How Often To Change Auto Gearbox Oil?

[aquariuz6]

I was curious to how often should you change your auto gearbox oil?

And also how do you change the gearbox oil? Would it be the same as manual?

Can I use the same gearbox oil as manual? I have been hearing good things about the Motul brand.

Can any auto guys give us any tips.

Bernard

[jinkz]

I was curious to how often should you change your auto gearbox oil?

And also how do you change the gearbox oil? Would it be the same as manual?

Can I use the same gearbox oil as manual? I have been hearing good things about the Motul brand.

Can any auto guys give us any tips.

Bernard

hey mate i had a look at this a lil while back cause i have a auto R33..and im still kinda looking for the right oil for the tranny....so far the right one but i mite be wrong here..is the Dextron 111 (3) tranny oil or some castrol one i think its TQ or somthing...

And dont use manual oil for auto gear box's because auto trannys use thin oil so it can pressurise within the tranny to change the gears....but i could be wrong but hey look ive got a mate of mine that use to be part of the pit crew for touring cars and they have 15k gear box's and he askd the guy wat oils do they put in the bitches and he said normal engine oil like 20w50 lmao no shit i was shocked wen he said that soo one day i had to do a oil change on my gear box and i put 20-40 oil and no probz the shifting was smoother but this was in my manual cordia....

but gettin to the point the dextron 3 cause im gona give that a good and see wat happends

[khunjeng]

use an ATF fluid. Not sure what the specs state for the line. Not all ATF fluid is the same. For example the Mitsi spec a SPIII rating which has more friction modifiers in it than Dextron III. But DIII and now D4 is the go.

as for racing doods...a thicker oil might be ok if u get some serious temps to thin it down.

Most of the big names make a decent DIII or equiv oil.

[markimak]

personally i think they are all the same

we always used dexron III the castrol one is good but valvoline has a cheaper version all the same.

if the car is loaded often change it every 40kms. or less. just check the colour every 6months.

also i tend to do a filter service which involvestaking the tran oil pan off pulling off hydraulic lines. replacing filter and getting realy dirty and smelly. when replacing the gasket for the sump. dont overtighten it..

just wait till u start doin diffs. that gets stinky.

[R.C]

I was curious to how often should you change your auto gearbox oil?

And also how do you change the gearbox oil? Would it be the same as manual?

Can I use the same gearbox oil as manual? I have been hearing good things about the Motul brand.

Can any auto guys give us any tips.

Bernard

You can find out the recommended fluid from Nissan, using other than factory type can affect your shifts and durability of the clutches, bands and gearset.

With regards to changing oil, some auto's are not required to change throughout the entire life of the transmission but it is garaunteed to extend the life of it if you do. For extreme use like taxi's they would change the fluid every 50,000kms (3 months or so for them), but for normal use that is a bit extreme. It's up to you how much to change it, but closer to 100,000 kms is more reasonable. Again you can just ring up Nissan and ask there normal service interval.

Hope that was a little bit enlightening. Enjoy.

If you change it yourself you'll need to recirculate with the engine running. This is because you have to get the fluid to pump out of the converter and cooler etc, if it's not running then you can't get it out. You'd usually drain the old fluid out while pumping in clean fluid through the cooler lines from a bucket so you need more ATF than the actual capacity of the transmission. Should be able to find a general guide somewhere on the net.

Edited January 29, 2007 by R.C

[R.C]

By the way Nissan uses Jatco transmissions. Just saw this on their website.

Q. How often should the oil be changed in automatic transmissions?

Our products basically do not require oil changes.

There are CVTs, however, that signal the need for an oil change and you should therefore check the handling manual of your vehicle for details.

http://www.jatco.co.jp/ENGLISH/PRODUCTS/at_qa.html

Cheers,

Rene

[markimak]

You can find out the recommended fluid from Nissan, using other than factory type can affect your shifts and durability of the clutches, bands and gearset.

With regards to changing oil, some auto's are not required to change throughout the entire life of the transmission but it is garaunteed to extend the life of it if you do. For extreme use like taxi's they would change the fluid every 50,000kms (3 months or so for them), but for normal use that is a bit extreme. It's up to you how much to change it, but closer to 100,000 kms is more reasonable. Again you can just ring up Nissan and ask there normal service interval.

Hope that was a little bit enlightening. Enjoy.

If you change it yourself you'll need to drain it with the engine running. This is because you have to get the fluid to pump out of the converter and cooler etc, if it's not running then you can't get it out. You'd usually drain the old fluid out while pumping in clean fluid through the cooler lines from a bucket so you need more ATF than the actual capacity of the transmission. Should be able to find a general guide somewhere on the net.

drain with engine running. thats a bit harsh i think. i would rather have 250ml of old dexron II in the cooler than run it dry... seeing the cooler is higher it should drain back to the sump well the majority should.

[Godzilla32]

I would deffinately service your auto every 20,000km's. I work in an auto shop in Brissy and we recommend every 20,000 or 12 months to keep it in good health.

Drop the pan put in a new filter or clean the screen (if thats what it has) and put on a new pan gasket and refill your ATF.

Much cheaper than an auto rebuild!

Seen some autos die after as little as 120,000kms with insuffiecent maintenance.

Deren

[aquariuz6]

So I'm guessing I should use Dexron III?

If anyone has done it before on an auto gearbox, it would be great if someone could make a DIY for the other auto skylines out there.

[WazR32GTSt]

i do mine every 20,000kms

i currently have motul fluid in there also, and seems to work well, better than whatever the last fluid was (mobil i think)

i also get them to change filter and gasket with that

i figure when i'm pumping 50% more power and torque through than standard, and given that it was made 15 years ago, its cheap insurance against transmission failure. i also run a transmission cooler, and for less than $100 it does help me sleep at night

[Modena]

I use Castrol Transmax Z. It costs a small fortune but the gear box seems to run really well on it.

Its fully synthetic too.

As far as I recall you need to change gear box oil every 50,000-70,000 KMs. I might be off though, in the manual it doesnt really say.

I will change it prolly every 30,000-40,000 kms.

As far as the oil change goes, get a mechanic to do it... you need to know a fair bit.

The original filter can be cleaned with a grease remover and karcher.

Edited January 23, 2007 by CCCP

[Godzilla32]

I would help you do the auto service if i lived in the same state Its really not that hard on your run of the mill cars as long as its easy to get to the pan. Although i do it on a hoist with a proper oil drain and all the right tools so laying under the car might be a bit tricky not to cover yourself in hot auto fluid.

DIY auto service:

First check if there is a drain bung on the auto pan. If there is it will make the job alot easier as you can rain it before you remove the pan.

If not, place a tub under the pan (more to the back) the same size or bigger and undo the back row of bolts on the pan then work your way up each side of the pan alternating between sides so you undo it evenly. As you do this the fluid should start to drip/run from the back edge of the pan (providing the gasket isn't completely stuck on). Once you undo all the bolts on the sides undo a few on the front but make sure you leave at least 2 - By this time you should have some auto fluid pouring out of the back of the pan into the bucket. If not just undo the 2 remaining bolts a little and if the back end of the pan still doesnt drop at all you will have to put a bolt back into the back end of the pan halfway and lever the pan away from the transmission body until the old gasket breaks away. From here let the fluid pour out into the bucket. When it slows undo the bolt you put back in at the back so it wouldnt fall down completely when you levered it and let more of the fluid run into the bucket. It may come all of a sudden if the pan falls down a long way at the back, so make sure your two remaining bolts up front arent too loose ie: use them as your pivot point. As you undo them more the pan angle increases letting out more fluid. Once you have tipped most of the ATF from the pan support the middle and push it back up against the transmission body so u can remove the 2 remaining pan bolts. When they are out let the pan down but down tip all the ATF out instead keep a little in there to inspect for foreign matter. If there is much crap in the ATF take a photo and post it up for someone to take a look at. Its very hard to describe what means what without seeing it. Now clean out the pan throughly with kero/solvent/etc. Make sure there is no remnance of old pan gasket, scrap every bit off. I've never seen in a skyline auto so im not sure what they have in the way of a filter. If its a removable filter you can replace it with a new one. If its a screen type filter you can remove it and clean it out with the same kero/solvent and replace it. If you go to nissan spareparts and ask for an auto service kit they should supply you with all you need. Make sure you take your VIN number with you. While your at it check if those autos need any ATF additive. If it does you should put the required amountinto the pan before you refit it. If your refitting the pan with a cork gasket be careful not to over tighten the pan bolts as they can split the gasket. Use a 3/8 racket and hold onto the head of the racket so you can't apply too much torque. Now that the pan is refitted pull out the auto dipstick and get a tube that will fit in it or tightly around it and attach a funnel to the other end. Before starting the car add 2 litres of ATF. Start it up in park and with your foot on the brake run it through the gears IE: from park go to reverse for a few seconds then to neutral for a few more seconds and then into drive, again for a few more seconds (it may or may not pick up gears as you do this) Before you get out i usually give the throttle couple of quick stabs. Now check your dipstick (make sure the car is on level ground) with the engine running in park. Pull it out and wipe it and dip it. If the reading is all over the place you may need to wait awhile for the fluid to settle down the filler tube etc before you can get a accurate reading. Sometimes they will do this until you add enough ATF. So if after a few minutes you are still struggling to get a proper reading (remember to go off the side of the dipstick which is lower) just start adding ATF in 1/2 litre intervals. Another trick is to try check the dipstick level in neutral instead. If after only 2 litres its really full or still all over the place then just resume checking in park. Fill it to the bottom of the hot mark on the dipstick and go for a drive then recheck it. By then it should be filled to the top of the hot mark. If not add more till it is. Most shallow pan autos will take about 3-4 litres. Some deeper pan autos can take a little more but like i said add only a 1/2 litre at a time so you dont over fill it.

Good luck, hope i havent confused or scared anyone thinking to do this themselves. LOL

Deren

[MANWHORE]

Nice write up darren. I've done it myself on my daily driver, and it's not hard or as scary as the job looks.

It's just pretty messy when you're doing it on the floor. Have rags ready to mop up spills, and try not to get any on you, because it stinks and it's gross

[Godzilla32]

Yeah it took awhile but i hope its useful to some of you guys

Also your right about it stinking, then again have a sniff of gear oil! Yuck.

[R.C]

drain with engine running. thats a bit harsh i think. i would rather have 250ml of old dexron II in the cooler than run it dry... seeing the cooler is higher it should drain back to the sump well the majority should.

You can do that, but the converter will hold more like 4-5 litres so it is worth pumping it out otherwise you'll have a half polluted mix of ATF. Just to clarify, I didn't mean run it dry, you need to drain what you can via the filler plug and then refill with new fluid. When thats done flush through with new fluid through the cooler inlet/outlet at the transmission by using the trans pump with the engine running and shifting through P-R-N-D. When the fluid starts coming out clean then you've done the job.

Edited January 25, 2007 by R.C

[Godzilla32]

Good way to screw your auto draining it while its running... Thats just plain stupid. Not all autos have a drain plug either. If you drain out the pan and refill then flush the system your wasting ATF, cuz its just gonna get flushed straight out again. Youw ill also need about 10-15 litres of ATF as thats what most systems hold. The only way to do a full flush correctly is to use a ATF flush machine, same as P/S flush.

The pan is where the majority of contaminants end up and thats the most important part to remove/clean/inspect. Its designed to collect particles of clutch dust/cooler fragments/etc.. Most are fitted with one or more magnets as well as grooves that will catch the non metallic particles.

BTW: R.C, you are misleading these guys about how to and when to service an auto. You seem to have no clue on the subject and pretty much everything you suggested is incorrect and could potentially be damaging to the auto.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Godzilla32

[Busky2k]

For those who don't know, most ATs hold about 7-10L depending on the car. However the AT oil pan only holds approximately 1/3-1/2 of the total oil capacity and the remaining is still in the AT galleries & torque convertor and 99% of the time you cannot get it out. So you need to do successive oil changes to purge the lot.

Best thing to do for the average DIYer is to drain the pan and fill every weekend for 1 month. During the week you drive the car so the fresh fluid mixes with the old. Then you have 4 successive changes to dilute the remaining oil.

You can do this every 40,000km or you can do 1 oil pan 'drain' every 10,000km.

Edited January 26, 2007 by Busky2k

[khunjeng]

For those who don't know, most ATs hold about 7-10L depending on the car. However the AT oil pan only holds approximately 1/3-1/2 of the total oil capacity and the remaining is still in the AT galleries & torque convertor and 99% of the time you cannot get it out. So you need to do successive oil changes to purge the lot.

Best thing to do for the average DIYer is to drain the pan and fill every weekend for 1 month. During the week you drive the car so the fresh fluid mixes with the old. Then you have 4 successive changes to dilute the remaining oil.

You can do this every 40,000km or you can do 1 oil pan 'drain' every 10,000km.

yup. On my auto I get about 1/3 out of mine. I actually take mine to a guy who has some special machine to "suck out" all the oil some auto service places have these. Gets most of it out aparently.

[x2shy]

Do you have detials on where in melbourne this is? I need to get mine done and I want to take it somewhere they know about Skylines. Or at least have worked on one before.

[R.C]

Good way to screw your auto draining it while its running... Thats just plain stupid. Not all autos have a drain plug either. If you drain out the pan and refill then flush the system your wasting ATF, cuz its just gonna get flushed straight out again. Youw ill also need about 10-15 litres of ATF as thats what most systems hold. The only way to do a full flush correctly is to use a ATF flush machine, same as P/S flush.

The pan is where the majority of contaminants end up and thats the most important part to remove/clean/inspect. Its designed to collect particles of clutch dust/cooler fragments/etc.. Most are fitted with one or more magnets as well as grooves that will catch the non metallic particles.

BTW: R.C, you are misleading these guys about how to and when to service an auto. You seem to have no clue on the subject and pretty much everything you suggested is incorrect and could potentially be damaging to the auto.

ok then do whatever you like, but flushing the fluid without using an external pump is a standard practice - there are heaps of guides available about this but I couldn't be bothered arguing about it.