dududuckling Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 (edited) Hey all, I'm driving a 2000 Nissan Pathfinder with a standard transmission. For the past one year, I find it tight to engage the first and reverse gears. You can shift into those gears, but you have to add a little more force on the stick and depress the clutch to its fullest extent. Over the past two months or so, sometime (and its just once in a while) I shift to the first gear, the stick will vibrate, produce a loud grinding noise, and jerk back into neutral. Last night, when I was driving around city at approximately 60 km/h, there's a noise that only appears when the gas pedal is depressed with the gear engaged. So, for instance, if I go on gear 1 or 2 or 3 and I hit the gas pedal, the noise will appear. When the car is moving on a downhill and with the gear shifted to neutral, engaging the gas pedal and revving the engine will not produce the noise. When the car is stationary and with the gear shifted to neutral, engaging the gas pedal and revving the engine will also not produce the noise. The noise is kinda soft and barely noticable. I have to turn off the a/c (because my a/c compressor also makes similar noise) in order to hear that noise. With the assumption that it would be a transmission-related problem, this morning I brought it to the local garage that specialized in transmission. The guy told me that my initial problem (its hard to engage the gears, etc) might be due to my clutch plate/ pressure plate, etc running low. I replaced the clutch disc/ cover and release bearing at 164,000 km (I had noise when I shift into gears and release the clutch, but it was fixed). I drive a lot on stop-and-go traffic. Do you think its time to get a new clutch again? As for the noise, he wasn't sure where its coming from... he said its certainly not from the transmission because its neither grinding nor bearing noise. And based on his experience, he never heard of it before. He said its probably coming from the engine, etc. I'm bringing it to Nissan for diagnostic tomorrow. Does anyone have a clue to my problem? I know Nissan will say something tomorrow. But I'd like to hear your opinions... I wanna know the severity of the problem I'm having on the pathy. Thanks for the help in advanced, Andrew Edited August 31, 2009 by dududuckling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 When was the last tranny fluid and clutch fluid change ? Not saying that's the cause, just useful info to have as we narrow it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dududuckling Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 (edited) When was the last tranny fluid and clutch fluid change ? Not saying that's the cause, just useful info to have as we narrow it down. @160,000 km... I should get it changed soon. But I did change something back in April, brought it to the shop and the guy filled 75w90 synthetic... i think its just for differential. How often should this fluid be changed? Can it be the problem as well? Edited August 31, 2009 by dududuckling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 I'm not sure about that... I don't think its ever been changed since 176,000 km. But I did change something back in April, brought it to the shop and the guy filled 75w90 synthetic... i think its just for differential. How often should this fluid be changed? Can it be the problem as well? 75W90 is often manual tranny fluid. Depending on the truck and the diff, 75W140 is often used for diffs. Tranny fluid change intervals vary depending on make, model, who you ask, time of day, phase of moon etc. I've seen everything from 15,000 miles (24,000 km) for heavy use cars to 30,000 miles or more. What about clutch fluid ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Oh, how many miles do you have on right now ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dududuckling Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 (edited) It was about 164,000 km as well, when I did a clutch bearing with Nissan. I intend to all the fluids at the end of the wheeling season... Edited August 31, 2009 by dududuckling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 I had a similar issue with my old truck and it turns out I had a friction plate problem where one of the springs was loose. Eventually, it popped right out, and contacted the pressure plate, and I couldn't shift with the clutch anymore. After that, I had to limp to the shop, shifting with RPM matching, until the clutch could be replaced. That clutch only had about 15,000kms on it, and it was a part failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dududuckling Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Got the word back from Nissan, its definitely coming from the transmission. They want ~CA$3400.00 for a brand new transmission (Parts = $2400.00 + Labor = $1000.00 approximately). Is it making sense at all? Do you think its possible to get them open up the transmission and replace the specific parts only? Can you please share your thoughts on this, please? Thanks in advanced... Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 WOW....that's not cheap. I'd be looking for other options. A used transmission can't be that expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dududuckling Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 I asked if they can open up the transmission and replace the faulty parts, they said it will add up to longer labor hours and the overall cost is gonna be more expensive than to replace the transmission itself. I asked about a used transmission, Nissan said its bound to fail in the near future. I don't know how true this is... There are times when I wanna sell the pathy for a cheap Civic, lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 My father has a 2000 pathfinder as well with a standard tranny. He has 240,000kms on it and it's the original clutch and trans. When we first got it almost 5 years ago it used to grind going into 4th. Brought it to the dealer and they tore the whole tranny apart to inspect, free of charge. I would insist they inspect the trans rather than just replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dududuckling Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 What happened to your dad's pathy in the end? Did they replace something? I paid $50.00 for diagnostic at Nissan today. When they told me its with the transmission, I asked them to take it apart and they refused. I even offered to pay them to open up the transmission and see if there's anything wrong inside... I'd rather spend a few hundred dollars and be sure that it is the problem rather than shelling thousand of dollars and guessing it might be the problem. But again, they refused my offer... I'm gonna ask around for more second opinions before deciding what to do with it. Thanks a lot, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Got the word back from Nissan, its definitely coming from the transmission. They want ~CA$3400.00 for a brand new transmission (Parts = $2400.00 + Labor = $1000.00 approximately). Is it making sense at all? Do you think its possible to get them open up the transmission and replace the specific parts only? Can you please share your thoughts on this, please? Thanks in advanced... Andrew $3400 ? And they decide this without even doing an in-depth diagnosis ? Just a "Oh, there's a noise from the tranny. Eh, why bother investigating. Just replace the whole thing." Are you kidding me ???? For that kind of dough I'd get a used tranny and wait for it to fall off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 What happened to your dad's pathy in the end? Did they replace something? I paid $50.00 for diagnostic at Nissan today. When they told me its with the transmission, I asked them to take it apart and they refused. I even offered to pay them to open up the transmission and see if there's anything wrong inside... I'd rather spend a few hundred dollars and be sure that it is the problem rather than shelling thousand of dollars and guessing it might be the problem. But again, they refused my offer... I'm gonna ask around for more second opinions before deciding what to do with it. Thanks a lot, though... Nope, they took it apart, and said there was nothing wrong with it. They filled it with fluid and it has been good ever since. But the point is, they did open up the trans. Maybe take it to Northend Nissan where morpheus is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Heck, for the amount of money involved, I'd take it apart myself and see what was wrong. If it couldn't be fixed, I'd put a used tranny in. Sure, it's a pain. But $3,400 buys me a lot of advil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zibi Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Tell them to get fskced, they're trying to take you for a ride. They're not willing to look into whether it's anything cheaper. Call a few other shops/nissan dealerships and see what they have to say. And tell these guys that you're not outright paying anywhere close to that much until you're convinced it's necessary and see if they back down. I'd see about getting a jy trans and having a small shop put it in, try and find a good mechanic who is recommended to you, especially if they'll do it for cheap. Now my assumption as to what the shop did: The dealer service manual has little troubleshooting flowcharts. I.e. if it's doing this, check part a. If part a is leaking, see if part b is rattling. And so on until they got down to the end, determined your trans is fskced, and the nissan recomended solution was to replace. If they rushed through the diagnostic, or were lazy while doing it, then that may not actually be the case. When I get home I'll pull up the MT manual and take a gander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dududuckling Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 Thanks for all the advice, guys... Gonna take it to the shop tomorrow, get the tranny fluid replaced and see what comes out of the plug. If there's no chunky metal, I guess I'm gonna leave it for now till the transmission fails me. With the same amount of money that I spend on a transmission, I can probably trade my car in for newer model or for snorkel, lift, skid or an SFD... lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carwilef7 Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 $3400???????? Didn't pay much more than that for my whole truck! Try a used trans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now