2004 Nissan Maxima - Transmission Problems

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dishdude

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My parents have a 2004 Maxima with 70k miles on it. It's my Mother's car, they bought it new and she doesn't drive much. The transmission has been acting up for a couple of months (it's a 5 speed auto). They took it to a transmission shop owned by someone they know, and were told everything was ok on the test drive, but they had a fluid exchange performed as preventive maintenance.

I drove the car a few weeks ago, and as soon as I put it in drive, I knew the end was near. There was this bang that was internal to the transmission as I put it in drive, and the 2-3 shift was really hard under light acceleration. They explained it has good days, and bad days.

Well, they just took it back to the shop since the bad days are outnumbering the good, and sure enough it needs rebuilt - $2500. Is this common with these units? They don't drive aggressive and it has had the fluid swapped twice - once by the dealer around 30k and just a few months ago when this started.
 
Hmm never do a fluid exchange! Haven't heard of any problems with the 6th Gen. Maxima. This sounds like a valve body.

Join maxima.org and post your issue in the 6th Gen. Section, very active and informative Maxima forum.

I can't believe she only has 70K miles...
 
A Nissan? I thought only The big 3 had autos that failed.. According to man on this form the Japanese makes can DO NO WRONG EVER. You sure that Nissan doesn't have a FWD Chevy transmission installed in it? lol ROTF lol
 
Originally Posted By: DrDusty86
A Nissan? I thought only The big 3 had autos that failed.. According to man on this form the Japanese makes can DO NO WRONG EVER. You sure that Nissan doesn't have a FWD Chevy transmission installed in it? lol ROTF lol


The Big 3 didn't get that reputation for nothing. Google 4L60 sunshell.
 
Neither did Honda For ATs, AC compressors and wheel bearings on most of the lineup. GOOGLE it. 85,800,000 hits on the AT alone.
 
Originally Posted By: renegade_987
$2500 sure seems high just for a rebuild. I had mine completely replaced in March for $1900, not just rebuilt.


That's because you have a 4R70W. Millions upon millions are out there. It has to be one of the top five most common transmissions...maybe closer to top two, second only to the 4L60E at this point. $2500 is probably about right for a non-CVT Nissan.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Which size engine?
2.5L
3.0L
3.5L


He would have the 3.5L, 84-2001 had the 3.0L, 2002-present has the 3.5L.

Maxima has never had a 4 Cylinder....
 
Originally Posted By: DrDusty86
A Nissan? I thought only The big 3 had autos that failed.. According to man on this form the Japanese makes can DO NO WRONG EVER. You sure that Nissan doesn't have a FWD Chevy transmission installed in it? lol ROTF lol


LOL this same transmission is in the 03-04 Saturn Vue...
 
It's a 3.5 V6, Thanks for the input on the cost - I was thinking $2500 seemed fair for a 5 speed FWD auto.

One thing this car does (both of mine do it too) is when you start it up cold, it idles around 1800 RPM for 15-20 seconds or so before dropping down to around 900. I always let my cars idle for the 20 sec or before putting them in reverse.

Any opinion on how harmful this is? They are very good about coming to a complete stop in reverse before switching to drive.
 
Makes sense to me. Lower engine speed should mean less stress--the torque convertor has more slippage at lower speeds. In park/neutral the output of the convertor (turbine?) is spinning, while none of the guts are--and those guts won't be spinning until you start moving.

Maybe shifting into neutral would help, depending upon if the pump runs in in park or not. A bit more loading, to bring engine speed down, that is.

But it seems pretty easy to find things to do while killing 30 seconds--like buckling up, checking windows/mirrors, etc.
 
Well, I just got some more info. The rebuild is actually going to run $3200, and I guess it was slipping pretty bad. My Mother said she tried pulling away from a traffic light and it was "acting like it was in neutral".

Hopefully they'll get a few more years out of it after this. The rest of the car is in really nice shape.
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Would it have been less expensive to put in a low mileage used one instead?


They considered this, but if the original, well maintained unit only lasted 70k, it didn't make sense to chance a used one.
 
I think what happened to their transmission may have been a fluke. It's not something that that fails that early in these cars.
 
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