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R50 Transmission, what else?


jjmwilkinson
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TL;DR at bottom before pic.

 

Hey all, 

 

Been lurking here for a couple months reading up on guides and how-to's and looking at mods other people have done. Now it's my turn to post.

 

My buddy's dad bought this 02 back in 2004 and drove the hell out of it. Mid-2018 he started having transmission problems. With 287k on it, he opted to just park it and he bought a new 4Runner. Well finally talked with him about it and I told him I'd buy it off of him. And that was that. Wouldn't stay running due to the idle air control valve, so replaced that and then test drove it hard and had no issues with the transmission. I didn't want to throw a transmission at it without confirming that's what it was. So I started doing other things to it. I bought some old 4Runner wheels with tires off craigslist for a few hundred dollars, great deal especially since the guy said the PO had just installed them before selling the 4Runner, and then the current owner put some aftermarket wheels and mud tires on, so I came out with tires with only 700 miles on them and date code is end of 2018. I installed some Warn hubs, a new alternator (bearing had started making a ton of noise and I screwed up reassembling the old alternator with the new bearings), new idler pulley, replaced the oil cooler o-ring and the rack boot on that side that the oil had deteriorated. Got some AC lift springs with Bilstein 33-185552 rear shocks and KYB 335032/335033 front struts and new strut bushings, also replaced the rear upper trailing arm bushings, they were absolutely wrecked haha. Also replaced all fluids in the truck except brake fluid (will probably do that next oil change).

 

So after all of that and the looming question of "when the hell is this transmission going to fail" and driving 200 miles with no issues it finally bit the dust on me at 70 MPH cruising on the freeway heading home from my parents place after watching the Seahawks lose the divisional game. Felt like it dropped 4th gear and went into 3rd, was at 3500-4000 RPM. I needed gas anyway so I filled her up, started driving again and couldn't do much but crawl. Then it clunked and shifted fine a couple times. Luckily I was a couple miles from my work (I work at a car dealership as a technician). Unfortunately I didn't make it, after getting stopped at a light, it wouldn't shift out of first anymore and the metal on metal grinding noise coming from underneath me was enough to convince me to call for a tow. AAA got there and towed it to my work. I ordered up a transmission from a wrecking yard with 87k on it and bought the 1 year warranty on it. Now I'm just waiting for it to get here. 

 

TL;DR->> So here are my questions, I am already planning on replacing the internal filter on the 'new' transmission (I know its just a metal screen and doesn't do much but I'm planning on looking in the pan anyway), I am also planning on installing an aftermarket tranny cooler to bypass the factory one in the radiator (Hayden 678 if anyone is wondering). I was thinking if I should do the rear main seal as well, even though it looks like you are supposed to remove the oil pan, are you able to just add liquid gasket to the bottom of the seal retainer and call it good, or is it an actual fitment issue that is blocking you from replacing the RMS without dropping the pan? Also when I did my ATF change I used Valvoline MaxLife synthetic ATF. Do you guys recommend that or should I do a different fluid with the new transmission? Anything else you guys recommend I rock out when doing the transmission? 

 

Thanks!

Jack

 

 

hFGGjqa.jpg

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TL;DR at bottom before pic.
 
Hey all, 
 
Been lurking here for a couple months reading up on guides and how-to's and looking at mods other people have done. Now it's my turn to post.
 
My buddy's dad bought this 02 back in 2004 and drove the hell out of it. Mid-2018 he started having transmission problems. With 287k on it, he opted to just park it and he bought a new 4Runner. Well finally talked with him about it and I told him I'd buy it off of him. And that was that. Wouldn't stay running due to the idle air control valve, so replaced that and then test drove it hard and had no issues with the transmission. I didn't want to throw a transmission at it without confirming that's what it was. So I started doing other things to it. I bought some old 4Runner wheels with tires off craigslist for a few hundred dollars, great deal especially since the guy said the PO had just installed them before selling the 4Runner, and then the current owner put some aftermarket wheels and mud tires on, so I came out with tires with only 700 miles on them and date code is end of 2018. I installed some Warn hubs, a new alternator (bearing had started making a ton of noise and I screwed up reassembling the old alternator with the new bearings), new idler pulley, replaced the oil cooler o-ring and the rack boot on that side that the oil had deteriorated. Got some AC lift springs with Bilstein 33-185552 rear shocks and KYB 335032/335033 front struts and new strut bushings, also replaced the rear upper trailing arm bushings, they were absolutely wrecked haha. Also replaced all fluids in the truck except brake fluid (will probably do that next oil change).
 
So after all of that and the looming question of "when the hell is this transmission going to fail" and driving 200 miles with no issues it finally bit the dust on me at 70 MPH cruising on the freeway heading home from my parents place after watching the Seahawks lose the divisional game. Felt like it dropped 4th gear and went into 3rd, was at 3500-4000 RPM. I needed gas anyway so I filled her up, started driving again and couldn't do much but crawl. Then it clunked and shifted fine a couple times. Luckily I was a couple miles from my work (I work at a car dealership as a technician). Unfortunately I didn't make it, after getting stopped at a light, it wouldn't shift out of first anymore and the metal on metal grinding noise coming from underneath me was enough to convince me to call for a tow. AAA got there and towed it to my work. I ordered up a transmission from a wrecking yard with 87k on it and bought the 1 year warranty on it. Now I'm just waiting for it to get here. 
 
TL;DR->> So here are my questions, I am already planning on replacing the internal filter on the 'new' transmission (I know its just a metal screen and doesn't do much but I'm planning on looking in the pan anyway), I am also planning on installing an aftermarket tranny cooler to bypass the factory one in the radiator (Hayden 678 if anyone is wondering). I was thinking if I should do the rear main seal as well, even though it looks like you are supposed to remove the oil pan, are you able to just add liquid gasket to the bottom of the seal retainer and call it good, or is it an actual fitment issue that is blocking you from replacing the RMS without dropping the pan? Also when I did my ATF change I used Valvoline MaxLife synthetic ATF. Do you guys recommend that or should I do a different fluid with the new transmission? Anything else you guys recommend I rock out when doing the transmission? 
 
Thanks!
Jack
 
 
hFGGjqa.jpg
I just dropped my transmission and oil pan to replace the oil pan seal and rear main seal. On the rear main seal there is a channel where the rubber upper pan seal goes into where you do goop it with RTV and sandwich it between the oil pan. I removed my whole pan and replaced the front and rear seals as I'm already this far I might as well do it right now then have it leak later down the road. Although you do have to remove quite a bit of things to get the whole pan off. Also if you take the pan off theres 2 o rings inside that you'll need to replace as well. I just ordered the Felpro RMS that comes with a new retainer and the oil pan gasket set that came with the 2 seals for front and rear as well as the o rings. Best of luck with the pathfinder!41a4845402cb6ff253adfa7217a49aeb.jpg4ddfc83d83a2f0e2530eee3cace02815.jpg01bb6fd446ff3903374c64b98bdb2e8f.jpg38a2382f32b5720b34a789c11a677123.jpg

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I just dropped my transmission and oil pan to replace the oil pan seal and rear main seal. On the rear main seal there is a channel where the rubber upper pan seal goes into where you do goop it with RTV and sandwich it between the oil pan. I removed my whole pan and replaced the front and rear seals as I'm already this far I might as well do it right now then have it leak later down the road. Although you do have to remove quite a bit of things to get the whole pan off. Also if you take the pan off theres 2 o rings inside that you'll need to replace as well. I just ordered the Felpro RMS that comes with a new retainer and the oil pan gasket set that came with the 2 seals for front and rear as well as the o rings. Best of luck with the pathfinder!41a4845402cb6ff253adfa7217a49aeb.jpg4ddfc83d83a2f0e2530eee3cace02815.jpg01bb6fd446ff3903374c64b98bdb2e8f.jpg38a2382f32b5720b34a789c11a677123.jpg

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Sweet! Thanks for the actual pics, I've looked at the service manual but having actual pictures is super nice. Do you actually have to take out everything the manual says or are you able to sneak it out without fully removing stuff like the alternator and power steering pump?

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Sweet! Thanks for the actual pics, I've looked at the service manual but having actual pictures is super nice. Do you actually have to take out everything the manual says or are you able to sneak it out without fully removing stuff like the alternator and power steering pump?

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For the most part you really have to take everything out that the manual says to do unfortunately. The only thing that I deviated from the manual was that I just unbolted the alternator and hung it using garden wire to have more room and I didnt even touch the power steering pump. But if you want to drop the whole pan, you have to drop the subframe and hoist the engine so it stays in place just so you have enough room to take it out. I just used the harbor freight 1000lb capacity support bar that sits on the inner fender. Also if you do drop the pan, on reinstallation I bought some thread rod that were the same thread pitch of the pan bolts and threaded them into the block as guide rods to slide the pan back on without smearing the rtv everywhere and making sure the pan goes straight up and seals. Also cut some slots in the threaded rods as well so you can take them out with a flathead if you do go that route

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"on reinstallation I bought some thread rod that were the same thread pitch of the pan bolts and threaded them into the block as guide rods to slide the pan back on without smearing the rtv everywhere and making sure the pan goes straight up and seals."

 

That's a super good idea. I work on Acuras professionally and when we do engines they drop out with the subframe and we use kinda the same trick. We use old subframe bolts, cut the heads off and cut a notch in them so when we are lowering the car onto the subframe we can get it positioned correctly and don't have to mess with trying to lines the holes up.

 

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"on reinstallation I bought some thread rod that were the same thread pitch of the pan bolts and threaded them into the block as guide rods to slide the pan back on without smearing the rtv everywhere and making sure the pan goes straight up and seals."
 
That's a super good idea. I work on Acuras professionally and when we do engines they drop out with the subframe and we use kinda the same trick. We use old subframe bolts, cut the heads off and cut a notch in them so when we are lowering the car onto the subframe we can get it positioned correctly and don't have to mess with trying to lines the holes up.
 
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Also for dropping the subframe, if you have spare trailing arm bolts for the pathfinder, they're the same thread pitch for the rear subframe bolts and act as a guide for about 3-3.5 inches down

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First thing when you intend to drop the oil pan on a VG engine, before even disconnecting the battery, pull the oil dipstick and put it far away so you are not tempted to put it back in before the pan is installed. You will be swearing otherwise. 

 

My personal experience has been the "rear main leak" has usually been the pan seal rather than the main seal. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alrighty, I got the transmission and rear main seal replaced over this last weekend. Work was slow on Thursday so I was able to clock off and bring the Pathfinder in and get the transmission out before I left. No problems there. Had a nice set up for getting the torque converter bolts out (long ass extension with a wobbly socket fed through oil cooler area to the hole where the starter sits), and the bell housing bolts (lowered transmission a little bit to angle engine down and again used a long extension and wobbly socket to get the upper bell housing bolts. Little tip, if you have access to compressed air, after you get the cooler lines undone, blow air through them to get the majority of the ATF out of there, and you won't have them dripping as much. 

 

On Friday I pulled the drive plate off to check the rear main seal, of course it was seeping a little bit (from the oil pan half moon seal as @Mr_Reverse said) and I knew if I didn't do it and it got worse, I'd be kicking myself for it. So I did try to attempt to do it without pulling the oil pan, and you can get the old one out fine but since the new seal hasn't been compressed for the last 17 years it was impossible to put enough pressure on it and at the same time push towards the engine to seat the rear main. Oh well, I sourced the o-rings for the oil pan and I already had the half moon seals for the front and rear so I spent 8ish hours working on the oil pan. My biggest issue was supporting the engine. With the "Acura Special" engine supports I couldn't get a good place to have the 4 feet placed, but I figured out that if I turned it around so the adjustable feet are towards the back of the engine bay and the fixed feet are on the core support it fit pretty well. (https://www.crzforum.com/threads/2011-cr-z-transmission-removal-and-install.92243/ this is the engine hanger we have). And then used a chain around the throttle body and another I used a longer bolt in place of one of the intake bolts and ran it through another chain. Getting the o-rings on the little channel they sit in on the block is a pain in the ass to do, ended up using a touch of hondabond to keep them in place. After cleaning and reinstalling the oil pan everything went together pretty easy and way quicker than it came apart. I left Friday the same way I started, ready to reinstall the transmission.

 

Saturday, got the new transmission secured to the transmission jack, got the transfer case installed onto it and clocked the torque converter close to where the drive plate bolt holes were (I've over looked this doing transmissions a couple times and some cars fit tight enough together that once the transmission is installed you can't spin them separately very easily, so it's a good idea to get them close). Got the transmission mated to the engine, got the bolts hand tight, installed the torque converter bolts, tightened to spec, then tightened the bellhousing bolts to spec, reinstalled the transmission brace, removed the tranny jack and put everything back in that I had to take out. I didn't have enough hose to install the tranny cooler that I bought that I was going to run as a bypass. So I haven't installed the cooler yet, I cleaned out the factory one at the bottom of the radiator, didn't seem backed up at all, and I ordered up a few more feet of hose as well as a Magnefine 3/8" in-line filter for the transmission (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0787KWZPS/) that I have seen some people recommend. So I'm going to install that before the factory cooler and run my new cooler as an add-on cooler instead of a bypass.

 

As of right now, I've put about 130 miles on this transmission and have no complaints about it so far. The biggest change (other than actually being able to drive it lol) has been the 1-2 shift when it is cold. The old transmission would SLAM into 2nd when it was cold. It would almost seem stuck in first gear and then just slam into 2nd, but the other shifts were fine. 

 

Haven't decided what I'm going to do with the old transmission, give it to our scrap guys, take on disassembling it and rebuilding it (which might end with giving it to the scrap guys in smaller parts), or selling as-is to someone who needs a non-working transmission for whatever reason. 

 

Couple things worth mentioning:

1. Our local nissan dealer didn't have the o-rings for the oil pan in stock and were a few days out if I was to order them, but our local Infinity had 15 in stock for a few bucks a piece (you need 2) so don't forget to check with Infinity, same part #

2. The crush washers for the banjo bolts on the transmission cooler lines, and power steering lines @ the rack are equivalent to Dorman 097-827CD, same width, inside diameter and outside diameter. You need 8 of these.

3. I ended up using an aftermarket torque converter seal (another "replace it while you have it apart even if it's ok" type of thing) National 224663.

 

Za4ZKa2.jpg 

Edited by jjmwilkinson
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I needed up inspecting and reusing it, lubing it with atf before putting the torque converter back on. But that was more because I couldn't source one quickly once I realized I forgot to order a new one.

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Same exact thing happened to me except that I broke the old one. I ended up getting the closest match I could find from the hardware store. eeesh! I wonder from time to time if the o-ring I used is the same material/quality and whether its going to fail prematurely..

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