyone for doing it...but don't buy into the hype that you need it every 30k. If it's never been changed...leave it alone.

 

So if you check it and it's brown, even black, you don't think it's needed?
How about the many 04-06 that have overheated, becoming dark and failing??? Let alone that today's trannies are more complex.

 

How I wish you tried the 6th gen (2004-06) for size.

 

Please don't take my last post as me trying to promote not flushing/draining your transmissions. To each his own. Just saying, personally I leave my transmissions alone. I just wonder if that 5% of 6th generation Maxima's experience the tranny issue is factual. Read that on 2 other posts in this forum.

 

This is my wife's car since brand new; and I do most of the maintenance myself for her. Me too, I also only do drain/refill at 30k and 60k miles, once a year or 15k miles after that. Oil change with Mobil 1 every 5K miles. Nissan maintenance manual is misleading, especially on transmission fluid services. On a 30k or 60k maint., there is no transmission fluid service (all you do is check), except if you tow.

 

Hello all,
my transmission just went on me after 198000 miles. I located one at a salvage yard for 1100.00 with 104000 miles. How much k matic fluid should I buy to give to my mechanic,