johnnymack43

Hey I have a 97 maxima with 345k any thoughts on flushing the transmission fluid. Is it worth it or should I just leave it along? also anyone know the quantity of fluid in a automatic trans?

styliztik

Do NOT flush. If anything you can drain and refill. But with that kind of mileage I would be skeptical of even doing that. Just add fluid as it needs it

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Drain and fill will be fine but as styliztik said, Do NOT flush.

jholley

iTrader: (13)

After draining ~4.5 quarts I would drop the 21 bolted pan and clean the magnets and lifelong screen filter with brake cleaner. If you drop the pan you'll need to replace the gasket and add ~7 quarts.

You can find the info for that procedure by downloading the FSM along with searching these forums.

surban1

iTrader: (17)

would you leave the screen filter on while you clean it w/ brake cleaner or would you remove it (people have had troubles getting it off)?

iDuty

When I dropped the pan on my 1997 I cleaned up the pan and magnets nicely without using any solvents. I did not remove the screen filter, that seemed pointless, and I wouldn't spray brake cleaner in there for fear of getting residual brake cleaner in the ATF.

345K miles is impressive. Even with a fine VQ engine, there are so many things that can go wrong with a vehicle before it reaches that mileage.

jholley

iTrader: (13)

The only residue on my screen was on the inner section. The only tricky part of simply removing that screen is it has 9 bolts with 3 varying lengths and 1 nut. Do a search and you'll find diagrams labeling those bolt and nut locations.

Wiping the magnets and filter with a lint free rag after applying brake cleaner cannot harm the AT.

surban1

iTrader: (17)

yeah, i believe the "blind" nut is what gives people grief'; maybe i'll take a wait and see approach (ie wait to see if the screen filter looks like it's getting clogged) before i decide how to handle it.

i believe iduty was hesitant to spray brake clean into/on the filter screen itself (while still installed) not the pan while off. kinda like referring to my original question to you.

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

this is one of those questions that i puke every time i see it cause i am soo sick of seeing it being asked. SEARCH!!!!!

johnnymack43

I wasn't going to flush it. I meant to say drain. Only thought was after so many kilometers I might have an issues with stripping/breaking bolts.

Ps sorry to hear that you are puking, isn't this the same as a search??????

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

i think you know the answer to that question....

Trini Boom

iTrader: (5)

Still, makes no sense why would someone ask if you flush a tranny with those kinds of mileage on it? At this age for these cars, flush is not to be done on any A/T regardless if it has lower mileage. They are about to approach the big 20 in another 2 years...

JvG

The original poster is in Canada, so he means 345,000 kilometers. This is about 213,000 miles.

Trini Boom

iTrader: (5)

Regardless my friend, for the age of these cars, flush is not advised!

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

correct, i did a flush with only 152,000 on the original trans and at 178,000 the first gear started slipping. my second trans has 145,000 and all i did was a drain and fill and she's a-ok.

Zeke Burson

Any ideas on what would cause my transmission to drop out of drive when I'm at a stop light or below 30 mph? It's an automatic. It won't go back into drive so I have to put it in 2nd and get above 30 mph just to be able to go back into drive. Only happens when the engine is at normal temps and not when it's cold.