Ok guys, as some of you may know I about a month or so ago I started having issues with my tranny. Well... the problem is VERY intermitten. I seem to average a "failure" about once a month. When it fails it loses reverse, and neutral becomes a "forward gear". Anyway, I got to talking to someone who suggested that maybe it is just a valve inside the tranny sticking. I drained the fluid last night, but when I pulled the magnetic drain plug there seemed to be a lot of garbage on there compared to what I remember from last time. It's only been 10,000 miles since the last time I drained / refilled. Also I found one SMALL bit of metal. (ugh)

Anyway, if you guys can check out the pictures below and let me know what you think I would really appreciate it.

http://www.rx7t2.com/maxima

Thanks,

 

Please order a Blackstone Oil Analysis sample kit and follow the instructions provide in the Oil Analysis spreadsheet Important post in the General Discussion forum. That will conclusively tell you the state of your transmission.


I would expect the need for a rebuild in the very near future.

 

Since you are loosing gears that are adjacent, check that your linkage is not too sloppy.

 

Looks pretty bad to me. When I drained the fluid out of mine for the replacement the whole plugs was covered in about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of that black crap, the fluid looked like black ketchup. If your fluid looked alright then it might be fine, but probably not. And since you changed it it will probably for sure go out now. Good Luck man, our transmissions suck a$$.

 

Ok, cool thanks guys.

Believe it or not my fluid actually looks REALLY nice. The transmission works fine except for those rare times when it screws up.... What's really strange (why I don't think it is the linkage) is because the when the transmission is "on it's way" back to normal... Neutral will actually work as a forward gear... and reverse will work. Also by holding in the button I can never find a "neutral" When the problem first starts, reverse doens't work at all. (Like neutral) If I had a cable problem I believe that I would have more consistent results. (Right?)

Thanks again to everyone,

 

I have drained and refilled my tranny 3 times over 20K miles.

The drain plug never looked like that. The most I ever got was a small amount of dust, not actual metal shavings.

I would have it looked at by a pro because a simple fix might turn out to be another costly overhaul if you ignore it.

 

I actually spoke to my mechanic (for the RX-7) and he seemed to think it wasn't too bad, and it wasn't anything he would worry about.

I dunno... I'm still trying to figure out if I'm gonna dump the car and get something else or just fix this if it has a real issue.