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Transmission fluid and Diff fluid


Kr50
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I Just got the Pathfinder started after sitting for 2.5 years. got it working thanks to the helpful peeps on this forum. Now I'm in the process of doing some maintenance. I'm looking for recommendations on transmission and diff fluid for a 2002 Pathfinder with 4X4.

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Full synthetic fluids. 

Front and rear axles use GL-5. With synthetic I find 70-90 works great. 

Manual transmission uses GL-4 do NOT use anything that says GL-5 in the transmission, it will destroy synchros and bushings. Once again, 70-90 works well. 

Automatic transmission, 

Dextron ATF up to Dextron VI, the fluid is backwards compatible.

Transfer case uses the same fluid as transmission.  Spec says ATF, but with manual trans GL-4 works as well. 

Steering uses ATF. 

Brake fluid should be changed if a couple years old. DOT 3 or 4 fluid. 

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On 11/19/2020 at 2:43 PM, Mr_Reverse said:

Full synthetic fluids. 

Front and rear axles use GL-5. With synthetic I find 70-90 works great. 

Manual transmission uses GL-4 do NOT use anything that says GL-5 in the transmission, it will destroy synchros and bushings. Once again, 70-90 works well. 

Automatic transmission, 

Dextron ATF up to Dextron VI, the fluid is backwards compatible.

Transfer case uses the same fluid as transmission.  Spec says ATF, but with manual trans GL-4 works as well. 

Steering uses ATF. 

Brake fluid should be changed if a couple years old. DOT 3 or 4 fluid. 

Thanks for the reply. For the transmission i believe valvoline maxlfe and castrol muliti should work. Is there a preference?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got around to changing the tranny fluid and diff fluid. Tranny fluid wasnt too bad and it went pretty smooth except for forgetting to put the magnet back on?. Still having a hard time getting the fluid level read properly. Diff fluid came out nasty. Went with royal purple and noticed a night and day difference. Most likely because the old fluid was pretty bad. Car rides super smooth now. Planning to change the transmission fluid in about 5k miles which i will put the magnet back on. 

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13 hours ago, Kr50 said:

Finally got around to changing the tranny fluid and diff fluid. Tranny fluid wasnt too bad and it went pretty smooth except for forgetting to put the magnet back on?. Still having a hard time getting the fluid level read properly. Diff fluid came out nasty. Went with royal purple and noticed a night and day difference. Most likely because the old fluid was pretty bad. Car rides super smooth now. Planning to change the transmission fluid in about 5k miles which i will put the magnet back on. 

Transmission fluid is relatively inexpensive. I would run it a couple hundred miles then drain and fill again since that only removes a small amount of fluid anyway. That way you can have the magnet catching fragments now instead of later. When I do my drain and fill, I do it 3 times.

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Thats true. Im actually planning on doing that next weekend. Worst part is reaching the 3 bolts thats covered by the cooler line near the pan. But needs to be done anyway. In also having a hard time reading the fluid level on this dipstick. 

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Once you get the magnet back in the pan, you don't need to drop the pan again on fluid changes. That "filter" you replaced isn't actually a filter. It is simply a fine screen that self flushes when the engine is shut off. So simply pulling the drain plug and replacing the fluid every 15-20k miles will keep the trans happy. 

 

Little trick to make reading the dipstick easier is to use a white paper towel and simply laying the dipstick down on the towel. The fluid will wick onto the towel showing where the the level is. 

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Oh thats good to hear. Changing the filter isnt the most fun project on this. Specially the 3 screws under cooler line. Im more than happy to change it every 15k. Specially when valvoline maxlife is so cheap.

 

thanks for the tip on dipstick trick. I will try it tomorow on a cold level. 

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