Transmission fluid flush..... yes or no?

Fire0nic3FX said:
I was told by people at Infiniti that they constantly get warranty claims on transmission fluid that was tampered with by outside shops. If they make the difficult to service the outside shops wont touch the fluid.
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I agree with Aaron SOMEWHAT on this issue, because if the trans fluid was never meant to be flushed at all they wouldn't have a machine to do so. I only say somewhat because I don't feel like it's a guard just against other shops, Infiniti wants you to have to come to them period. This principle could be applied to a lot of things, it's why it's not easy for ANY cars after about 2005 to reach the head light bulbs, turn signal bulbs, brake light bulbs, oil filters and so on. The dealers want you to have to come to them, so nowadays they make things a little more difficult than the average joe can handle.

But thanks again fellas, I take everyone's opinion into consideration. Like I said as of now I'm still on the fence about it, at 60k, I'll see how I feel about it.
 
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It simply comes to this...if Infiniti thought that our trans required service every 15k miles, they would add it in the menu (regardless of how complex the machine is to do it or not). If they thought and tested our trans to change oil every 30k miles, then that is what it would say, if 60k it would say that, if 100k it would say that. I'm just saying. Who are we to judge the transmission Nissan engineers.

Fire0nic3FX said:
I don't know about GM Jonas bu the REAL reason thy sealed the transmissions on our is not because they want the fluid to get dirty but was to prevent outside shops from putting the wrong fluid in it and screwing up the transmmision. I was told by people at Infiniti that they constantly get warranty claims on transmission fluid that was tampered with by outside shops. If they make the difficult to service the outside shops wont touch the fluid.
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My wife's old 2004 Saturn that we sold was $15,000 new and it was sealed. A cheap little car with a sealed trans go figure. And this one in the manual required for the trans oil to be changed every 30k miles and we had to bring it to the dealer each time and it was hella expensive. I think we can sit here and ponder with 10 reasons why Infiniti or even GM on very cheap cars do this occasionally. There must be a reason why....if I run into my trans engineer friend one of these days I'll ask him.

no there were a few posts from different people that you missed that appear to be mechanical. One recent one was someone recently is having issues where it won't get into gear from reverse. Another something else now I can't remember. The software is very distinct in that it is harsh, shifting bad, etc.

Fire0nic3FX said:
I know this argument is all in good fun though :P. They argue about this sam exact topic on the G forums.

The real answer it always leads to is that there is no right or wrong to this. Some say service others say don't touch it. In the end its your decision and your money.

The only real way to find out if its okay is to send the oil in for an oil analysis report. They also check trans fluid.
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for sure, in fact I'm ecstatic because this is the most you've posted in a very long time and it's so refreshing to see you back here and posting. You've been missed. I love having these discussions and picking your brain.
 
Haha I see Jonas. I recently got another job opportunity I couldnt resist so I took up that offer along with the job I already have so I've been pretty busy.

I've actually been tinkering with the FX a lot lately. Just recently my fog light got busted out and Im going to tackle that project this weekend :)
 
jdTrader said:
My wife's old 2004 Saturn that we sold was $15,000 new and it was sealed. A cheap little car with a sealed trans go figure. And this one in the manual required for the trans oil to be changed every 30k miles and we had to bring it to the dealer each time and it was hella expensive. I think we can sit here and ponder with 10 reasons why Infiniti or even GM on very cheap cars do this occasionally. There must be a reason why....if I run into my trans engineer friend one of these days I'll ask him.
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There's no reason to ask about something like that. For some dealers it's a way for you to keep spending the big bucks every so often. I'm pretty sure if even half the Saturn owners performed this maintenance regularly, sealing the tranny and building the machine to flush it is very profitable. Like I said it's the same reason why it's getting harder every year to do the little things under the hood of your car. Can you imagine how many people look under the hood of a 2nd Gen FX, see all the black plastic covers and say "I'm not messing with any of that." lol

---------- Post added at 09:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 PM ----------
Fire0nic3FX said:
Haha I see Jonas. I recently got another job opportunity I couldnt resist so I took up that offer along with the job I already have so I've been pretty busy.

I've actually been tinkering with the FX a lot lately. Just recently my fog light got busted out and Im going to tackle that project this weekend :)
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Don't forget I made a DIY video on how to get at the fog light housing without removing the fender over the wheel well. Just another option.
 
I would do it with the differentials at 50k. I have a trailer and tow a enclosed snowmobile trailer with 2 4 strokes - which was over the 2000lb tow rating- another reason for updating to a 50 and I was told even with towing and all I could at 50k. I would do it then. I did notice that the 7 speed tranny seems to b a little sloppy compared to the 35 but that's a huge power difference.
 
I would say yes to a "manual" flush where fluid is added to the transmission dipstick and drained out the transmission cooler, however I would say no to a power flush due to the potential for internal damage in the transmission. I believe that it would be better to perform a drain and fill on the transmission twice a year, especially since you have pretty fresh transmission fluid already. Maybe you such look into getting your TCM re flashed before you do anything.
 
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Every since i was a kid growing up being around mechanics the consensus is to never flush your transmission as point out in other post you flush out a lot of good stuff that has been built up over time,removing can cause problems like slippage, adding new fluid to is not going to corrected it,just because the dealer offers you a flush or fluid change don't mean you should there out to make money,they seal it for a reason it's like opening Pandora's Box releasing a bunch of problems,i know this from experience i have a 99 Isuzu Vehicross it was also a sealed unit i crack it open i didn't flush it but i drain it and refilled it the fluid wasn't that bad at 105,000 miles have;t been the same since that it slips and miss gears so think twice before you do it.
 
I believe as many opinions as mechanics (like with doctors:))
I personally have changed the oil in transmission at 138k km which is about 80k+miles and take a look at the pictures how the oil looked like.My mechanic said change till 150k and later not as it may cause some problems. My impression is that when the gearbox is 'cold' the R is going much smoother without any resistance no other change is noticed ... 984079b9e98053dab71cd0c1ed22e8f3.jpgcf07367aca222364457d0df6eeacdffc.jpg
 
Took my FX to the dealer last week, have 93k, the service adviser said they recommend changing tranny at 100k. Did all the filters myself so had the dealer replace the tranny, engine and diff oil. They found no codes and my car is in excellent shape.

MC
 
I've been working on cars since 1967, I've built race cars, street cars, done restorations on sports cars etc. These days if the factory says don't touch it, I'm not going to touch it. Nissan and the other makers have a lot more to lose from earning a bad rep over failed trannys then they have to gain from selling tranny parts due to inadequate recommended maintenance.
Since they do recommend tranny service for other models, it seems to me that there must be pretty good reason for eliminating the recommendation for the 7-speed. Especially since more service recommendations mean more money for the dealers etc.

From what I've seen, it's pretty involved to do this job, checking the temp readout, etc, and using an overfill/drain-out routine to reach a certain level, while maintaining a critical temperature range. Looks like a real pita.

And of course the dealers have a special pump to do the job when needed - they need to be able to perform this task in special circumstances, such as changing a bad pan gasket etc. The existence of the pump doesn't mean the tranny needs the service and they conspire against us because they want the tranny to fail. The dealer needs to be able to service every part of the car, whether a specific service is part of a normal maintenance schedule or not.

And they are very emphatic about using the right fluid. Apparently this fluid has critical performance characteristics, and reacts to temps in a specific way, that mandate it's use to avoid disaster. This transmission is very complicated, and I'm inclined to listen to them. And if they did anything on purpose, they may have purposely made it difficult to do in order to minimize the number of shops or driveway mechanics trying to do it themselves. Again, a bad rep from lots of tranny failures would reflect badly on Nissan.

I found this document out on the web, interesting details in there:

Finicky Infiniti trans fill - Automotive Service Professional
 
Pinstripe said:
No it doesn’t. The 7speed is sealed with lifetime fluid no where in the owners manual does it say the fluid should be changed. It’s even quoted above.
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Yeah, I even contacted Infiniti and they told me it doesn’t need servicing unless something is wrong.
 
I was told by infinity at 60K and it dos not have a filter. This cars can go 200k to 300k mile that is a lots of mile for a trans, fluid i think.
 
ramoszx12r said:
I was told by infinity at 60K and it dos not have a filter. This cars can go 200k to 300k mile that is a lots of mile for a trans, fluid i think.
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Infiniti or a dealer? I’m willing to bet it was a dealer that just wanted to make money off of you.
 
Did the 3x drain and fill for my 2010 fx35 and the tranny shifts a lot smoother and more decisively now.
 
Had this done in the wife’s 5.0 just last week before reading that this is a no-maintenance tranny. Oh well. My BMW has one of those “no-maintenance” ZF trannys but had it serviced at 60k miles and 150k miles. Running fairly smooth at 180k and I would assume it would’ve failed 20k or 30k miles ago with no service.
 
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