I have an X so I changed both diffs. There was not too much metal on the magnets. Just got the car with 85000k on it. Off lease, always dealer serviced, so fluids looked good. But first thing I did was an oil change and tranny drain and fill. Next time I will drop the pan and clean the gunk for sure. Transfer case drain and fill next.

 

Here are pictures of my Nissan Titan LE Crew with towing:

As stated before, the reason you can only get 4 qt out of the drain is the shape of the pan.
In the picture below I tried to show how great the angle of the pan is.
There would be no way of getting all the debris from the bottom without removing.



Here is a picture of what the pan should look like once you clean it out.




This is just a picture to show that all the parts for the fluid change from the G35, 350z and Titan are all the same.

The Titan just takes five quarts to do the swap.
There is an additional step, which is to drain the transmission cooler.
But that is way too much woork. Eventually that crud will make its way back to the transmission.

 

My 06 G35x is about to hit 60k miles. I want to change the ATF and I have no idea if it was ever changed. Do I need to buy a new trans pan gasket? Is the dealer the place to get that from? Screen/filter from the dealer too?

Thanks in advance.

 

My 350z had 66k on it when I did it. I know the previous owners didn't service anything.
The pan was nasty. The magnets were full of shavings.
The Titan was cleaner than I expected, considering how much towing I do with both a 16' and a 20' enclosed trailers.

When you do the ATF also drain your differentials and I think you have a transfer case? The X is AWD?
You will be surprised how dark the gear oil comes out.

All three of my cars were much smoother riding when done.



Netautoparts is the best!
Filter and Gasket kit:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ATP-B...item2c5e5e87f4

Fluid:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_W0QQ...KQ3aMEWNXQ3aIT

 

Is there any reason not to do this? It seems like such an obvious thing to do, and I'm curious why everyone doesn't do it. Just curious about the other side of the coin for reasons to not do this.

 

Think just draining out the 4 quarts is the easy way out. I don't have a manual, but I would guess it says to just drain and refill. That is what everyone seems to be doing.
Dropping the pan takes a little more time and there is a chance for a mess if not done properly.

I don't think I could drain the fluid knowing I just dropped 40.00 on fluid without pulling the pan and cleaning all the crap that has settled to the bottom and around the magnets.
Another 20.00 and 20 minutes is worth the peice of mind.

 

I would actually be willing to help out anyone wanting to do this if they were in my area.

 

If i'm getting ready to do this on my X, how much fluid should I buy? Is it the same fluid as the rear diff?

 

If you have a manual, then yes. Genuine Nissan Manual Transmission Fluid (MTF)HQ Multi 75W-85 or API GL-4, Viscosity SAE 75W-85 or 75W-90


If you have an Automatic NO. AFT Matic-S is needed for the Transmission. I would guess five quarts to be safe if you are dropping the pan.
Do it with a clean oil catch pan. Measure the amount which came out.
Then replace the amount you drained.

If you have a manual Transmission then the differential can use the same Gear oil without issue if you put 80 in the tranny. It calls for this, SAE 80W-90*5 You will need to buy two quarts.
Drain it then fill it until oil starts coming out of the fill hole.
I used the 5.97 Wal-Mart synthetic 80W. I change my stuff often enough that the WM crap will be just fine.
I would bet money that the WM stuff is Valvoline Synthetic Gear Oil.



DOMO

Thanks for bring this topic back to the top, so I can add to it.

 

So I have just over 3K miles on my car since I started this thread.

Did I mention in 123K miles the previous owner never did the fluid?
Well I am pushing 127K now and my transmission was slipping again.
I was servicing it today new belts and an oil change. When I took the car out after the oil change
it was slipping badly going from second to third, so I brought it back and dropped 3 quarts out.
That crap was seriously dark.
So, I guess the next few oil changes, I will replace the tranmission fluid until I get it back to a pink color.
It truly is amazing how well it drives after just three quarts replaced.

It is sad the cars don't have easy access to the ATF dipstick.
I probably would not have bought the car if I had pulled out the dipstick and wiped off brown ATF.

But whatever... I will have another car in 73K miles.

 

I just noticed under the hood that it says to use Matic J only. Is this the case for me? Did Matic S replace Matic J?

 

Yep...
If you find Matic-J, It is really old.

 

Just did the fluid and filter today. Overall it went pretty smoothly. The fluid was quite old, so i'm looking forward to how it will drive now.

Be really careful with how much you torque the bolts for the pan...I snapped the 2nd to last one today (it's one on the corner). Luckily there's a "backup" hole that I was able to get another bolt through to secure it, but I have a feeling I may need to have a shop tap out the broken bolt for me.

Anyone know if they can do it with the pan still on the car?

 

Wow, I can't believe no one has mentioned WHY flushes can be bad. A flush is not recommended on a high mileage car if it has never been done before. If you flush out all the trans fluid on a trans that has never been changed, all the clutch material from the clutches in the trans will be floating around in the fluid. The clutches are relying on this fluid to maintain friction. This is why it is a bad idea to flush if it has never been done before. I suggest everyone read this:

http://www.myhonestmechanic.com/arti...slipping.shtml

As it says, if you have not maintained your auto trans, doing a flush will do more harm then good because the internals are relying on tqhe gritty material in the fluid.

If you have maintained your transmission, doing a flush shouldn't be a problem.

 

It is pretty easy to remove pan bolts.

Get a small drill bit and drill the center of the broken bolt.
Take a small EZ Out, I use Craftsman and back out the broken bolt.
Once the head is broken off there isn't much pressure holding the threads tightly in place.
This would be a different story if the bolt was rusted to the pan when you broke the head off.
Fortunately, with the ATF change your bolts are saturated in ATF so that bolt should twist right out.