The Nissan Path

i was occasionally getting some longer than expected shifts, which is what prompted me to change it. good thing i did. took right at 4qts out, put 4qts back in.

it looked like motor oil it was so dark (and yes i drained the correct pan ). no real hint of red. looked like black coffee. i'll have a pic tomorrow.

I also have an 08' with 66k on it. Last week I checked the fluid just to see what it would look like on the dipstick and it was clean as could be. Drained it the other day and fluid looked great. Who knows, I wonder why yours would have been so dark...

here's the pic of the fluid. i tried to slosh some up on the side of the bucket so you could see the color

That's pretty much the color of the fluid I drained from my 06LE and 08SE. Haven't had any trans issues but since then I started doing a drain & fill every 30000 miles.

I have a 2011 PF, with 16,000 miles on it, and tow a 4,000LB camper approximately 20% of the time. I would like to drain and put is some synthetic trans fluid, but not sure what to use so as not to void the warranty.

I noticed in a post above that 4 qts was drained and 4 qts added,; is that all the fluid, or just the pan?

Thank you

marc515 wrote:I have a 2011 PF, and tow approximately 20% so far. While I only have 16,000 miles on her, I would like to drain and put is some synthetic trans fluid, but not sure what to use so as not to void the warranty.

I noticed in a post above that 4 qts was drained and 4 qts added,; is that all the fluid, or just the pan?

Thank you

4qts is about all you can get out on a drain/fill....and it comes from the factory with synthetic. Nissan fluid is recommended although there are some aftermarkets that claim to meet the specs...Valvoline Maxlife ATF I believe is one that's been used around here without any issues (short-term anyway). I'm a bit anal about fluids and use the Nissan fluid. It's more expensive but marginally still just a rounding error compared to the cost of a transmission. Being under warranty...I wouldn't even think about using anything but the Nissan oil. Granted in the land of utopia they shouldn't be able to decline a warranty if the fluid truly is equivalent to the Nissan fluid....but here in the real world it does happen. 20% towing is certainly ahead of the curve for a light duty vehicle...I'd be very cautious as well.

[/quote] 20% towing is certainly ahead of the curve for a light duty vehicle...I'd be very cautious as well.[/quote]

I edited my post to reflect that I tow a 4,000Lb camper about 20% of the time, as I wasn't sure about your response; I don't see any major issue with what I'm towing, and the PF should be well up to it.

I was thinking I should do a drain and fill now at 16,000 miles?

Thank you

I don't see any issue with what you're towing either....but 20% towing is on the high-end of what you typically see. I doubt Nissan engineers anticipated the average user would tow that many miles. I think 15k-20k miles sounds like a good interval for that type of use considering how hard towing can be on the transmission.

I did a drain and fill on my 06 around 100k miles and used the Valvoline Max Life..fluid still looks good and it shifts fine after about 15k miles.

doctahjones wrote:here's the pic of the fluid. i tried to slosh some up on the side of the bucket so you could see the color

I don't ever remember seeing trans fluid that dirty in any of my vehicles. Do you do any heavy towing?

Mine wasn't far off from this. Yes I do tow.

I did 4 drain and fills, now its about 1/2 that color.

skinny2 wrote:

marc515 wrote:I have a 2011 PF, and tow approximately 20% so far. While I only have 16,000 miles on her, I would like to drain and put is some synthetic trans fluid, but not sure what to use so as not to void the warranty.

I noticed in a post above that 4 qts was drained and 4 qts added,; is that all the fluid, or just the pan?

Thank you

4qts is about all you can get out on a drain/fill....and it comes from the factory with synthetic. Nissan fluid is recommended although there are some aftermarkets that claim to meet the specs...Valvoline Maxlife ATF I believe is one that's been used around here without any issues (short-term anyway). I'm a bit anal about fluids and use the Nissan fluid. It's more expensive but marginally still just a rounding error compared to the cost of a transmission. Being under warranty...I wouldn't even think about using anything but the Nissan oil. Granted in the land of utopia they shouldn't be able to decline a warranty if the fluid truly is equivalent to the Nissan fluid....but here in the real world it does happen. 20% towing is certainly ahead of the curve for a light duty vehicle...I'd be very cautious as well.

Nissan Type "S" (formerly "J") is made by Castrol and is the same as Castrol Multi-import ATF. Valvoline Maxlife ATF will also work and is what I've used on two R51's for almost 2 years.

smj999smj wrote:Nissan Type "S" (formerly "J") is made by Castrol and is the same as Castrol Multi-import ATF. Valvoline Maxlife ATF will also work and is what I've used on two R51's for almost 2 years.

I'm sure it's most likely fine to use the other fluids. But I still think for a few extra bucks it's worth it (at least during the warranty) to avoid any arguments. Particularly someone towing a lot on a low mileage rig...anything can happen.

marc515 wrote: I don't ever remember seeing trans fluid that dirty in any of my vehicles. Do you do any heavy towing?

only towed the small uhaul trailer and larger uhaul trailer from southern Georiga to Dallas (so 2 trips) to move my grandma to my moms house. other than that i'm just really heavy footed.

OK guys have a good laugh!

I know I need new glasses, but where the heck is the transmission dipstick located for a 2011 PF? They do not show it in the owners manual.

Thank you