Hi all,

I found someone with somewhat similar situation in this thread however i feel my situations is a little different >> https://g35driver.com/forums/drivetr...n-fluid-q.html

Car: 2005 Sedan

I changed a radiator because of a leak and my douchebag mechanic left one of the trans cooling lines loose. I drove about 15 miles before noticing there was a leak when i praked at home. I called him and drove it back (another 15 miles) to the shop so he could fix it. He told me i need to add about a quart to the system. Drove back and parked at the house. Did not notice anything weird while driving.

Here's my dilemma: I bought the car with 90K miles on it. According to carfax It used to be a fleet car for some corporate dude up to 40K then another owner who i bought it from. Guy had all maintenance records and there is no record of tranny change/flush. I took it to the dealer when i bought it first and they recommended a tranny flush (of course i refused).

So, as far as i can assume tranny fluid hasn't been changed at least since 40K, and since it was a fleet car if the dude did service it he "probably" took it to the dealer where they would have used Matic - J... I found Matic-J on amazon (all dealers carry Matic -S now). So i'm getting one quart tomorrow but i've been reading posts here and getting a little concerned. Should i just top off with Matic -J or am i taking a gamble and it is a better idea to drain and fill over and over?

Thank you for help

 

I'd double check the fluid first to make sure it's only down a quart. If you have the money though, I would just do a bunch of drain and refills. I had it done by a Nissan dealer at around 51K miles and then did a bunch of drain and refills myself at around 122K miles. I used Idemitsu Type-J fluid though, which is just as good. You can usually find a good deal on it as well.

 

Was it just loose and leaking a little bit, or disconnected and dumping fluid all over the road?

I'd take it to Nissan for a drain and fill. Probably due to be replaced anyway. Nissan dealer told me the "new standard" is to just do a drain and fill on auto transmissions since flushes tended to cause issues, mainly because people tend to go so long between changes.

 

Well, i'm not exactly sure about the rate at which it was leaking but apparently it got rid of a quart in 24hrs. I've not driven it since it fixed the leak.

My question is whether adding 1Qt of fresh matic J could potentially hurt my tranny which i've had no real problems with. I'd rather not do drain and fill because according to some people that too involves a risk when the mileage is pretty high (110K in my case) and running on original fluid

 

Well technically you've already done the drain, in a drain and fill. Your options now are run around with low trans fluid or add till it's full. I would rather add till it's back to full versus driving without the proper amount of fluid. Also, I did a drain and fill at 100k, I had now idea when the last time it was changed. No problems....at 135k now.

 

Yup, that's the idea.. so i'm gonna top it off with whatever fluid i'm missing and see what happens. I will update regardless.

Thanks for your input guys