Is the return line to the transmission on drivers side?

Any Idea why the transmission drain pan is generally empty only drops come out. i drained it (drop by drop) overnight and s total of 2 qts. came out. Now the dipstick says empty (at the tip of dipstick).
I understand that if the lines were reveersed the fluit still recirculates to the transmission but could it be possible that as the atf comes out of the cooler at different end maybe junk trapped in the cooler could end up in tranny.
It just seems weird to me that the drain would empty drop by drop and not gush out after removing the drain plug

I just did my bypass last night. I've been reading about this for a while here but finally decided it wasn't worth the risk. I used 5/16" vacuum caps at the bottom of the radiator with new hose clamps to hold them on since the factory clamps were a little too big. I probably spent $10 and now have a big selection of other sized vacuum caps and some extra hose clamps if I ever need them in the future.

Thanks for all the information given on here!

I've added a transmission fluid temp gauge. along with a fan in front of factory temp fluid cooler. and did a bypass.

cruising on freeway at night, 55F weather, I get 125F
cruising on freeway at day, 90F weather, I get 165F
towing 5k LB on freeway at day, 90F weather, I get 165-190F
towing 5k LB in traffic, 90F weather, I get 210-250F.

I also added an extra fan on the trans fluid cooler, it brings temp down another 5-15F depending on speed.

so the trans cooler inside radiator is to bring temp up when cold, and bring it down when hot. but since radiator operated in ~200F for emission reason, I think that's too hot for trans fluid. bypass is a good idea, imo.

bellwilliam wrote:I've added a transmission fluid temp gauge. along with a fan in front of factory temp fluid cooler. and did a bypass.

cruising on freeway at night, 55F weather, I get 125F
cruising on freeway at day, 90F weather, I get 165F
towing 5k LB on freeway at day, 90F weather, I get 165-190F
towing 5k LB in traffic, 90F weather, I get 210-250F.

I also added an extra fan on the trans fluid cooler, it brings temp down another 5-15F depending on speed.

so the trans cooler inside radiator is to bring temp up when cold, and bring it down when hot. but since radiator operated in ~200F for emission reason, I think that's too hot for trans fluid. bypass is a good idea, imo.

That does make me wonder what the operating temp would be in say 20 degree weather (I'll be driving it daily in the New England winter). And what the "safe" or "normal" range is supposed to be. I wish there was a Nissan tech on here. I just got my '05 Pathy last month and since hearing about this have been watching the issue closely. So far I've yet to do it.

Too bad there isn't some kind of heat exchanger that you could run both of the lines through after doing your line swap (that keeps the juices separate obviously)...

yes, you do want trans fluid temp to be over 100F at minimum. so you would think for those in sub zero weather, bypass wouldn't be a good idea.

But if the weather is sub zero, thermostat would never open, thus radiator would never come up to temp, thus bypass would not of made a difference in temp. so I would still recommend it.

and if you are in sub zero weather, I would recommend cover trans fluid cooler.

jerry6 wrote:From what i read you just have to warm up on a cold day before taking off , they say you cannot cool the fluid to a point where it is detrimental , there is plenty of heat transfered from engine block and from trans internals once you are moving . Will just warm up a few minutes on a -10- -30 day Al Gore and his gulfstreams be damned

I'm not so sure about this theory. Ever since I've owned mine, the transmission would "jerk" from 2nd into 3rd when cold. I have let mine idle for a very long time to see if it would make any difference, but it didn't. Once I've actually been driving around for a few minutes & everything is at a decent temperature, no more jerking whatsoever. Based only upon my experience, the rad does squat in terms of warming the transmission when at a standstill.

I'm going to see if I have time to do the bypass this Saturday, but am a bit worried that it will make the initial transmission shifting even worse than it already is once the colder weather gets here.

NVSteve wrote:

jerry6 wrote:From what i read you just have to warm up on a cold day before taking off , they say you cannot cool the fluid to a point where it is detrimental , there is plenty of heat transfered from engine block and from trans internals once you are moving . Will just warm up a few minutes on a -10- -30 day Al Gore and his gulfstreams be damned

I'm not so sure about this theory. Ever since I've owned mine, the transmission would "jerk" from 2nd into 3rd when cold. I have let mine idle for a very long time to see if it would make any difference, but it didn't. Once I've actually been driving around for a few minutes & everything is at a decent temperature, no more jerking whatsoever. Based only upon my experience, the rad does squat in terms of warming the transmission when at a standstill.

I'm going to see if I have time to do the bypass this Saturday, but am a bit worried that it will make the initial transmission shifting even worse than it already is once the colder weather gets here.

Your second paragraph contradicts what your original argument is lol. If the radiator doesnt do squat for the trans (which I agree with), why are you afraid of bypassing?

there are plenty of guys in Canada in WD21's that have done this exact same thing ( but we have to add an aftermarket cooler since WD's came without an external cooler) who have had no problems with the bypass-radiator cooler. As far as I know It gets alot colder there than it does at least here in the South and most of the rest of the mid to southern US

Budrbean wrote: Your second paragraph contradicts what your original argument is lol. If the radiator doesnt do squat for the trans (which I agree with), why are you afraid of bypassing?

In my mind, squat is still better than not having squat. I'm in a unique situation because nobody else on this forum, or others that I've read, have the cold transmission jerky shift into 3rd. Last thing I want to do is make it worse. At least the whole process is easy enough to undo if it does make things worse.

NVSteve wrote:

Budrbean wrote: Your second paragraph contradicts what your original argument is lol. If the radiator doesnt do squat for the trans (which I agree with), why are you afraid of bypassing?

In my mind, squat is still better than not having squat. I'm in a unique situation because nobody else on this forum, or others that I've read, have the cold transmission jerky shift into 3rd. Last thing I want to do is make it worse. At least the whole process is easy enough to undo if it does make things worse.

B

What year and how many miles ? mines a 2007 I have never noticed jerky shifts into 3rd and I go straight from my house 1/4 mile and hit the highway in -30 during winter . You also get heat transfer from the block to trans , exhaust pipes , Iam installing an extra cooler with fan and temp sensor , small price to pay for insurance .

Has anyone made the switch on an '08+? The piping is different on mine and it's not plug and play. Just curious if anyone has throught through this and/or has ideas. I got under mine to make the switch and found the piping totally different and left it alone for now. If I'm the first....I guess I'll have to lay under there and stare at it a bit longer.

jerry6 wrote: What year and how many miles ? mines a 2007 I have never noticed jerky shifts into 3rd and I go straight from my house 1/4 mile and hit the highway in -30 during winter .

'07 with 38k miles. One the air temperature hits about 44 & below is when the jerky shift happens. It actually doesn't matter if it's 40F or -15F, as the jerkiness is the same. Not a huge deal-I have myself trained to slow down right before the shift so that it shifts at low RPMs w/out the jerk. It's just really annoying.

skinny2 wrote:Has anyone made the switch on an '08+? The piping is different on mine and it's not plug and play. Just curious if anyone has throught through this and/or has ideas. I got under mine to make the switch and found the piping totally different and left it alone for now. If I'm the first....I guess I'll have to lay under there and stare at it a bit longer.

On an '08+, the hose goes to the radiator cooler, then wraps around the radiator on the driver's side(still hose and not hard line) to the auxiliary cooler, which is on the driver's side instead of the passenger's side like the older models. The piping then enters a hard line that wraps around the front to the passenger's side and back to the transmission.

Just follow the hoses and you'll see it's easier than it sounds. It's just not plug and play like the older models. Nobody has mentioned an '08+ failing, but who wants to be the first?

'07 with 38k miles. One the air temperature hits about 44 & below is when the jerky shift happens. It actually doesn't matter if it's 40F or -15F, as the jerkiness is the same. Not a huge deal-I have myself trained to slow down right before the shift so that it shifts at low RPMs w/out the jerk. It's just really annoying.[/quote]

So we both have the same year , about the same mileage , me 78,000 km . Never had any jerky shifting , but will be on the lookout for it this winter . Maybe I do have this jerky shifting and never paid attention to it , will now .

Did this as part of my 60K process, before putting in 4 fresh quarts of RedLine D4 ATF into the transmission. Was really quite easy, spent way more time fussing with the skid plate from my bar and trying to crimp the hoses to not get ATF in my hair than actually doing the deed it's self