Dealership strikes again. How pissed should I be?

[ddgsxr504]

So I have a 2011 R51 Nissan Pathfinder Silver Edition with 35,000 miles. I recently towed my S14 from LA to SD when the clutch fork went out and it pulled her fine but I've noticed that it suffers on hills and shifting transmission wise so I was like yea… I need to change the fluid plus it says so in the owners manual.
However my schedule has been pretty full and I haven't had the time to do a drain and fill myself and I needed to bring the Pathy in to get the passenger door handle looked at before the warranty was up because the little cap that covers the non-existent key lock broke off. (Turns out the whole handle is faulty), anyway… Since I was taking it in for that I figured I'd just let them do the drain and fill. 5 or so QTS, shouldn't be that hard, what could go wrong. I drop it off at 9:45am yesterday morning expecting it to take a good 4+ hours. I called back 6 hours later and it was JUST getting put in the bay for the drain and fill. They did diagnose the door handle and claimed that's what took so long. The actually D/F took about 30min. Since they made me wait all day I decided to let the shuttle come get me (wife followed me in the morning). Upon getting the invoice I noticed that they listed the fluid they put in the transmission as MATIC-K.
I have a photographic memory of sorts and I skimmed thru the owners manual a couple of years ago so seeing MATIC-K on the invoice caught my eye but didn't set off any alarms. It did bug me enough to do some research when I got home. Sure enough the owners manual calls for MATIC-S which superceeds MATIC-J Fluid. Turns out MATIC-K is for FRONT WHEEL DRIVE 5 speed transmissions.

So, my question is obviously they put the wrong s*** in. How harmful is K to a RWD transmission? I fully intend to get a flush and refill (FOR FREE). I know that some might say that it's probably the same s*** and I shouldn't worry but if NISSAN makes two different kinds then why would that be true? You had one f*cking job Nissan. SMH.

[Slumpert]

The joys of having others work on our vehicles never end.
Now you can also consider they put the right fluid in but simply filled out the work order wrong.
Transmission fluid has to be compatible to all the different metals it interacts with. Add a new metal and suddenly the fliud might need a different additve to stay stable and protective. So a drain and refill that only replaces some of the fluid is not going to just blow the transmission, but if left uncorrected will shorten the lifespan. Sometimes considerably.

You asked how pissed you should be... well in my opinion you should be thankful the dealership was detailed enough to document exactly what they did so that you have the opportunity to get it corrected. I would not get pissed unless the dealer refused to do a full flush and provide a labor savings on a future visit for the hassle.

[ddgsxr504]

Getting them to fix it is a joy that I get to undertake tomorrow. Im not so worried about the complete failure of the transmission but If I am wrong and it's doesn't matter I would leave it in there. However the degrading over the lifespan of the unit does worry me, which it also says using the wrong fluid will do. I would always let the dealer handle our leases but I HATE letting anyone touch my cars because it's not theirs and they don't give a crap about it…. Case in point.

[00pathyse]

I wouldn't leave that shop until they replaced it with the fluid the manual calls for, no matter what they say. The dealership is the one place that should get it absolutely right!

[ddgsxr504]

So I went in this morning and of course the first thing out of my tech advisors mouth (what I knew he would say) was that they are the same fluid. Really guy, to top it off he's the Assistant Service Manager. Back to school with you jackass. After showing him the owners manual, the printed page out of the factory service manual and a TSB from 2009 he finally asked me to wait while he went and looked at a bottle of Matic-K and Matic-S. Needless to say the actually Service Manager and Master Tech came to me and apologized all over themselves while Assistant guy couldn't apologize enough. Well that's the last time I take my s*** to the dealer. I never liked doing it and this just solidified my concerns.

[00pathyse]

Good for you. Just makes you wonder how many cars they have been maintaining improperly and people are driving around without ever knowing.

[ddgsxr504]

I think they were actually taken aback. Like I was the first customer to ever call them out on BS. Like "oh s*** this guy knows what he's talking about". As for other unsuspecting customers, who knows.. probably too many to count. I know that I paid $104 for the original service which was $52 for labor and $48 for the ATF. Like wow, this guy just got paid $50 to take out a drain plug, drain the fluid, reinstall the plug and fill it with the "supposedly" correct s***. What a scam.

[Buzzman]

Like wow, this guy just got paid $50 to take out a drain plug, drain the fluid, reinstall the plug and fill it with the "supposedly" correct s***. What a scam.

Don't blame the tech.
if you consider his hourly wage, and how long it actually took him, the guy that did the work probably earned around $5.
The stealership got the other $45.

[Slumpert]

Sad part about this thread is that until the 1990's you were just likely to be given the wrong blood... Hospitals finally put processes in place to protect the patient.. Seems dealerships need to do the same since the technology and fluids are changin g so fast