Hello every body. I here is my situation I bought a 97' 5spd for $1900 with 160,000 miles on the clock. I noticed an oily smell when driving and have seen oil on the ground after I park. Smelling it, it seems like heavy weight oil, transmission fluid. I took the car to a Nissan dealership and they replaced the axle mount seals or transmission mount seals or something like that, I forget what they were called. It cost $500 bucks and the problem wasn't fixed so they reimbursed me. They said the whole tranny needed to be replaced for $3000 dollars!!!!! I don't have that kind of money! . I believe these Maximas had a problem that caused these seals to go bad eventually and Nissan never fixed the problem.

So my question is: I'm trying to resell the car and what should I do about the tranny? should I buy a cheap one? just refill the fluid when it needs it or what?

Yes I am a noobie here and I'm only 16, first car, just trying to solve some issues. I really do appreciate everyone's input and help.

Thanks again!

 

so you find out your car needs a new transmission, so you are trying to sell it? i would hope you are informing the new buyer of this problem.

if i were you i would get away from the dealer in this situation and get a transmission from a junk yard for a lot cheaper, find your local transmission shop and have them put it in.

than get rims and a drop and enjoy your max.

 

Ahhhh yes, i remember when my 4th gen 5spd had the same problem. I only had it 3 or 4 months before the problem began.

Sorry to hear about this. Wish u were a member before u bought, i wd have told u to look for with 4th gen maxi 5spds. Any fluid on the tranny housing, walk away unless u wanna drop a new tranny in it/

Your differnetial bearing is going. A classic issue for 4th gen 5 spds. You have a couple if options.

1) the dealer is charging 3000 for either a NEW or rebulit NIssan tranny. Thats right! nissan sells new 4th gen trannies for 2500, rebulit 2200. U can do that for 3000 bucks. nissan warranty tranny for 1 year.

2) U can get a used tranny, if u can find a good used one. I did this and paid 1200 for everything. 700 for the tranny, 200 for clutch replacement, 300 for labor = 1200. Tranny had 90k on it, and a 6month warranty.

3) u can rebuild your tranny. That will prolly cost more than gettin a used tranny. Prolly last 2-3 yrs from what other ppl report. i wd say 1500-2000 bucks for everythin.

4) you can keep driving on yur broken tranny cuz it WILL still drive.However, over time the seals will get worse, u have to keep adding fluid, one day the tranny will jus seize and then u NEED another tranny.

I love manual transmission. THe maxi is only a maxi wit a 5spd if u ask me, but the AT is cool cuz its still fast and a maxi. I replaced my tranny at 160k too so dont feel too bad about that.

My advice, If u plan on keepin the car try to replace wit a used tranny. It seems the tranny jus go around 140-160k. The motor will last forever. 1200 for used tranny is not bad. 3000 bucks is another car, even another max. Its up to u man.

Oh and make sure u got a mechanic that can do the work that u TRUST. Replacing a tranny not that hard, but if they mess up...im sure u understand. Good luck

 

[quote=cashoit;7624648]Ahhhh yes, i remember when my 4th gen 5spd had the same problem. I only had it 3 or 4 months before the problem began.

Sorry to hear about this. Wish u were a member before u bought, i wd have told u to look for with 4th gen maxi 5spds. Any fluid on the tranny housing, walk away unless u wanna drop a new tranny in it/

Your differnetial bearing is going. A classic issue for 4th gen 5 spds. You have a couple if options.

1) the dealer is charging 3000 for either a NEW or rebulit NIssan tranny. Thats right! nissan sells new 4th gen trannies for 2500, rebulit 2200. U can do that for 3000 bucks. nissan warranty tranny for 1 year.

2) U can get a used tranny, if u can find a good used one. I did this and paid 1200 for everything. 700 for the tranny, 200 for clutch replacement, 300 for labor = 1200. Tranny had 90k on it, and a 6month warranty.

3) u can rebuild your tranny. That will prolly cost more than gettin a used tranny. Prolly last 2-3 yrs from what other ppl report. i wd say 1500-2000 bucks for everythin.

4) you can keep driving on yur broken tranny cuz it WILL still drive.However, over time the seals will get worse, u have to keep adding fluid, one day the tranny will jus seize and then u NEED another tranny.

I love manual transmission. THe maxi is only a maxi wit a 5spd if u ask me, but the AT is cool cuz its still fast and a maxi. I replaced my tranny at 160k too so dont feel too bad about that.

My advice, If u plan on keepin the car try to replace wit a used tranny. It seems the tranny jus go around 140-160k. The motor will last forever. 1200 for used tranny is not bad. 3000 bucks is another car, even another max. Its up to u man.

Oh and make sure u got a mechanic that can do the work that u TRUST. Replacing a tranny not that hard, but if they mess up...im sure u understand. Good luck


Thanks for the information, I got the car with just over 160K. It now has 161K. I've filled the fluid once already and think a used one would be a good option. Thanks again you seem to have had a very similar problem.

 

i think you should sell your car. how much do you want for it? i already have a buyer..... me but seriously i will buy it

 

Most of what cashoit said is fairly accurate, but a few things need adjusting/clarifying.

a) brand new transmissions are not $2500 from nissan. they are about $1750. i'm not sure what rebuilt ones from nissan cost or if they are even available (never inquired about one rebuilt from nissan). not that you want to go that route, but there's the info. the installation of the trans might bring you up close to $2500 or $3000 if you have nissan do it, not sure what the going rate is for dealer transmission R&R is these days.

b) used trans is a viable option, but you run the risk of having the same problem with a used trans as you're having with your current one. the proper thing to do if you get a used trans from a junk yard or other source who doesn't know it's condition would be to have it inspected, either by yourself if you feel like taking the cover off of it and learning a few things, or by taking it to a transmission shop and paying them to inspect it. some would say that while you're in there you might as well put new bearings in it and reshim the thing to proper specs, you'd want them to at a minimum check out the other bearings to see their condition. do this and you'd have a transmission which should be reliable for at least 5 years if not 10 or 15 (not that you'd have the car that long). if it's not shimmed properly however, you might start to see problems in the 2-4 year range. cost for a used trans is usually in the $400-700 range, a couple hundred for removal and reinstallation if you need that done, and $50-100 to simply inspect it. If you need to have bearings replaced, another couple hundred probably. also checking out the clutch condition on a 160k mile car while you're in there isn't a bad idea. if the car has mostly highway mileage, it might actually still be on the original. otherwise it's probably already had the clutch replaced on it, and it might not need it again for another few years.

c) cashoit's estimate of the cost to rebuild the transmission yourself is completely inaccurate however. you can get every bearing in the trans and every synchro in the trans, bringing the transmission to close-to-brand-new-status (assuming no other hard parts are bad), for $300. I don't have my up to date price list handy, but the next most common replacement parts are coupling sleeves (which I will just call the sleeve from here on out, of which there are 3 in the trans, and you'd probably NOT have to replace all 3, if any. a trans requiring replacement of all 3 has been driven pretty hard. shifting very fast and/or having an improperly adjusted clutch are what cause coupler sleeves to go bad.) the 1st/2nd sleeve is $120-$140, the 3rd/4th is about $100, and the 5th/reverse sleeve is about $50. the 1st/2nd is the most common to replace, followed by 3rd/4th, followed lastly by 5th/reverse. if your trans is not currently grinding and the sleeves look good upon inspection, there is no reason to replace them. beyond that, you are getting in to some pretty rare problems, probably don't have to worry about anything else inside there.

so, for a minimum (if you JUST did the diff bearings and input shaft bearings) you'd probably be looking at $200 in parts, or a maximum if you did every bearing, every synchro, and all 3 sleeves, $550-600ish in parts and you'd have a virtually brand new transmission. the biggest issue with rebuilding the trans yourself is the equipment, and the down time if you need to order parts (especially new shims, which are often back ordered).

For a novice first timer doing a basic rebuild like I described, I'd count on 15-20 hours of work pretty easily. I'm not necessarily advocating rebuilding it yourself, but lots of first timers on here have rebuilt their own trans in their garage with no prior knowledge. there are a few of us on here who have rebuilt tons and tons of transmissions and those people generally always chime in for transmission threads with advice, etc.

d) leaving it alone and just refilling it whenever it needs it may leave you stranded somewhere eventually, but there's no way to tell how long it will last without actually seeing the car, seeing how bad he bearings actually are, etc. it could be a matter of days or weeks if it's really severe, or months/years if it's just in the initial stages. how much fluid would you say you see in a normal overnight timeframe?

 

It sounds like you differential bearings are on their way out and because of their movement within the transmission, they'll rub and cause wear on your axle seals, making the seals tear over time and leaving you with the problem that you are currently having.

If you're selling the car simply because of this reason, I'd think again. Go to a junkyard, inspect the diff bearings/input shaft and if they look good, throw it in. IMHO, its not worth spending all that money for a car that you only paid $1900 for. A $500 transmission will suffice and get you through several years if the diff bearings and input shaft are good. I've swapped my transmission once, and had it off 2 other times for clutch changes. Its really straight forward and I don't know why cashoit said so, but you really can't mess up if you have your head on straight.

Hope this helps a little bit. Seeing you're 16, this would be a good learing experience for you if you hope to understand a bit about your car.

 

I called nissan like 4 wks ago and $2500 was the price they gave me for jus a new tranny, no labor. Bear in mind, this is in MASS tho.

$1750! Seriously? THat is why i ALWAYS negotiate the prices for anything i buy or repair work i get from the dealer. THe markup they put on their parts is incredible.

EDIT:

I wdnt mind doin a tranny rebuild myself cuz i dont think its hard. But i jus dont have the tools or time. Thats the real problem.

 

yeah it's $1745.40 on courtesy nissan's website, and Dave B is almost always even cheaper than courtesy in my experience.

 

Ok so I just had the transmission filled twice, the first time it was fairly low. The second time it was filled (5 days after this first time) it had lost very little fluid. This makes me think the previous owner never had it filled and sold the car because of this problem.
I'd like to either buy a used one from a junk yard or something and do the work myself or rebuild my current one. However I don't have the money and my original plan was to simply flip the car without doing much to it.

 

Thatas shady move lol

but if u not gonna keep it then get rid of it...even with tranny issue car still sell for no less than 1700

 

Checked out the website and never knew it existed. THis is the most awesome nissan parts website i have seen.

Kudos for the coat pull neal