** 2006 sentra transmission service **

[stevecrissi]

Hi,

I have a 2006 Nissan Sentra 1.8S and have 62,000 miles on it with the original transmission fluid. about 60% highway driving.

When should I replace the fluid?

Should I replace the fluid and filter?

What is the recommended fluid type and amount?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, a lot!

[usedranger]

Well you said any help so here goes: go to www.nissanusa.com
"Search Nissan" in upper right corner for 2006 Sentra. You can down load a PDF of the owners manual. Find the maintenance specs for your car and follow the recommendations. I would guess that at 62K the fluid is due for a change but again, follow the manufacturers schedule.
Good luck

[Chiquae07]

Originally Posted by stevecrissi

Hi,

I have a 2006 Nissan Sentra 1.8S and have 62,000 miles on it with the original transmission fluid. about 60% highway driving.

When should I replace the fluid?

Should I replace the fluid and filter?

What is the recommended fluid type and amount?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, a lot!

im assuming its an auto?

if thats the case, just do a drain and fill on the transmission. there really isnt a trans filter like Gms and Fords. its just a metal mesh screen. nissan's auto trans want Nissan Matic 'D' which is equivilant to Merc/Dex III.

-drive the car enough that the trans fluid is all warmed up.

-there will be a drain bolt on the bottom pointing to the sky that should be a 17mm size socket.

-have a container for about a gallon of fluid to come out, unscrew and it will.

-put the drain bolt back in, and with a funnel, pour in one gallon of merc III trans fluid, the cheapest you can find. my local autozone has it for 10.99 a gallon. reason for cheapest is that this auto trans nissan mated to these cars are very harsh on the fluids. i personally drain and fill a gallon to my trans every 5k miles. heck why not do it?

- drive around for about a week and drain and fill the trans again, doing it a total of 4 times.

there is a reason for doing it 4 times. i dont remember the math completely, but it was something like this

1st drain and fill - 50% new fluid
2nd drain and fill - 70% new fluid
3rd drain and fill - 85% new fluid
4th drian and till - 90% new fluid

[Chiquae07]

and if you dont believe me in terms of just doing a drain and fill, here is a post reguarding it. its for an 03, but they share the same motor and trans so it works:

Originally Posted by extreme_serene

Keywords: QG / GXE / XE Automatic Transmission Fluid Flush – A/T – ATF – Royal Purple MAX ATF – Transmission Pan Gasket – Self Sealing Bolts – 4 Quart Multiple Flush Method – Automatic Transmission Cooler Tube

This write-up is written with the QG platform in mind, so apply the necessary changes/precautions to other trims as necessary. I am presenting you with free information, and I am therefore not liable for any damage which occurs to you, your property, anyone else, and/or anyone else’s property.

I don’t care if you ridicule me for doing all of this, as it was experimental. I found out as much information as I could to benefit all who read this post, solely in order to prevent them from making my mistakes and/or needlessly expending effort and time.

As far as impressions of the Royal Purple ATF MAX, I can’t really tell a difference between it and the Mobil 1 ATF that I had in previously for 20,000 miles. Shifts are slightly faster and smoother, but it’s not enough to make an impressionable difference.

FSM RECOMMENDED ATF: Nissan Matic “D” in the Continental U.S. and Alaska, and Canada Nissan Automatic Transmission Fluid in Canada.
QG18DE A/T ( model RE4F03B ) fluid capacity = 7-3/8 US qt. (7.0 L)
SR20DE A/T ( model RE4F03B ) fluid capacity = 7-3/8 US qt. (7.0 L)
QR25DE A/T ( model RE4F04B ) fluid capacity = 9 US qt. (8.5 L)

EX POST FACTO: After looking in the 2000 FSM, it's pretty much safe to say that the QG and SR B15's share the same auto tranny.

Okay, so here’s the low-down if you want to know the best method for changing your ATF if you don’t feel like reading why I discovered this the hard way:

Follow the tried-and-true “4 quart repeat flush” method of changing the tranny fluid.

Description:
Drive your car for 5 minutes to warm up the transmission fluid so that it will be thin enough to easily drain out. Next, somehow SAFELY elevate your car’s front end off the ground, remove the dipstick and set it aside, and unscrew the 14mm drain plug in the bottom of the tranny pan; allow the fluid drain into a large enough drain pan. (Nissan recommends that this bolt be replaced at every change, but I’ve flushed twice and never noticed a leak…just don’t over-torque the bolt: 22-29 lb-ft.) You should be able to get 4 quarts and a little more out of this method, and it comes out VERY QUICKLY; TRY NOT TO BURN YOURSELF AS THE OPERATING FLUID TEMPERATURE RANGE IS 122-176 F (50-80 C)!!! Once the fluid has ceased to drain, re-install the drain plug and place a funnel into the dipstick/filler tube. Pour enough fluid back into the transmission until you are in the safe range on the COLD side of the dipstick (this should be about 3 quarts), and remember that the parts in the engine bay are most likely STILL HOT!!!

Check to make sure fluid is not draining from the drain plug before continuing. Now, lower the car back to level on level ground; if starting the engine is required to drive down ramps, do so. Start the engine and allow it to idle for 5 minutes, then check the HOT side of the dipstick. Fill with ATF until the safe range on the HOT side of the dipstick is met. Over the next few days, check the fluid level to ensure that you are within the safe HOT range and fill as necessary to reach the top level of the safe HOT range. DO NOT OVERFILL!!! If you do, you will need to either remove the drain plug to remove fluid (a royal PITA), or disconnect of the of the “cooler tube” lines to allow only a small amount of fluid to drain.

Here’s the repeat portion of the method:
Over the next few weeks, repeat the above procedure to continually change out the fluid. Did you notice how the QG capacity is 7-3/8 quarts and you were only able to remove ~4 quarts? Fuzzy math, right? Well, a LOT of that fluid (approximately 2 quarts) is inside the torque converter. What’s this? Well, if you don’t know, Google it! Unless you pull the tranny, you cannot get at this fluid. So, the first flush replaces a little more than 50% of the old fluid. The next flush will help to replace about 75% of the fluid, and the next flush might replace ~88% of the old fluid. This “might” is because, without appropriate experimentation, there’s no real way to tell. So, don’t be a cheap-as$ and not dish out the cash to do this because you’ll actually lose money in the end (I know, it happened to me). If you want to know why, read on!

So here’s what I did:
In an attempt to flush as much fluid as I could all at once, I did A LOT of homework ahead of time. I’ll list what I did and then elaborate upon my methods. Remember: this is not recommended and REALLY not necessary.

• Drained the fluid using the drain plug exit.
• Jacked the car up to remove more fluid.
• Disconnected the ignition fuse and fuel pump and turned the engine over THREE times for 10 second intervals (trips the SES light!).
• Disconnected the lines to the A/T “cooler tube”. (I use quotations because this thing is a joke!)
• Dropped the pan and ended up with a huge headache! (READ THIS AND FIND OUT WHY!)

Before I start, allow me to state that my A/T is running perfectly fine, despite the abuse I put it through to change ONLY 5.25 QUARTS OF ATF! The RP ATF MAX cost me about $9/quart SHIPPED, while the gasket ($21.XX) and the accompanying 21 Nissan Self Sealing bolts ($.70/each) came up to a grand total of $37 and change; this could have bought me another 4 quarts of RP ATF MAX plus saved me a lot of time and headache.

1.For starters, I pulled the drain plug and ended up getting about 4 quarts out.


2.I jacked the car up and was able to remove another .25 quarts of fluid. Again, I should have stopped here, but I’m an over-achiever who always has something to prove, and that usually gets me into trouble…and it, once again, did. Current total: 4.25 quarts.


3.After pulling the ignition fuse and cranking the engine over for ten seconds, and noticed a VERY strong gasoline smell in the air. I then acted quickly and popped out the rear seat and fuel pump access panel (use a 12mm wrench to do this, not a Phillips screwdriver). I disconnected the fuel pump harness and went back to what I was doing. After two more 10 second cranking intervals, and no more smell of gas, I checked my drain bucket. A whopping HALF QUART came out (sincerity is lacking here). Current total: 4.75 quarts.


4.Next, I disconnected the lines which lead from the “Park-Neutral” and “Drive” actuator servos, to the “cooler tube”. Honestly, this thing may help the tranny and it’s fluid a little bit, but I doubt it. A real aftermarket radiator/oil cooler is the way to go. Anywho, back on subject. This “tube” consists of an inlet and outlet, which pass through the bottom of the engine coolant radiator, and resides inside the lower member of the car’s front framework; I’m not certain how much heat exchanging occurs at this point, considering that air is not passing directly across the surface of this “cooler”, but perhaps the fluid in the coolant radiator removes some of the heat? Well, this removed approximately a quarter-quart more. Current total: 5 quarts.


5.Lastly, I dropped the pan…and this is where the REAL HEADACHE begins. Between dropping the pan and the fluid the ended up on the floor, I was able to replace 5 quarts and 12 ounces in the end; this is definitely not worth the following trouble:
Getting the pan off was a simple matter of removing TWENTY-ONE M6x1.0-10mm bolts (8mm head). No biggy, but just a PITA when the car is about 16” off the ground. So the fun begins…when I pulled the pan out from under the car, guess what I saw?! THE PAN WAS SPARKLY CLEAN!!! That was a good thing, because I then knew my tranny was in great shape, HOWEVER it meant needlessly expended effort and time, BUT I HAD NO CLUE YET.

Needless to say, five minutes of expletives followed, along with a few that I invented on the spot, including *****-nut, whore-bag-anal-extruding-weeble-wobble-***-reamer, and a few others to humor myself. I’m sorry that I’m complaining so much, but I don’t want anyone to get through this again.

HERE’S A PLEASANTLY SURPRISINGLY GOOD THING:
When I first looked through the exploded view of the A/T and noticed that Nissan engineered two magnets to be placed on the inside of the transmission pan where the two dimples in the pan are, AND I LAUGHED MY ****ING *** OFF!!! I understood why they had put the magnets in there, but I wasn’t a believer; come to find out, they actually served their purpose! The two magnets had a 1/8” coating of fine metal shavings from the A/T’s internals, which mixed with ATF to appear something like the consistency of anti-seize compound (this was easily wiped off). This removed all particles from the fluid, which is why the ATF I had drained out was so clean!

I SPENT THE NEXT 45 MINUTES REMOVING THE OLD GASKET MATERIAL FROM THE PAN AND TRANNY MATING SURFACES. I started by using 600 grit sand paper, but then found out that using a gasket scraper to get the bulk pieces off without chipping the paint, and then rubbing like mad with Denatured Alcohol and paper towels was the best method. Again, this took 45 minutes to accomplish.

REASSEMBLY TIME:
I started by ensuring that the alcohol and residue were removed from all parts. Next, I used two of the self-sealing bolts on opposite ends of the pan to align the gasket and pan up to the bottom of the transmission. As I replaced the 21 bolts, I noticed that one of the threaded holes had been stripped from the factory…joy…so I ran a tap up through the hole to try to correct this: BIG MISTAKE! When trying to thread the bolt back into the hole, fine aluminum dust fell to the ground. I was furious, and another five minutes of bleepity-bleeps followed…if you’re wondering, they were just variations of the previous ones since I had lost all inventive enthusiasm at that point.

So, I purchased a M7x1.0-12mm bolt and drilled/tapped the hole to this size and hoped for the best. This has held up, so far, as I have not noticed any leakage around the transmission pan in the past three days. Believe me, I’ll be watching this like a hawk for quite some time. I hooked everything back up, filled and checked the tranny fluid after 5 minutes of engine-idle time, and test drove the car. As previously stated, I really couldn’t notice an impressionable difference between the Mobil 1 ATF used prior to this flush, and the RP ATF MAX that is in there now.

Well, that’s my rant…thanks for reading, and be sure not to follow my mistakes.

[rustysurfsa]

Yeah you need to do a complete service. I have the same car, serviced for the first time at about 40000 it's pretty bad. Mine has highway miles too. You need to drain the whole tranny and change the filter. It may not look dirty but it is. Also when you remove the tranny pan clean it! It is covered it sheerings and thick old tranny fluid, I did this and my car feels like it did new. Clean the magnets too. Be sure to get everything off the pan.

[skeeter123]

Yes, you want to drop the pan and clean the metal shavings off the magnets. Here's pics of before and after cleaning from my 1998 Sentra 1.8L at 130k miles:

PC130002.jpg

PC130001.jpg

PC130007.jpg