[ptatohed]

So, at 34,000 miles, I have to admit I haven't touched my trans fluid. I didn't know we didn't have a dipstick until today. I guess I am ok with a drain plug and a filler plug. But usually, the drain plug is on the bottom and the filler plug is on the top or upper side and you fill the side filler hole (I use a syringe plunger) until fluid drips out. But our filler hole is on the bottom. ??? How the heck does that work?!

I'd like to do a drain and refill soon.

 

[17awdQ50P]

I appreciate the input, but ultimately we don't know if the pinch welds are considered a level point for the car. Seems like a reasonable approach to take, sure, but I was curious if anyone knew if there was a point on the car to actually measure if it is level. Again if you have a sloped floor that would also contribute if you're relying on jack stands. So, measuring and adjusting would ensure you have things set as best as you can.

Pinch welds in the garage on same height jacks is the best you can ask for and plenty close enough. A small 1% slope isn’t going to really change anything.

when you drive you’re vehicle do you only drive on perfectly flat straight roads? What do you think the fluid is doing when going up hill, down hill, slopes to the side, turning, braking, accelerating etc...

I think you are over thinking it. Driveways may not be ideal depending on how that is. But a typical garage is more than adequate to count as a flat surface, and pinch welds are as close as you’ll get to car being level while jacked up.

 

[17awdQ50P]

So, at 34,000 miles, I have to admit I haven't touched my trans fluid. I didn't know we didn't have a dipstick until today. I guess I am ok with a drain plug and a filler plug. But usually, the drain plug is on the bottom and the filler plug is on the top or upper side and you fill the side filler hole (I use a syringe plunger) until fluid drips out. But our filler hole is on the bottom. ??? How the heck does that work?!

I'd like to do a drain and refill soon.

It’s way simpler than it sounds.
You could do 1 drain and fill in the time it takes the engine oil to fully drain from pan if doing it at the same time.

you use this, do not overtighten just to point of slight resistance. It’s wrong thread pitch but still works perfectly.

Attwood 11891D7 Gear Lube Pump, One Size Amazon.com: Attwood 11891D7 Gear Lube Pump, One Size: Automotive

that goes in overflow you pump in your bottles turn car on cycle gears then pull plug with engine running to level it. If doing multiple youd pull drain plug and leave that lube pump connected only need to remove on final drain and fill to level.

 

[17awdQ50P]

Pull oil plug, pull trans plug, recap trans, fill trans, recap oil, turn car on, cycle gears, pull pump wait till leveled cap overflow plug done. Add like 5mins and $40 to an oil change.

 

[ptatohed]

It’s way simpler than it sounds.
You could do 1 drain and fill in the time it takes the engine oil to fully drain from pan if doing it at the same time.

you use this, do not overtighten just to point of slight resistance. It’s wrong thread pitch but still works perfectly.

Attwood 11891D7 Gear Lube Pump, One Size Amazon.com: Attwood 11891D7 Gear Lube Pump, One Size: Automotive

that goes in overflow you pump in your bottles turn car on cycle gears then pull plug with engine running to level it. If doing multiple youd pull drain plug and leave that lube pump connected only need to remove on final drain and fill to level.

Ok, thanks. Gosh, still sounds difficult and I'm still confused why the filler plug is on the bottom and how that works. So you pump 3 1/8 QTs new ATF up into the filler hole, but doesn't it come right back out when you remove the pump from the filler hole? I can't wrap my head around the fill hole being on the bottom of the pan!

 

[17awdQ50P]

Ok, thanks. Gosh, still sounds difficult and I'm still confused why the filler plug is on the bottom and how that works. So you pump 3 1/8 QTs new ATF up into the filler hole, but doesn't it come right back out when you remove the pump from the filler hole? I can't wrap my head around the fill hole being on the bottom of the pan!

You should do 3.5qts but why save .5qts so do 4qts. You want to intentionally overfill to level, plus you’ll just cycle that much more new fluid in.

Pull drain plug, once drained recap drain plug. Now no fluid is in pan. Now pull overflow plug, and put on adapter nozzle, and pump in 4qts (if only doing 1 D&F) with nozzle still plugged in nothing will backout of hole/nozzle. Turn car on and cycle gears 10sec each spot cycle twice (160seconds total) when engine/car is turned on the transmission will suck in about 1.5qts (idk exact amount but a good bit).

the pan is roughly 3” deep(don’t quote my dimensions doesn’t really matter), the overflow plug has a snorkel tube that sticks up 2”, when car is off fluid drains into pan filling up all 3” depth of pan, when car is on fluid is sucked up into transmission and fluid level is now 2” or at same height as the top of the overflow plug tube inside transmission pan. So if you pull overflow plug when car is off some (roughly 1.5qts) fluid will drain. If you pull overflow plug with car on it will “level” to the proper amount leaving up to top of overflow tube of fluid.

So on final drain and fill before leveling, intentionally overfill pan to 3.5” with car off or 2.5” when car is on (.5” over overflow tube) this way when car is on after cycling gears fluid will drain from overflow plug until it starts to dribble out the overflow hole and now you know it’s exactly the same height as the top of the overflow plug tube. I prefer to try to time it right at or a hair before it turns from a thread like stream to a dribble to recap overflow plug.

 

[ptatohed]

You should do 3.5qts but why save .5qts so do 4qts. You want to intentionally overfill to level, plus you’ll just cycle that much more new fluid in.

Pull drain plug, once drained recap drain plug. Now no fluid is in pan. Now pull overflow plug, and put on adapter nozzle, and pump in 4qts (if only doing 1 D&F) with nozzle still plugged in nothing will backout of hole/nozzle. Turn car on and cycle gears 10sec each spot cycle twice (160seconds total) when engine/car is turned on the transmission will suck in about 1.5qts (idk exact amount but a good bit).

the pan is roughly 3” deep(don’t quote my dimensions doesn’t really matter), the overflow plug has a snorkel tube that sticks up 2”, when car is off fluid drains into pan filling up all 3” depth of pan, when car is on fluid is sucked up into transmission and fluid level is now 2” or at same height as the top of the overflow plug tube inside transmission pan. So if you pull overflow plug when car is off some (roughly 1.5qts) fluid will drain. If you pull overflow plug with car on it will “level” to the proper amount leaving up to top of overflow tube of fluid.

So on final drain and fill before leveling, intentionally overfill pan to 3.5” with car off or 2.5” when car is on (.5” over overflow tube) this way when car is on after cycling gears fluid will drain from overflow plug until it starts to dribble out the overflow hole and now you know it’s exactly the same height as the top of the overflow plug tube. I prefer to try to time it right at or a hair before it turns from a thread like stream to a dribble to recap overflow plug.

Excellent description, that helps a lot, thanks 17.

 

[damonb10]

Any problem executing this procedure in colder ambient temps, like 40 or maybe 50 degrees?

 

[17awdQ50P]

Any problem executing this procedure in colder ambient temps, like 40 or maybe 50 degrees?

Nope just wear warm clothes. Lol.

Colder weather is preferred IMO, more time to level it properly without risking going over 104F and having to restart.

 

[acd450]

I just leveled it like in the picture. My garage leans my car forward so had to adjust the front/back jacks to get the bubble in between the lines.
With the car running in park and after switching through the gears, I waited till pan got to 92 degrees, unplugged, started with a hairline drip at 95. At 100 I capped it, been driving it for a few days and can hardly notice any shifting. I feel comfortable doing this a second time, but first time around I felt very rusty.

 

[Spadds76]

So, at 34,000 miles, I have to admit I haven't touched my trans fluid. I didn't know we didn't have a dipstick until today. I guess I am ok with a drain plug and a filler plug. But usually, the drain plug is on the bottom and the filler plug is on the top or upper side and you fill the side filler hole (I use a syringe plunger) until fluid drips out. But our filler hole is on the bottom. ??? How the heck does that work?!

I'd like to do a drain and refill soon.

I did the AFT change on my G37x and will be changing soon on my Q50, it's basically the same design/process. See dwg below for the detail on the filling point. In answer to your question, how does it work, the filling point has an inverted piece on it to give you a raise liquid level off the base of the pan. This is only relevant when the engine is running though. A correctly set ATF level will not allow fluid to drain with engine running (ATF pump etc on) but will allow fluid to drain from the overflow if the engine is not running, so it's imperative level is set with engine on as described. I took the pan off my old G37x (175k Miles) to look to see what had collected and change the filter, (which is where I noted the raised overflow pipe) and it was pretty clean. It's a PIA removing the pan, you need a new gasket and of course, one of the bolts stripped out on me too, so I won't be doing that on the Q50!

 

[TDR]

I've run Mobil 1 Synthetic and Pro Honda (bikes) in everything ive owned - motor and standard trans - for a quarter century. Great stuff. Synthetic is the way, to be sure.

Do you see any gain in synthetic auto trans fluid. Oil is oil, but, i must admit i do not fully grasp the whole transmission fluid thing.

 

[Spadds76]

Here we go. 2016 Q50SS, AWD, 3.0t transmission fluid. 65,000 kilometers / 40,000 miles. 1 previous owner (leased by Realtor). Driven 6,000 kilometers by me.

I drained 4litres out of the transmission sump and replaced with 4 fresh litres of Matic S. I will repeat this at the weekend, so I believe out of a 12 litre system, I'll have replaced 2/3rds of the ATF. Sounds good to me. This dark, well used ATF isn't very comforting to me. I'll take a picture of the next volume I decant. I would really like to flush, but don't have the kit to run the engine and make in/out connections, so the static drain and replace is the safe, simple method for me.

 

[Spadds76]

So I did another ATF sump drain on the car at the weekend (the 2nd). Took about 45 mins all in. I have a slight incline on the drive, and on ramps (car facing uphill) I was able to drain 5 Qrts out of the pan. Last time, with car facing down hill, I got 3.8 Qrts.

No photos, but this drain the ATF fluid had a brown/red tinge to it and didn't look bad like drain 1 pictured. I think the shifting/operations of the transmission was improved after fill 1. I've not driven it post 2nd fill, but I'm expecting similar nice smooth shifting.

The biggest PIA is the panel/cover that fits on the underside of the car body, covering the transmission. Two 14mm bolts at the rear, and two teeny tiny 10mm bolts made from cheese holding the front on. Naturally, one of the 10mm bolts snapped off in the body - I tried drilling it out and re-tapping, but lost the will to live... So have only 3 bolts holding it on until the snow gets it this winter..... A little frustrating these weren't stainless components.

I would highly recommend changing the ATF regularly IMO. It can't do any harm.

Here we go. 2016 Q50SS, AWD, 3.0t transmission fluid. 65,000 kilometers / 40,000 miles. 1 previous owner (leased by Realtor). Driven 6,000 kilometers by me.

I drained 4litres out of the transmission sump and replaced with 4 fresh litres of Matic S. I will repeat this at the weekend, so I believe out of a 12 litre system, I'll have replaced 2/3rds of the ATF. Sounds good to me. This dark, well used ATF isn't very comforting to me. I'll take a picture of the next volume I decant. I would really like to flush, but don't have the kit to run the engine and make in/out connections, so the static drain and replace is the safe, simple method for me.


View attachment 103399

 

[TyFoxx]

Quick question.
Couldnt I just drain out the drain plug only?
measure how much came out.
Replace with the same amount in the fill hole?
2018 bought in NOV 2017. Don’t drive it much. Have 28k on there so it averages out to under 7k miles a year.
A bit over kill but I change the motor oil twice a year. Spring and fall. So that’s only about 3500 miles.
if I do the diff and trans spring over every year, a bit overkill but 5 bottles of trans and 3 bottles of gear oil isn’t much from an expensive for piece of mind standpoint.

 

[17awdQ50P]

Technically yes, I’ve done this a few times for various reasons. No need to measure how much comes out, the leveling procedure is incredibly easy.

However I’d probably still do at least one out of the drain plug to better drain any sediments at the bottom of the pan, but if you’re doing 1 drain and fill out the drain plug may as well do any subsequent ones done at the same time out drain plug again. Not sure the reasoning or what your trying to “save” by doing out fill plug?

 

[MRH]

Should I change transmission fuid filter along with oil?

 

[17awdQ50P]

Should I change transmission fuid filter along with oil?

The filter is just a metal screen. You can however add a serviceable/replaceable inline filter easy enough though.

 

[Kraken]

I just followed the ATF fluid change procedure in Zillafullboost's YouTube video. On the last step he leaves the filling tube attached, starts the engine, pushes brake pedal and cycles gear lever to P -> R -> N -> D -> N -> R -> P -> R -> N -> D -> N -> R -> P, and waits for the temp to hit 104F. When I remove the filling tube to replace the fill plug the transmission fluid doesn't drip, it leaks like it's dumping all the fluid... Has anyone else experienced this? Should I just let it leak out until it's just dripping? Ridiculous there isn't a dipstick to check the fluid level.

 

[Kraken]

I just spoke to a master tech at INFINITI on Atlantic in Jacksonville, FL and he specified I should let the fluid drain until it's just dripping and at this point it's overfilled. That's what I suspected but didn't want to take a chance.

For anyone who's interested in performing this maintenance themeselves, the desciption below Zilla's YouTube video has links to all the required tools and Nissan ATF fluid to complete the job. It's pretty straight forward👍