Have my 07 G35 at the dealer today for a 60k service. They called recommending a fluid exchange of the AT for $300. Said the fluid looked dark and said they had to use an specific Infiniti fluid for replacement. Hard to believe the price. Anyone changed their tranny fluid yet??

 

First of all, how much is your Infiniti dealer charging you for the 60k service? Usually, the transmission flush should be included with the 60k major service (Premium Maintenance)...The price should be around $700...

My dealer also tried to push the "changing the transmission fluid" on me. They said it was dirty (but not burnt) and my car only has 47k miles on it. I ended up not doing it, since my transmission feels fine and I don't feel a slippage going on.

My dealer wanted me to do it for 230 dollars...This was at an Infiniti Dealership in Massachusetts...I would have done the 60k service at a Nissan dealership...They said it would be 500 dollars for the 60k service and included the Transmission Flush...In fact, the Nissan dealership does everything the same as the Infiniti dealership but much cheaper...

Yes, a Transmission flush may be that expensive. Since the transmission is a closed system on the Infiniti Vehicles, most local shops cannot change transmission fluids. Mine told me to go to the dealers to do it because you need a special tool.

Otherwise, a transmission fluid flush is usually around 100 at local shops...

 

I just had mine done at the Infiniti dealer in Indy. The AT fluid change with Nissan Matic-S (the "sepcial" fluid) was $130 and the transfer case change was about $100. That is still high, but the fluid itself runs around $100.
If they are quoting $300 for just the AT, then that is high labor.

 

Don't let them rape you!

Ask them to break it down for you how much the labor and how much the oil is. Se what they come up with. Call another dealer part department and ask how much they charge for the oil when you pick it up. See what the differences.

 

179.99 at West houston infiniti... and that includes dropping the pan and changing the filter on the inside of the transmission as well. Southwest infiniti wanted 300 as well.. i told them to take a hike...

 

I paid $100 tax included at a Nissan dealership.

 

When quoting the price paid, I think it would be helpful to explain what the dealer did.

The car probably holds about 12+ quarts of Nissan Matic-S (or J) transmission fluid. As indicatated in a service bulletin, any other fluid could void the transmission warranty. This fluid costs $12-16 per quart, depending on the dealer.

The factory recommend procedure in the service manual is to drain and fill the transmision and then run additional fluid through the system by disconnecting a return hose. This will also replace the fluid in the radiator, hoses and torque converter. This procedure takes about 16 quarts of fluid. If you do the math on the fluid costs and shop rate for labor, you can see how the $300 price is reached.

Another option, although much less effective is to simply drain the fluid from the transmission pan and replace which take about 5 quarts of fluid. Doing this will replace less than half the fluid in the system but is better than nothing. I would guess that this is the procedure used for the $100-$150 price.

I think the dealer is giving good advice to change the fluid if it is dark. If the fluid gets to the point where it smells burnt, or the transmission is showing symptoms of a problem, your probably too late and the damage has been done. I'm not sure the dealer really cares which way the customer goes, they will get paid either way... you could pay a few hundred now for maintenance or $5000 later for a new transmission.

Also, I don't think there is a filter in that transmision, only a screen, which would not stop smaller contaminants anyway.

 

^ You can buy a case of NISSAN Matic J or S ATF, 12qts for $89 RETAIL, online.
A dealer that wants to charge $300 is robbery no matter how you try to justify it.

 

Yep, I've seen Matic-S for sale around that price also online. After shipping you will probably be at around $10 a quart. This would be a good option if you plan to do the work yourself. Even then, you are looking at about $150 in fluid to do the procedure recommended by Infiniti. Otherwise, if the car is still in warrantee, the only other viable option it to bring it to the dealer, since they have the only approved fluid, and then you will pay the prices mentioned above.

I'm not in any way trying to defend dealer prices, which are very high. I was trying to make a point that the price difference between the above posts is not necessarily due to profit, but rather the procedure that was used.

 

Here's the breakdown from the dealer invoice for the AT fluid exchange:

Labor: $100
AT Fluid: (12 qrts @ $11.53 each) $138.46
ATF Exchange Kit (whatever that is): $31.49

Total: $269.95

The above price is after a 10% discount the dealer kicked in when I pushed back a bit on the their original quote.

I plan to keep the G (it's still a kick to drive) for another year or two so I think it was a good investment. I use the paddles a lot in everyday driving so I assume that probably puts more stress on the tranny.

 

Personally, I'm at 57k and did 2 drain and fills on my own. There is no special tool needed. I picked up some Matic-S for a little under $10 a quart from a Dealer in NJ and just did it while changing my oil.

I figure if I drain and fill every so often (replacing almost half of the fluid each time) then my tranny should be in tip top shape.

FYI, you will need 5 qts to do a drain a fill. Roughly 4.75 qts comes out when you just drain it.

 

dealers = stealers

 

Drop the pan. Drain. New filter. Bolt back up.

 

I just had my 2008 G35x transmission serviced at the dealer. 16 quarts fluid @ 12.01 ea for $192.16 and labor of 1 hour @ 88.00 and environmental charge of $7.04 for a total of $287.20.

 

One of the few things I've paid the dealer to do. It would probably take 3-4 empty/refill cycles in the driveway to get near this amount of fluid replacement.

IIRC price was around $250.00.

Early AT failures in my life at 3K+ a pop now puts me at changes every 30K on all of my vehicles.

No filter like transmissions of yester-years...just a screen and I've never heard of anyone replacing one on a vehicle with less than 100K miles.