traveler1

I ain't paying someone to do something I can do, "...with the help of my friends."

I got tools. I can get dirty and live to tell about it, so I want to remove the valve body and send it to level10 and have them rebuild it. Once I get it back, I reverse the same process that took it off.

Transmission is fine, it's the valve body that's crap.

Does anyone have detailed directions/instructions on how to remove the valve body from the transmission? I thought I had found some on here, but I think ti was for an 04. Would they be the same or even similar?

Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SATXBOX

I think that the removal installation would be just about the same as it is still an AW55/50-SB1 valve Body which runs from 2004 - 2006 maxima's.

macakin

I'm thinking about doing the same as my SL started having some trans problems yesterday (stuck in 5th gear), I searched but didn't find any write ups, on the removal of the VB?

KRRZ350

iTrader: (29)

The next car going in my shop is a 6th gen for a trans-go, either later today or tomorrow, I'll be sure to keep the camera handy so expect a quick write-up with pics by the weekend.

traveler1

KRRZ350,

Dude, that would be most awesome if you were to provide a few pics. I am sure I know where the VB is. It's knowing what bolts are holding it on vs together that I need to know of. I think I found an 04 thread where someone dropped the tranny, pulled the VB and you see those pics, but wasn't sure if 04 and 06 are similar to do or not.

Paul W.
Nash-Vegas TN
paulworley@gmail.com

KevMaster

Please do write-up for all of us. That would be a huge favour.

traveler1, you too if you happen to remove your valve body.

traveler1

Most certainly!

KRRZ350

iTrader: (29)

Cleaning up the shop now, should have it in pretty soon.

Did I say '06? It's an '04, oops. I don't think I'll bother with the write-up of actually installing the kit, trans-go's instructions are very thorough & have good pics, I'll go over the nissan specific steps though (Kit also fits saabs, volvo's, & a bunch of chevy's). I will copy them up here though, I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

STARR

iTrader: (1)

remove oil pan, followed by removing valve body pm chernmax he has more time taking his car apart then anyone

traveler1

I heard the 04 process is similar to the 06. I found the pan to remove the VB. Now I just need to know which bolts and only which bolts hold it on.

maine090987

Any testimonials about the trans go yet

Kryogen

There is no oil pan. There is a side pan, that covers the valve body. Just get under the car, look at the pan, remove the pan, unbolt teh valve body, take it out.... ?

macakin

Any updates on this?

pauleworley@gmail.com

I am so pissed that I waited 6 months from my first post to get back on here, but I took off my VB two weeks ago. Sooooo easy. Once off, bagged and tagged it and sent it to levelten.com via UPS Ground. So mad that I thought I couldn't handle this task and after getting it off, the hardest part being the wiring connectors - getting them off, I could have shot myself for waiting. They had it less than a week and it was back home. About to go throw it on now. Will let you all know how it goes.

PW

Costee

The VB bogey has since been demystified. Check the all famous thread, especially posts from March:
http://forums.maxima.org/6th-generat...ssion-fix.html
Good luck in your endeavour at installing your rebuilt VB.

pauleworley@gmail.com

OK...I musta done something wrong, because the car is not pulling whatsoever now. It pulled, barely (almost like limp mode but worse) for about 1/4 mile and I had to get her towed to a dealer.

A buddy asked if I made sure to put the o-ring back in (well he actually was thinking there were 3, but I only saw one with and orange colored wire. i put it back just as i thought it came out.)

And I am pretty sure I put all wiring harneses back on....?

Awaiting that dreaded call from the dealer. The service dept guy was saying he was leaning towards thinking it was the tranny from what I was telling him. (GREAT!)

Levelten is saying its bad o-rings between case and VB.

pauleworley@gmail.com

Levelten has been awesome about helping troubleshoot my install. I wasn't aware of the o-rings for forward and reverse flow. Those probably fell out and when i put the VB back on they weren't in place. Also, I never saw the piece that holds the temp sensor on the VB. I have advised the delaership service mgr of exactly what has transpired and he makes it sound as if his guys will go behind me and put the o-rings in as well as the sensor bracket....friggin' awesome folks there!

pauleworley@gmail.com

So the dealership called back yesterday and said their tech went behind me and replaced the o-rings with new ones and that he also replaced the temp sensor bracket, but the car drove only a short distance before it stopped pulling altogether.

I was then advised how economically feasible it would be to replace the whole transmission versus a part here and a part there until the issue is resolved. Yeah, they basically want me to drop $4000+ without questioning the VB install.

So let me get this straight...
My car drove prior to my replacing the VB. It popped between 1st and 3rd gear (slam bang) when increasing and or decreasing speed. So if my transmission was bad, I would think it wouldn't drive at all, but if it's the VB, then replacing the VB should get better or the same results, right? I mean if it drove prior to relacing the VB, even if the new VB was bad, the car should at least drive as it did before I took the VB off, or it should drive better, it shouldn't be worse now than before? Does that math add up?

Once I replaced the factory VB with a levelten one, the car never reflected signs of going into gear. Rev the engine with the car in "drive" and you never felt the car shift at all, be it in reverse or drive. When revving the engine up while in "D" the car didn'tmove at first. After a few revs of the engine, you still never felt it go into gear, but the car would somewhat begin to move forward. It was as if it was in "limpmode" with the car stuck in 5th gear, but you had next to no pull whatsoever. I didn't jerk at all, but it felt like the transmission was slipping quite a bit. It eventually moved forward and gained a little speed (at one point i was doing 25-30 mph), but once I stopped at an intersection or stop light, the car wouldn't even crawl forward and finally it stopped pulling altogether. I didn't want to redline the engine to get it to move forward, so I stopped all attempts to drive the car at that time and had it towed to a local "stealership."

So after $250+ out of my pocket for the tech to pull the VB off and check for the o-rings and to replace the temp sensor bracket, I am now worse off than I was prior to replacing the VB.

Is it possible the new Levelten VB is faulty? I don't doubt Levelten's workmanship, but things do break at the most inopertune time for most folks.

I am going for a second opinion this afternoon. I am getting my car towed to the facility I went to when I had an ABS issue. $750 later, they had me squared away with a new ABS sensor on my right rear wheel. No more ABS, TCS or SLIP error light on, whoo-hoo!

Well out of the frying pan and into the oven. I bought this car from a friend and I have had nothing but issues out of it. Granted I got the car a few thousand cheaper than bluebook, but come on! $750 to repair/replace ABS issue. $750 for a new VB from Levelten. $??? saved on attempting to replace the VB myself versus going thru an actual stealership or repair shop and overpaying out my ****.

Costee

One never knows, but perhaps an oem Vb from Nissan and labour for some mechanic would have been more result-oriented and less expensive than the course you took in addressing this issue. I'd say rather than going further in trial and error, you get the oem VB and have it installed by a mechanic (or would it be that you are one?)

acercomp71

sorry for off-topic, did you say the shop charged you 750 for ABS sensor? what can i say, it is a serious rip-off dude.. you can get the part for little over than 100 bucks.

as of VB, doing all this transgo, level ten so-called "upgrades" is bunch of bologna. I know this forum is literally flooded with transmission issues, and a lot of marketing efforts by both. Neither of them never came forward with perfect product though.

ADVICE: If you feel your OEM VB failed, all you do is replace it with a new OEM VB and get it over with.

pauleworley@gmail.com

Well, I'm not really made of money, i do not have $3500 laying around for a tranny. $800 attempt is worth trying (if its a fix) versus $3500+ any day of the week. I believe the VB shipped to me could possibly have been damaged in transit or something like that.

And it wasn't $750 just for an ABS sensor. It was a sensor, wheel hub, labor, etc. I may have still gotten screwed, it's just my luck.

And this place is full of half-assed and some very good opinions, but I am trying to think positive and hope the replaced VB is the fix, whether it's OEM or Levelten.

So wish me luck, and if not, then "bump you."

snovak

Im' going around to the different threads that I looked at while I went through this process to post my result... read on.

My brother-in-law was having hard shifting issues in his '04 maxima SE. It seemed that every gear, about, was shifting hard after it warmed up a bit (I took video driving around that I'll post on youtube). That told me that tolerances were getting tight as components expanded. I went the way of the Transgo kit, mostly for the solenoid end caps. $100 is a little much for 3 small metal caps and a coupla drill bits, but it's better than the $700, then $3,000 alternatives. More comes with the kit. But, were not necessary to fix the problem. I found that one of the solenoids, the line pressure solenoid specifically, was sticking. When I took it apart, it had the spring compressed. Bingo. At this point the valve body was still on the car. So, I cleaned up the rest of the solenoids, put it all back together, and all is well! No more shifty bangy bangy.

I thought you would be interested to hear something that worked. Most threads would list problems, but no one returned with solutions. You need a few extra tools, like a bench grinder and a torque wrench. And, some mechanic ability. It took a couple of days to get through it. But, I had nothing to go by and I'm very careful. If you have any questions. I'm happy to answer. All the best.
Sean

eloy_r

Hi snovak,


Did you happen to take any pictures while doing your valve body fix? If so, would you mind post them up if you get a chance? Also what codes did you off of the computer. I got trouble code p0755. I have removed the valve body myself. Im not sure whether to send it out to level 10 or just take it apart and clean it myself to see if that fixes the problem.

eloy_r

Quick update,

my car goes into limp mode and stay in 5th gear.

Costee

DTC P0755 SHIFT SOLENOID VALVE B. Change it. If that don't solve your problem, then change the VB altogether, that's what the ESM says.

xxzimmer

Check my posts under the re5f22a transmission fix sticky up top. I have a link where pics are posted for the VB install for a Transgo shift kit. http://forums.maxima.org/8177405-post726.html There are only a few bolts needed to remove the VB i think 6 or so. Here is the one I used for my 05 Max http://forums.maxima.org/7871319-post4.html As for limp mode, mine was caused by a faulty CAM position sensor. I think if you should do a shift kit like I did. The only problem is if the solenoid is in fact bad it will need to be replaced.


EDIT:
The only reason I'd replace the VB is due to the more than one solenoid not ohm-ing correctly or an issue within the VB itself. Its also a good idea to see if there are metal shavings in the VB. If there are then the tranny is going out, if not then the tranny is most likely fine and will keep running strong. If you do decide to replace the VB get the levelten one, but it is overkill for what you will need it for.

eloy_r

Thank you everyone for your responses. When I removed the valve body...the transmission oil was clean with no debris. I had a transmission shop redo my valve body with a transgo shift kit. I have put everything back together and my maxima is shifting even smoother than when i got back in 07!!! But now im getting a p0506 error code... My idling is too low...but the car doesnt stall... Where would the location of the idle sensor be....? is there even a sensor to look for? Or is there something i need to clean?

Costee

I'm no auto engineer or something, but that code does seem to do with the throttle body sensor (what you call idle sensor). Now, be careful if it must be cleaned. Do not try to open the "butterfly" end of the TB manually, or else the idle speed will remain high above normal afterwards. I read somewhere that to open the "butterfly" you need to swith your ignition to the "on" position; engage the gear to ""neutral" or "drive"; then depress the throttle (acceleration). The butterfly then opens and the TB can then be cleaned. You'd have to have a second person help you out to depress the accelerator (or improvise some similar device) so that the butterfly is kept open to be worked upon. But if you must takeout the TB altogether, it is advisable that you disconnect the battery, so the TB does not malfunction when you replace it.
Again, I must say, I'm no auto guy; all this I got through research on some other boards.

xxzimmer

One thing I learned going from working on muscle cars to my maxima is there is no simple fix for TB/IAC issues. You can take it apart as mentioned and clean it with some electrical cleaner if you want, but I would start looking for leakes in the intake first.

Some good info here http://nissanhelp.com/diy/obd_codes/p0506_nissan.html

Costee

Yeah, taking the experience of a friend of mine with a 5.5 gen, TB/IAC issues could be perplexing. And as for the leaks, these could also be difficult to find except they are gaping holes.

eloy_r

I did clean the TB as best as I could... I have cleared p0506 trouble code from the computer.... The car is idling better.... And the code is not back yet.... Anyhow.... This car needs more work... I will be going as much hands as I can with this car...

Maxima Fl

Replaced mine last week

BRUISER

The pan you mention...is that the pan on the side of the tranny right under the battery tray?