Hey all, I have been a long time lurker but I had an intersting thing happen to me yesterday and I thought I would get some insight. On Sunday I added a 1/2 quart of Dexron 3 to my Nissan Xterra, it was low. Well, the 1/2 quart didn't cut it so when I was out runnning errands, I picked up an additional quart. Now, keep in mind that I didn't get the same brand of fluid but they were both Dexron 3. I poured about half of the new quart into the trans after I got home. Before I poured the new fluid in, the color was a pinkish-red. Something just a little darker than new fluid. Well, the vehicle sat overnight and when I checked it the next day, the fluid was brown. I drained the pan, poured new fluid in and drove the vehicle 50 miles, checked the level and color and it was darker than it was originally but looking better. My question, has anyone seen a situation where mixing fluid brands has caused the fluid to discolor? It didn't smell burnt but it was definatly brown. Thanks.
Trans fluid color
- Thread starter Whiskey_River
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It the cleaning effect of the new fluid.
Unless you toasted it, I doubt that the fluid dyes broke down that quickly.
I'm under the impression that Nissan uses a HFM fluid. This contradicts their TSB(mandatory NissanATF must be used) but DexronIII can be used if in Canada.......
I'd toss a bottle of lubegard or smartblend in it to add to the smoothness of the shift.
http://www.lubegard.com/automotive/index_trans.html
http://lifeautomotive.com/Products/ATfluidprotectants.asp
Unless you toasted it, I doubt that the fluid dyes broke down that quickly.
I'm under the impression that Nissan uses a HFM fluid. This contradicts their TSB(mandatory NissanATF must be used) but DexronIII can be used if in Canada.......
I'd toss a bottle of lubegard or smartblend in it to add to the smoothness of the shift.
http://www.lubegard.com/automotive/index_trans.html
http://lifeautomotive.com/Products/ATfluidprotectants.asp
Well, when I poured the last 1/2 quart in, the fluid was pinkish-red. The vehicle never moved from then until I checked it the next day. When I checked it, it was brown. That is why I thought the two fluids didn't like each other.
Hi,
Past weekend just had a similar problem with dad's 96 Kia Sportage. I haven't driven a car for a while and when I drove it last Friday I was shocked how bad it was shifting. I intended to change ATF in it soon anyway, but such horrible shifting required an immediate action. My dad is a non-believer and said that it was a mechanical problem and not ATF. We had a half a bottle of new ATF around and we compared a color in transmission and from the bottle. Bottle was bright pink and in transmission color was like brown/corroded.
On Saturday afternoon I picked up a gallon of Dexron III SuperTech from a Wal-Mart and replaced 3quarts of fluid in the pan. ATF color was like used motor oil. Dad drove about 70 miles after that and said that shifting improved. On Sunday we repeated procedure again and I added LubeGard red bottle. Second time the color was much better - dark red, not bright pink though. I drove the car yesterday - absolutely no problems. Shifting is very smooth (no hard shifts, slipping, or weird sounds while driving) and I expect it to get even better after a few days. From now on I'll be doing drain refill every 15k-20k miles on this car (probably only once, not twice as I did last weekend, but it will depend on the color). Although some say that SuperTech is not very good, it seems to be fine in Sportage.
Regards,
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