2001 Pathifnder Transmission pan question

[spande]

I want to drop the trans pan on my 2001 Pathfinder. The car has about 66k miles and the pan has never been removed. I have finished a run of Auto RX and would like to drop and clean the pan, replace the pick up screen, and then flush via the cooler lines. I am wondering if anyone has experience with trans pan removal and if it is relatively straight forward or are there any trouble or tricky areas. From what i can see, it seems pretty straight forward, as long as none of the screws/bolts snap off during removal. My main concern is the filer/pick up screen, is it as simple as removing a few bolts, and re-installing a new one, or are there any possible hidden tricky areas?

On sort of a side note, several dealers have told me they never drop the pan unless there is a transmission problem, and they suggest only doing a drain and fill. The car is running fine, I am doing this as preventative maintanance, and I think a pan drop and clean would be a good thing, assuming I can do it without getting into trouble! Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

[elwesso]

Ill be honest with you, and im saying this with complete sincerity, there isnt much need IN MY OPINION to replace the screen.. Its not very fine and if you have stuff in that screen, you have serious problems and should be buying a new trans... The screen is about as fine as a window screen and prevents big chunks from floating around. LIke I said, if said chunks exist, your in deep doo-doo..

Dropping the pan is done solely to clean it..... Be sure you clean it really really good especially the magnet.

BTW DONT try doing a flush via the cooler lines.. The trans PUSHES fluid through, it doesnt SUCK it through... Youll starve the trans of fluid if you do so.. if you want to flush the fluid, do the procedure outlined in this thread. zerothread?id=137129 Ive done it as other members had with great sucess..... you could also get some trans cleaner and put it in right before dropping the pan.....

[spande]

elwesso - sorry for the late reply, I had a problem with my password. Will tackle the project this weekend, may take baby steps and do a few quick/successive drain and fills via the drain plug and see how things are. The trans fluid seems very clean on the dipstick even after running Auto-RX for nearly 1300 miles. Thanks for your comments, I may hold off on the drain lines, at least for now.

[elwesso]

you know if the fluid is clean, then personally what I would do is just drain the fluid and refill, say every week for a month.....

Be sure not to overfill!

[spande]

elwesso - i suppose that is an option as well. i am just wondering if the color on the dipstick is indicative of the fluid that will be draining from the pan. I suppose I can always see how things look. Thanks for your help.

By the way, I have a question on diff dluids. The vehcile has the all-mode 4 wheel drive system, w/ limited lip diff in the rear. I know it is speced for 80w/90, I will probably just stick with a good quality mineral based fluid, unless you have any suggestions. Also, I know there are the diff in the front and rear, but what about the transfer case, what needs to be done for that, and what type of fluid would it need. Sorry about changing topics here, I can re-post if required.

[elwesso]

The FSM says 80w90 GL-5 for the diff. You could run a redline or mobil 1 synthetic GL-5. As long as its GL-5 its what you want.

Transfer case uses ATF from what I can tell. After 2000 or so nissan started only recommending their fluid, nissan matic D which is about the same as dextron III..