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Help With Changing AT Filter - Dropping the pan


Guest dwj119
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As some of you know, I lost reverse. Some members recommened cleaning the pan and filter on my 95 XE AT. I plan on giving this a shot this weekend. Some posts say that you have to remove a piece of the exhaust system to drop the pan. Is there any to avoid this? Do you have to put a new gasket on or can you get away with reusing the old one? If you do have to remove a piece of the exhaust system to drop the pan, how hard is it, any special tools needed?

 

Any help, tips are GREATLY appreciated as I am a very novice mechanic and get especially nervous with trannys.

I started looking for this info yesterday.

Its a god send, step by step, gives me the knack to save some money and build the self esteem.

More info and more relevant than and purchased manual.

I ended up locating the service manual pdf's online as well so now I am ready for almost anything.

 

Thanx

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  • 2 months later...
I should add that my transmission exploded three days later.

 

Then i put in a Junkyard tranny.... which exploded on the way back from the mechanics.... Talk about a sense of humour failure for next few days.

 

Then I had my original tranny rebuild. Been great ever since. Oh the things I do for my pathy.

Talk about motivation to clean mine :shiftyeyes:

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  • 1 year later...
I had a recent flush and filtre change. The mechanic did not totally drop the pan because he said the exaust pipe were in the way and it would have cost me more to remove whatever pipes were in the way. He said the flush was still done and it was caulked up good after the flush. i now have a slow leak from somewhere. I have a 95 xe 4x4. Does anyone recommend tranny leak stuff? I am thinking that the mechanic should have dropped the pipes to do abetter job. Not sure if the new gasket in the kit was used.

 

 

Black Silicone.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm about to have the transmission fluid flushed. Should I have them change the filter too?

Should I get a Nissan filter and gasket and O-ring? Or are there any alternative filter kits I can get? I seen a few on rockauto.com but I don't know how good those are.

 

What should be the shopping list for changing the ATF filter?

So far I have...

1. AT Pan Gasket

2. Pickup filter

3. O-ring for pickup filter

4. New bolts for crossmember

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  • 4 months later...

Couple tips for guys with the 3.5. I changed the filter in my 04 a couple weeks ago, you DON'T need to remove the EXHAUST, or CROSS MEMBER. The exhaust is run differently so it's not in the way. The cross member seems to look the same compared to the pictures above, but a 1/4 drive deep socket slips right in, i had no problem getting at those 2.

 

Have a rough idea of how much fluid you drain, it will help when refilling. I use an empty drain pan, drain the fluid, then pour into one of those 4 or 5 quart oil change jugs. Look on the side at how much you took out, then refill with that amount as a starting point.

 

Oh, and be careful torquing the bolts on the pan, I set my wrench for 12 ftlbs and snapped a bolt.

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Even on a wd21 you don't have to touch the cross member. I had mine done by a Nissan mechanic and he only had to remove the exhaust on one side of the manifold to give the pan enough room to come out.

 

Also I used a GK industries filter and motomaster ATF with a bottle of Lucas transmission treatment. She shifts as smooth as glass even in the cold Canadian winter temps.

 

I also was having an intermittent no reverse issue but it is almost gone now. Used to have to go to D then R to make it work. Now it works 99% of the time. I'm hoping adding an external filter and cooler will help it more.

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  • 1 month later...

I just unbolted the exhaust manifold from the head and pryed the exhaust down with a crowbar and jack, might have been unsafe but it was quick and easy. worked great and is possible to do, but I think I would have just unbolted that oil passage line if I would have known better.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just unbolted the exhaust manifold from the head and pryed the exhaust down with a crowbar and jack, might have been unsafe but it was quick and easy. worked great and is possible to do, but I think I would have just unbolted that oil passage line if I would have known better.

 

Why cant you just remove the 3 bolts on the collector pipe?

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  • 3 months later...

Hmmm this is a scary topic.

 

My truck has a lot of miles, and I have no idea how she was treated before I got it.

 

All these stories about blowing up tranny after tranny...geesh...

 

I need to do mine, but even with a vast knowledge of this sort of thing, I lack experience with the nissan stuff...thus I have a fear of failure...both the transmission after the fact...and me failing period...

 

LOL

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

My 94 with unknown origin tranny shifts fine EXCEPT the one two shift, sometimes I have to take my foot off the gas slightly and than it will shift, think replacing the fluid and filter will fix this? I know it can't help. Think my buddy got this tranny from a junkyard truck and he never does any preventative maint.

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My 94 with unknown origin tranny shifts fine EXCEPT the one two shift, sometimes I have to take my foot off the gas slightly and than it will shift, think replacing the fluid and filter will fix this? I know it can't help. Think my buddy got this tranny from a junkyard truck and he never does any preventative maint.

Unless the fluid is black, I don't see why it would do any harm. I'd go ahead and do a pan drop and filter change, then maybe a couple drain & fills with a few weeks in between of driving to slowly exchange most of the fluid.

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  • 6 months later...

Just removed my trans pan and filter today, did it just like the pics show, came right out after removing that metal tube. Don't have any new fluid picking that up tomorrow than will be re-assembling. Thanks for the pics!

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  • 1 year later...

ahardb0dy, my 95 pathfinder we just got does the same thing, RPMS can go as high as 3k-4.5k before it shifts if I dont let off the gas completely and trick it into shifting, and thats just accelerating like a grandma.... slow accelerating, probably less than half throttle.

 

we picked up the filter and fluid and are about to tackle this, but wondering how it worked out for you?

 

THANK YOU filthy lurker for the PICS, should save some time.

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  • 10 months later...

I was did a filter swap yesterday, on my 90 pathfinder 4x4 se. And removing the exhaust would have made it easier but the pan wiggles around enough to get the five filter bolts and and change the filter. Though I'd recommend soaking up the rest of the tranny fluid in the pan and cleaning the magnet.

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