Nissan Matic D new fluid smells burnt to me

[whosmatt]

I just did a full lube change on my 2018 Frontier 4x4 and part of that was replacing the transfer case fluid with the factory recommendation, which is Matic D.

I got the fluid from Amazon and it looked fine but smelled really weird to me, kind of burnt smelling. Most trans fluid I've used has a much milder odor, including the Matic S I used in the transmission. Just wondering if this is normal or maybe I got a counterfeit fluid or something.

 

[CourierDriver]

Although Im a fan of Amazon, when it comes to transmission and oil products, I would have bought local....if you are trying to save money, now you have no recourse IMHO to prove you bought substandard transmission fluid. IMHO

 

[Hall]

You can use your Matic-S in the transfer case

 

[zeng]

I just did a full lube change on my 2018 Frontier 4x4 and part of that was replacing the transfer case fluid with the factory recommendation, which is Matic D.

I got the fluid from Amazon and it looked fine but smelled really weird to me, kind of burnt smelling. Most trans fluid I've used has a much milder odor, including the Matic S I used in the transmission. Just wondering if this is normal or maybe I got a counterfeit fluid or something.

The 'funny ' smell you alluded to may be from Sulfur content , which was of high ppm in the days of Matic D .
Is the smell kind of pungent ?

 

[MolaKule]

I just did a full lube change on my 2018 Frontier 4x4 and part of that was replacing the transfer case fluid with the factory recommendation, which is Matic D.

I got the fluid from Amazon and it looked fine but smelled really weird to me, kind of burnt smelling. Most trans fluid I've used has a much milder odor, including the Matic S I used in the transmission. Just wondering if this is normal or maybe I got a counterfeit fluid or something.

Can you please link the brand of fluid that you purchased from Amazon?

ATF's contain a number of Amine chemistries that have a distinct smell but I can't say that from my own personal 'smellology" tests that I have found any new NissanmaticD or equivalents that smell burnt.

 

[whosmatt]

The 'funny ' smell you alluded to may be from Sulfur content , which was of high ppm in the days of Matic D .
Is the smell kind of pungent ?

Yeah, but not like gear oil pungent.

 

[whosmatt]

Can you please link the brand of fluid that you purchased from Amazon?

ATF's contain a number of Amine chemistries that have a distinct smell but I can't say that from my own personal 'smellology" tests that I have found any new NissanmaticD or equivalents that smell burnt.

This is what I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AKYOTU8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I didn't notice before but it was sold by an Infiniti dealer so I'd be surprised if it's not fine; just smells different than the generic Dex III I use for other stuff like tilt/trim on outboards.

And maybe "burnt" isn't the right word... I'm no smellologist either

 

[zeng]

Yeah, but not like gear oil pungent.

My experience interpretes this as (higher) Sulfur ppm content related in the base oils (refined from sour crude ? IDK) used in final blending .
Since this was sold by Infiniti/Nissan dealer , I would rule out the fluid being counterfeit especially in Malaysia's context .

 

[whosmatt]

You can use your Matic-S in the transfer case

I figured but wanted to go by the book this first time since the truck is still under warranty. I'm used to just dumping whatever's left over in the transfer case and calling it good but all my previous ones have been manual shift and out of warranty.

 

[zeng]

As I understand it , Matic-S is low viscosity version and the old Matic-D is high viscosity version .
Personnally I wouldn't swap from recommended Matic-D to another of Matic-S specs .

 

[Hall]

As I understand it , Matic-S is low viscosity version and the old Matic-D is high viscosity version .
Personnally I wouldn't swap from recommended Matic-D to another of Matic-S specs .

Nissan says Matic-S is backwards-compatible with their previously available fluids. Valvoline Maxlife ATF is a low-viscosity fluid and they say it's compatible with Matic-S, J, and D applications. Castrol says the same about their LV ATF.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Just because it is "compatible" does not mean it has the same performance.