I would like to change the transmission fluid & filter on my 2001X.
I've done this a million times on other cars, all of which were manufactured in 1980 and earlier.
I've been told that the Xterra, and all newer cars for that matter, do not have a transmission filter and all that is required is to simply drain the old fluid from the pan and refill.
Please excuse my ignorance, but does the X even have a drain plug, or am I required to remove the pan, as I have on my previous vehicles. Is a filter even present?
How often should the trans be serviced?
Thanks.

There is a plug in the bottom of the pan. A 5 qt. ice cream bucket held what drained out but barely!!! Just shy of 5 qts to refill and your on your way. Easy as pie.

I guess there is a shift valve filter, but don't sweat that. If it plugs up the tranny has BIG problems.

5 quarts is what comes out if change it yourself if you have an AT. But I think there's like 10.5 quarts in there (not sure right now) that will come out if you flush it. I think 1/2 of it stays in there if you just do a drain and fill.

This is true. And if you're 4X4, the transfer case holds even more. A flush requires about 19 quarts of ATF on an auto 4x4. Drain and fills aren't worth it in my opinion, most of the old, used fluid stays in there...not exactly what I would call preventive maintenance.

If you have 30k or more on the tranny without any fluid change so far, get a flush, then start regular 15k drain-and-fills. That will keep the fluid plenty fresh from then on. If you can afford it, have it flushed with synthetic and keep D&F-ing with synth and you'll be fine. Consider another flush at 100k.

Brent

get a power flush. i called a couple of local dealers before i had mine done-the cheapest i could find was 109.00 bucks.

About half the fluid does stay in the converter.

Lets see, $109 being cheapest for a flush.

$7.50 for 5 qts of dextron for a drain and fill.

And its not worth it to drain and fill????

The Nissan dealer where I got mine ONLY drains and fills. The starter of the thread was pulling the pan on the old american stuff. The plug is in there and makes it EASY to do the same thing.

I'm not bashing the tranny flush if thats what trips your trigger. Just don't knock reasonable maintainence for a reasonable price. D & F every 20 - 30k and everything should be just fine. Use the extra $100 you save and buy some other toy that makes ya happy.

Not really. Do you only change 1/2 of your motor oil? Every 2 years or every 24K miles is the recommended transmission flush interval for the average driver. $100 to $150 bucks every two years is pretty worth it to me keep the tranny humming along. It only takes like 1/2 an hour to do it. Not a big deal and well worth it for the piece of mind. Same with coolant flushes, brake flushes, etc...

nice rebuttal cygnus -x1. a power flush removes all the old fluid along with any contaminants,etc in your tranny. just doing a drain and fill really accomplishes little. you still have 5 or 6 quarts of old fluid in there.

Yeah, like a new transmission. Granted, there are a lot of services that are a waste of money - a tranny flush ain't one of them.

"do you only change half your motor oil?"
Nicely put, Cygnus

First there seems to be a few misconceptions. You seem to believe that % of the fluid is removed during the flush. The figure I normally hear is more like 90%. Yes its more than half but there is old fluid (1 qt.) residing in your tranny after the flush.

Second you seem to be equating the job engine oil does with that of the ATF. Totally different. I don't run the left side of my truck on ramps to get that last 1/4" of engine oil out either. Guess I'm just wasting my time there too.

Third you seem quite sure my tranny is going to end up in a heap and yours is not. My truck is properly maintained and the tran is not going to fail from any fluid related problem. Sorry to break that news to you.

Finally, did you know that the "Schedule 2" maintainance NEVER mentions ATF fluid changing at all? "Schedule 1" recommends changing every 30k if towing of other heavy use. Otherwise it also indicates no needed maintainence. I don't recomend this just as I don't like the 7500 mile oil change intervals.

Drain and fill is not a waste of time. It's certainly not a waste of money either. Which gives the most bang for the buck is clear. If your doing a flush every 24k, while someone is doing a drain and fill every 3500 miles with an oil change, the one doing the drain and fill will be spending about half and their average fluid condition will be far better. In my opinion both would be over maintaining the transmission.

Drain and fill is not as stupid as you like to make it sound. Trying to make it seem that way makes one wonder exactly where you get the info from. Over selling service advisor???

i don't understand?? 7.50 for 5 quarts of ATF is 37.50. you do it at every oil change?. so, if i do a power flush at the mileage you stated- 24,000 it costs me 109.00. you doing a drain and fill at every 3,500 miles, equates to almost seven drain and fills at the stated mileage-24,000-which costs you 262.50 dollars. thats over double the amount of money it costs to have one power flush at the recommended mileage!! that makes absolutley no sense. people-stick with a simple power flush every 30,000 miles.less time and money involved than doing all these drain and fills!!!!!!!!!!

Lets see. Manual calls for Dextron. Even Genuine Nissan ATF is MUCH LESS than $7.50 a qt.

That was figuring $1.50 a qt and if you try you can find it all over at that price or less.

Synthetic, of course, is a different story.

Listen, I'm not telling you not to flush the tranny. I'm telling you that drain and fill is reasonable maintainence and not a "waste of time" as some over sold zealots seem to believe.

What exactly is a 'Power Flush'? Why can it only be performed by a dealer and not a do-it-yourselfer?
Thanks

Powerflush/vacuum is when the dealer pulls an ATF line, vacuums all the old fluid while adding fresh fluid, or allows running engine to let transmission pump out old fluid using displacement to add fresh fluid.
Depending on the machine, it will add at the same time, incrementally, or after all the old ATF is removed. Neither method is perfect. A drain/refill should be performed prior to the flush. This way, fresh fluid is pumped through the system.

Due to the law of diminishing returns, several drain/refills is equal to one powerflush because even the best machine powerflush does not get out 100% of the fluid.

Cost comparison should not be made. You don't need $5000 worth of tools for a drain/refill vs. a flush. The cost of the powerflush has a high profit margin for the dealer/jiffylube... They need to pay for that $3-$5k machine somehow.
If a drain/refill uses 5 quarts at $2 per quart regular or $5 per quart synth, thats $10 or $25 per fluid refreshing vs. $109(cheap fluid) at the dealer. You can make 4 synthetic or 10 cheap ATF drain/refills.
'Average fluid' condition is more important than 'new fluid spiking' with continual degradation. ATF is usually tired by 10k miles and worthless by 20k miles(depends on driver). Flushing every 30k miles is too many miles of abuse. Regular drain/refills is far superior than occasional flushes. How can driving with completely worn fluid be better than driving with fluid that is consistently 50% new?

Regular drain refills(at least once a year or 10k miles) is more than sufficient for an extremely long life.
ATF doesn't deal with combustion so the comparison with changing half the oil isn't correct. There aren't too many contaminants in the old ATF. If there was, you'd need a new transmission anyway.

As a ex-tranny rebuilder, heat is the #1 destroyer of automatic transmissions. All the flushes, drain/refills......won't make up for a good transmission cooler and a trans temp gauge to monitor temp to prevent overheating. Also, synthetic ATF can handle hot/cold temperatures and extreme abuse a lot better.

The pan should be removed every 100k miles for gasket replacement, screen change(filter), and magnet cleaning.

Nice post 2000se.

Here’s a question: Can I drain and fill with synthetic, or is a flush required to switch over?

Synthetic and cheap ATF are fully compatible. You do not need to flush prior to the switchover.

Even while using synthetics, you should perform 1 or 2 drain/refills every year---depends on mileage driven.
And, you probably will not notice the difference with the gradual change.
Some people say that the transmission shifts better with new fluids. If it is noticeable, then the ATF change was already late. This is one reason why an ATF change is noticeable on unmaintained cars with over 30k miles.

Don't forget to drain/refill the power steering pump while you are at it. It uses the same fluid. You should be able to siphon out(mechanics syringe or long clear hose+gravity) ~pint of PS fluid(atf). This will keep the steering system happy.

There is no such thing as over maintaining a transmission or engine. Over maintaining has never caused engine/tranny failure. Under maintaining usually does.

I still say using synth without a full flush is a waste of money. Replacing less than half the fluid with synth still leaves a blend of mostly old dino fluid which is little if any better than if you had added dino fluid anyway. Cough for the flush to go synth, then D&F with synth periodically.

Brent

$110 for flush plus $90 for 15 quarts synthetic vs simple regular drain refills:

Since even the best flushes will mix old/new fluid in the torque converter(always-no way around it) and in the pan(if not drain/refilled first--which adds 5 more quarts & $30 to the above), you are lucky to get 90-95% of the old fluid out.

Use the law of diminishing returns assuming 50% fluid change with each drain refill:
Old--&--new ATF %'s
100%------0% starting point
50%-------50% after 1st drain/refill
25%-------75% after 2nd
12.5%-----87.5% after 3rd
6.25%-----93.8% after 4th
3.13%-----96.9% after 5th

Plus, this is over a period of 50-60k miles. You get more life out of the fluid. The fluid is always refreshened. And the cost of $120-$150(do it yourself) is spread out over the 60k miles. Compare this to a 90-95% flush with synthetic that will cost almost $200-$230 all at once.

I won't argue the waste or not if the vehicle has lots of miles with no maintenance. It would be good to flush thoroughly if you have over 60k and never touched the transmission.

But, you could also do more frequent drain/refills if you want to fully convert to synthetic quickly.
Once a month for 5 months will slowly devarnish/clean any gum/varnish/deposits in the transmission. Slowly is better than all at once in a higher mileage transmission.

And for the do it yourself flush which is identical to a machine flush:
1. Do an ATF drain(hot fluid) using the drainplug and reinstall drainplug.
2. Disconnect ATF cooler return line and replace with clear hose from lowes/homedepot....
3. Measure and overfill with 11 quarts ATF
4. Locate bucket and aim hose into bucket(preferably labelled in 2 quart intervals)
5. Have assistant start vehicle while you are aiming/monitoring/watching the ATF level rise in the bucket. You will also see the fluid change color.
6. Have assistant shut off vehicle at about 10.5 quarts or so to prevent running pump dry. The ATF will gurgle/bubble just incase you are slow or can't measure.
7. Top off fluid(~4 quarts). Take vehicle for a ride. And top off again.

Take the $110 saved and buy some beer/pretzels or paypal it to me.
If you don't drink, use some of the money saved for a quality ATF cooler/thermostat/tempgauge. The cooler will do wonders for long life.

When I change my tranny fluid, I do a drain and refill, drive it a few miles and do it again. I get a 75% fluid change (assuming you drain half of the fluid per drain) at a fraction of the cost of a machine job. If I want to change the filter, I do it on the second draining. I've been doing this for years with good transmission service life on several vehicles.

Thing is, you don't get 50% of the fluid with a drain-and-fill. The system holds 9 quarts, how much do you get out? Probably 3...

Brent

Just about 5 qts. I think if you drove the drivers tire on a ramp you'd get five full quarts out. Sounds like 50% to me (or maybe a hair more).

Hmm, I was under the impression it was a good bit less than half. Guess I stand corrected.
I'm due for a D&F soon anyway, been about 20k since I had it flushed I think.

Brent

I measured 3.75 quarts including pumping out the residual in the pan below the drain opening. Mine is a 2WD but I think the pan is the same as the 4WD. That's 42-43%.

Edit: my mistake, it was 4.75 qts, 54%.

How did you pump out the residual?
Was the tranny full to begin with?
Was the fluid hot?

Not sure on the 4wd/2wd capacity, but I removed 4 quarts hot with the dipstick reading perfect. This doesn't take into account the ATF in the bucket/rags/on my hands/in the funnel etc. And, it took ~4.5 to fill.

Even with a lowly 40% change ratio, you hit 88% at the 4th change and are in the low 90's by the 5th change.
And if you are worrying about the couple of percents, either change it more frequently or toss in an extra quart 5 miles before the next drain/refill.