OK I am lazy and don't do any maintenance on my car myself. Thought I would save some $ and have the transmission flush and differential service done at the Nissan instead of Infiniti.

After I got the car back, the shifting seemed sticky and not as smooth as before. It seems to get better as the car "warms" up. I also hear a slight (for lack of a better word) whizzing sound until the car warms up.

I brought it back to the dealer a day after the service was done and they told me to give it some time to let fluid completely settle (whatever that means). I brought it back a week later and they had a tech take it out and drive it around and basically said everything was fine.

I know our transmissions are not the smoothest in the world, but I know my car and I know that it is definitely stickier than before the service was done and I am not sure what the irritating although slight whizzing sound is (definitely a sound associated with rotating parts).

Could it be that this is what these mechanics are used to in the 350Zs.

I am sure if I take it back to Infiniti and complain, they will immediately tell me that my first mistake was brining it to the Nissan dealer to have the service done.

Any advice or ideas?

 

First of all, you're driving an 06', I would assume low mileage like my 06' why on earth are you having differential and tranny fluids changed this early on your car?
I wanted to do the same when I reach 25K but, in my research I found out is would be waaaayyy too early.
BTW, I'm fairly sure Infiniti would shift the blame to Nissan, sorry.

 

Car was due for 30K service, I asked Infiniti what things I really needed to do to ensure that the Elite Warranty (7yr/100k) warranty obligation was met as far as maintenance and this was one of the required maintenance items. I did not have any of the other fru fra done.

 

You're not lazy, most of us don't enjoy laying on a cold garage floor wrenching and trying not to make a mess. You're 100% correct about Infiniti, they'll tell you they use better fluids than Nissan. Sad thing is they might be correct if the Nissan mechanic didn't use the Z fluids in your G....that's a possibility. I took my G to Nissan two weeks ago for the same service but I was very specific about which trans/differential fluids I wanted used. It helps to know the service writer and parts manager, only the mechanic drove my G to and from the rack....talk about great service!
Gary

 

I guess I will go back to dealer and see what fluids they used. I know I did not state it in my initial post, but one of the other reasons that I went to Nissan is that their service group is great. They service our company cars and customer service is top notch. My Infiniti dealer service is great as well, they are just so damn expensive.

 

Isn't that amazing, because the building says Infiniti on the outside they can charge 50+% more for service and use exactly the same products....hello it all comes from Nissan....
Gary

 

You have a manual transmission... there is no point whatsoever to doing a transmission flush on your car. Flushes are meant for automatic transmissions where half of the fluid for the tranny is actually stuck inside the various passageways in the tranny as well as the torque converter. In the case of a manual transmission, the oil just sits at the bottom of the transmission housing, so you just drain it and refill it.

If the dealer told you that they did a flush on your manual tranny, they are probably just screwing you out of more money. If you can't or don't want to do that type of stuff yourself in the future, never take your car to Infiniti for something that simple... you can get it done at a regular mechanic for a lot cheaper and they'll do just as good of a job.


As far as your notchy shifting problem.... I would suggest asking them what they used in the transmission for fluid. They should have used that Nissan Manual Transmission Fluid, but maybe they did something screwy and put something else in it such as 80W90 straight gear oil or even Automatic Transmission Fluid. They would have to be retarded to put AT Fluid in it, so I doubt they did. Also... most cars come from the factory with the Manual Transmission slightly overfilled, and this sometimes makes the car shift a bit smoother(as is the case with my Tacoma). My G35 was slightly overfilled when I did my MT gear oil change. Maybe your gearbox is a little low on fluid, and when it heats up, the fluid is expanding enough to raise the fluid level high enough to make it shift smoother.

It could also just be that the gear oil that they put in the case is fresh, and you were used to your old gear oil which was slightly worn. Certain gear oils are more prone to shearing and getting thin with age(such as Redline MT-90) which will make the oil feel less viscous and won't give you that sappy sluggish shifting feeling that you sometimes get when the car is stone cold on a chilly winter day.

Infiniti can't give you any difficulty about bringing your car to Nissan to have the work done. You're free to bring it anywhere to have maintenance done, as long as you keep your receipts for proof of maintenance in case of a warranty problem. The only issue with bringing it to a non Nissan/Infiniti place, is that if they screw up something on your car while servicing it, you're not likely to get much or any reimbursement from that private mechanic for it.

 

Thanks PartyMan66. Great advise. I did stop by the Nissan dealership today and the service manager I spoke with was only able to tell me that they would have used whatever is on the inside of the CAP/dipstick blah blah blah. The paperwork just says 5 quarts of gear oil. Since the problem seems to be related to cold start. I am leaving the car their and letting them see for themselves in the morning.

My question is if a transmission flush is not that big of a deal on manuals, why are they requiring it at 30K for service. Not only that they are telling me that it needs to be done to keep warranty in check.

 

I think you're confusing flush with replacement.

 

Me confused??? Maybe, Maybe not. I don't think I ever said anything about transmission replacement? Please advise.

 

^ that's your error. For the 6MT, Nissan recommends a fluid replacement not a flush.

 

Deepdiver is correct. They recommend a manual transmission oil replacement not a flush. This is indeed the service that was performed. I just need to figure out what gear oil they used exactly. I apologize for misleading anyone.