2015 RE4F03B 4spd AT fluid change

[JTK]

I was doing a little maintenance on the Versa today and had 1.5qts of Valvoline Maxlife ATF on hand, so I suctioned out 1.5qts of ATF (cold) through the pain in the arse dummy dipstick tube and refilled with a section of vinyl tubing snaked down into the tube, with a small funnel shoved into the tubing.

I had purchased a cheap $28 vacuum fluid extractor for this purpose. Trac outdoor brand. ~3qt capacity. It worked OK, but took 20min of fiddling to suck out 1.5qts of cold ATF.

I should have just manned up and pulled the drain plug on the trans pan and figured out what it takes to remove the "straw", level check pipe, or what ever you want to call it that's up the drain plug hole so you can drain much more of the pan.

What drained out looked pretty dark for a 2015 with under 43K miles. Not the best pic, but here's what the factory Matic-S looked like:

 

[CharBaby]

You mentioned Matic-S. Is your tranny one of the older 4 or 5 speed auto? Not a CVT?

 

[JTK]

Mine is the ancient 4spd AT. Nissan offered this up until 2017 on the Versa S models only. 2017+ are all CVT regardless of trim level.

Unfortunately Nissan made fluid maintenance for the the 2014-2017 4spds a bit more difficult than the 2007-2013s by decontenting the real dipstick, reducing the length of the tube and hiding it nicely.

 

[Jetsfan421]

Originally Posted by JTK
Mine is the ancient 4spd AT. Nissan offered this up until 2017 on the Versa S models only. 2017+ are all CVT regardless of trim level.

Unfortunately Nissan made fluid maintenance for the the 2014-2017 4spds a bit more difficult than the 2007-2013s by decontenting the real dipstick, reducing the length of the tube and hiding it nicely.

Auto makers take away dipsticks to make it harder to work on cars. It gives their trained technicians an unfair advantage to do maintenance. Smart car owners can learn how to work on cars within a few months to weeks with the help of Haynes manuals and the internet.

 

[JTK]

I picked up a gallon jug of Maxlife ATF today and pulled the drain plug on the transmission pan. I had pulled the car up on my rhino ramps to give me better access and this made the drain plug about the lowest point of the powertrain. About a half quart of ATF came out with the vehicle off and cold. I believe I used a 13/16" socket to get the drain plug off, but it's got corrosion on it, so it's probably a 20mm. The overflow tube took a 5mm hex key to remove and is threaded a good 3/4" or more up the drain hole.

Only a hair over 2qts drained out after removing the overflow tube, which seems about right because even with this tube removed, there's a long riser welded up into the pan to accommodate the threaded portions of both the tube and then the drain plug. There's going to be a lot of fluid remaining in the pan that you cannot drain out. The FSM says 3-1/8qts, but I feel something is amiss there because models without this huge riser in the pan drain out 3-1/8qts. I'm referring to the earlier models with an actual dipstick (Versas up to 2013).

I realize my car was not level with the front end on ramps, but because of the position of the drain plug, it makes it the lowest part of the transmission and pan.

I added back the same amount cold that I took out cold and called it a day for now. The OCD in me will pull the plug with the engine idling in park w/ an approx ATF temp of 95-113F at some point to verify.

Here's pics of the overflow tube removed:

 

[The Critic]

The drain plug should be a 19mm.