Transmission Fluid

[Doug Tatham]

A friend of mine (really) has a 93 J30 and had the trans fluid changed and about 3000 miles later started getting a severe whine from the trans. The mechanic said that his trans oil pump was dying and he needed a new transmission. This doesn't sound right to me, especially considering the timing with the fluid change. It sounds to me like the wrong type of fluid was put into the car and is either foaming or has lost it's viscosity.
What is the proper type of transmission fluid to use for a 93 J30?

[FixUrNissan]

Dextron III is the correct fluid type, or as nissan calls it "matic d"Make Sure level is correct by checking it in park. How many miles are on the car , and did you mean he changed the trans fluid every 30,000 or 3000

[Sir J]

Hi,
the friend mentioned by Doug is me. The car was driven by my son, who is a college student. I just like to share information what happened next to that ‘93 J30, which has 130K miles. I got this car in 1999 with 81K. At 90K serviced her at the Nissan dealership. Later swapped to a private small dealership specialized on Nissan and Infiniti.

Doug helped me with ATF/filter change and cleaning the pan. After these operations, she drives beautifully again.

I have located the workorder #033250 and the bill for completed work from my mechanic:
It says (quote):

Automatic transmission service
-remove pan
-drain and refill ATF
-inspect screen or filter, change if necessary
-replace pan gasket if needed
Technician: John (end quote)

What we have seen after the pan was opened and the filter removed brought us to a shock. The magnet had collected rather large amount of very fine metal powder, which is normal, however it is a sign that pan was never cleaned. The screen in the filter was completely blocked with debris looking like a dirt. We can not figure out the source of that debris (except may be the dirty refilling funnel). In addition, the level of ATF, before we drained it, was ca. ¾ inch to an inch higher of a normal (cold) level.

When my son towed the car to that mechanic, the guy said there is internal part failure. The pump is bad. Only the option he offered was to put a new transmission for $2300. The son decided to go with a new Civic, so I have got my car back completely ruined.

To my luck, there was Doug, who knew a little bit more about transmissions and mechanics.

[Underground_Killah]

john needs to get fired