Intro
It's not that difficult to do, but since I just did it a couple weeks ago I thought I'd do a little DIY in case it might be useful to some people.
When I changed my oil it came out EXTREMELY dirty looking and filled with little metal fragments (I have 159k on my S13 and apparantly a pretty badly worn transmission). The magnet on the drain plug had little stalagtites of metal flakes protruding about 1/2" up. Let me tell you, I changed my oil cause I wanted to get rid of a little grind that I kept getting in 3rd gear, but I had no idea about the kind of wear my transmission apparantly went through. I reccomend everyone do this not only as simple maintanence (and to smooth out the shifting!), but also to check on the status of your transmission.
Tools You'll Need:
Flathead ScrewdriverMetric Socket Set with an extension (optional)Needle Nose or Snap-Ring pliersOpen ended wrenches Torque Wrench (unless you wanna roll the dice...)A large funnel
Also..
Thread Sealant (Nissan Part #KP610-00250 or similar)80-90 Wt gear oil (2.4L of it)Oil Catch Can
I wasn't able to get good pics of EVERY step here, so Ill give you what I got and just explain the rest.
Also, please dont anything till I'm done, I'll letcha know.
DIY: S13 transmission Oil Change
Taking Off the Shifter
First thing to do is take off the shifter inside the car. The knob on top will screw off (to the left, of course) with a little bit of muscle. It helps to grab the bottom of the shifter (like the part that's covered by the boot) and twist the top. It takes a bunch of turns and it's off.
Second is to pop up the plastic molding and the boot (that's attached to the plastic) together. The molding continues around the radio and heat/ac controls, and comes up really easially with a flathead screwdriver. Be careful not to bend it too far and crack the molding, sometimes the clips are a bit of a pain.
Third you will find underneath a rubber boot attached to a metal plate on the bottom. This needs to come up next. There are 4 bolts holding it in on each corner (see pic)
Second is to pop up the plastic molding and the boot (that's attached to the plastic) together. The molding continues around the radio and heat/ac controls, and comes up really easially with a flathead screwdriver. Be careful not to bend it too far and crack the molding, sometimes the clips are a bit of a pain.
Third you will find underneath a rubber boot attached to a metal plate on the bottom. This needs to come up next. There are 4 bolts holding it in on each corner (see pic)
More of Taking Off the Shifter
That plate will come up (with the help of the flathead again probably) along with the plastic boot, and underneath you will find this:
It's another plastic boot held down by a zip tie at the bottom (see the arrow). Just clip the zip tie (or twist it off) and fold the plastic boot up a little bit. Watch your hands, cause mine was a little bit oily-- dont wanna get that oil on your interior. You gotta fold that boot up unless you want to bother with taking it all the way off, which trust me - isnt worth it.
It's another plastic boot held down by a zip tie at the bottom (see the arrow). Just clip the zip tie (or twist it off) and fold the plastic boot up a little bit. Watch your hands, cause mine was a little bit oily-- dont wanna get that oil on your interior. You gotta fold that boot up unless you want to bother with taking it all the way off, which trust me - isnt worth it.
The PITA Snap Ring Thing
Underneath that boot is the most frustrating step of the entire process... and no, I dont have a pic of it cause I got so pissed off... The shifter will still be sticking up out of the hole, and you will see down near the base that there is a little silver ring (more like a C) that is holding it in the hole. The C has little loops on each end of it that you are supposed to grab with a pair of needle nose pliers, squeeze together and lift out. Let me tell you, this is harder than it sounds. The pliers kept slipping out of the ring as I tried to lift it out over and over again-- this took me like 15 minutes to do, just screwing around with the stupid thing. It helps to get one side out first and then "help" it with the flathead.
Once the ring is out of it's groove, the entire shifter assembly will lift out leaving a hole like this:
Yes, I know it's dirty. I cleaned it, beleive me.
Once the ring is out of it's groove, the entire shifter assembly will lift out leaving a hole like this:
Yes, I know it's dirty. I cleaned it, beleive me.
Drain the Oil
Crawl back under the car till you're underneath the transmission (dont forget a flashlight!). The two bolts you're concerned with are on the bottom and driver's side of the transmission:
Before you start cranking on them, spray em with a nice dose of PB-Blaster (highly reccomended!) or (to a lesser extent) WD-40. They've been chillin on the bottom of your car for probably a long time now, and could probably use a little loosening up.
Before you start cranking on them, spray em with a nice dose of PB-Blaster (highly reccomended!) or (to a lesser extent) WD-40. They've been chillin on the bottom of your car for probably a long time now, and could probably use a little loosening up.
...Still Draining the Oil
Drain the oil first through the bottom plug. Place something to catch the oil underneath and open that plug (it'll take the male end of a 1/2" drive) like so:
It's on there pretty tight, so dont be a pansy and come back whining that you cant get it off!
Once all the oil has drained out, take a look at the oil itself and the plug (which has a magnet on it) to see how much metal shavings you've got. My oil had so many flakes in it, it looked like some sort of dirty metallic paint.
Clean off the plug and apply some thread sealant (the manual says Nissan genuine part # KP610-00250, but I just used some regular sealant from the auto parts store. Make sure it's good for high-ish temps). The plug goes back on with 18-25 ft-lbs torque.
It's on there pretty tight, so dont be a pansy and come back whining that you cant get it off!
Once all the oil has drained out, take a look at the oil itself and the plug (which has a magnet on it) to see how much metal shavings you've got. My oil had so many flakes in it, it looked like some sort of dirty metallic paint.
Clean off the plug and apply some thread sealant (the manual says Nissan genuine part # KP610-00250, but I just used some regular sealant from the auto parts store. Make sure it's good for high-ish temps). The plug goes back on with 18-25 ft-lbs torque.
Take out the Overflow Plug
Next, take out the overflow plug on the side of the transmission (see the pic above). I forgot what the size is for this, but I reccomend using an open ended wrench, as you cant really fit a socket and driver in at that angle. This one is on pretty tight too.
Fill 'Er Up!
I used 80-90 wt gear oil, that's what the manual and the guys at the shop said so hey. 3 1L containers will getcha what you need, but the actual specs is somewhere around 2.4 L (easy to remember figure, huh?).
Have someone watch the overflow plug from underneath and start pourin that oil down. Be careful not to spill any oil on your carpets or anything. Like I said, it'll take about 2.4L, but you can also judge how much you need by having the person below tell you when the oil starts flowing out of the overfill plug.
Note that this wont work unless the car is level... if you have just the front end jacked up, that's gonna mess with the level of the oil so that the overfill method wont work.
Have someone watch the overflow plug from underneath and start pourin that oil down. Be careful not to spill any oil on your carpets or anything. Like I said, it'll take about 2.4L, but you can also judge how much you need by having the person below tell you when the oil starts flowing out of the overfill plug.
Note that this wont work unless the car is level... if you have just the front end jacked up, that's gonna mess with the level of the oil so that the overfill method wont work.
Once it's all in, bolt up that overfill plug (put some sealant on that too), 18-25 ft lbs torque, and put the shifter back together in the reverse order: snap ring (not so tough to put it back on), zip tie the boot down (you'll need a new zip tie obviously), upper boot with metal plate, leather boot and trim plastic, and finally screw the shift knob back on. VIOLA you're done!
After doing this for my transmission (and I dont think it had ever been done before), my shifting felt MUCH smoother and just overall more solid. I seriously reccomend that everyone do this just because it's so easy (and cheap) with such excellent results.
Okay all done! Thanks for waiting!
After doing this for my transmission (and I dont think it had ever been done before), my shifting felt MUCH smoother and just overall more solid. I seriously reccomend that everyone do this just because it's so easy (and cheap) with such excellent results.
Okay all done! Thanks for waiting!
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stillmatic
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Touchdown038
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yozsi wrote:why the hell are you filling through the shifter????? your suposed to fill it trough the fill hole....
...what touchdown said.
And the 4 bolts I still dont know which ones you're talkin about... can you see it in any one of my pics? Seems to me like what I pulled off to get the oil in there would also be enough to replace the shifter... (I didnt see any other plates...?)
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Touchdown038
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I dunno if its the cold weather but I changed mine sometimesin November (used 80w90 with Lucas stabalizer).
Ever since doing it, I got no problem shifting once things arewarmed up but at first, it seemed the shifter didn't want to pop into 1st or 2nd gear.
But yea, basically did the same way fiznat mentions. Good write up
Ever since doing it, I got no problem shifting once things arewarmed up but at first, it seemed the shifter didn't want to pop into 1st or 2nd gear.
But yea, basically did the same way fiznat mentions. Good write up
gonad yeah, I'm having the same sort of problem... ESPECIALLY when that oil is cold... when I'm reversing and I push the clutch down, the drag on the system is incredible... its like I'm breaking or something when I'm actually not. When the oil warms up, though, everything is all good and smoother than it was before.
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ricebike
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hmm, fiz, i hope that was GL-4 gear oil in the transmission...GL-5 would eat away @ the synchros...hence, the stalagtites/stalagmites on the magnetic drain plug. <mine's look like don king when i did this job @ 105K; changed 'em again @ 150K w/ much less metal on it>
if you're lazy about fiddling w/ the shifter, go this route:
~5ft lenght of heater hose & attach one end of it to the transmission fill hole, route the hose along up the exhaust pipe to the engine bay area & attach your bottle of gear oil <upside down, of course>
have your buddy stand there & tell him to squeeze that oil down while u r under the car to monitor the oil... of course, you'll have to suspend your vehicle in the air w/ 4 jackstands to keep the vehicle 'level'
same method works for the differential.
if you're lazy about fiddling w/ the shifter, go this route:
~5ft lenght of heater hose & attach one end of it to the transmission fill hole, route the hose along up the exhaust pipe to the engine bay area & attach your bottle of gear oil <upside down, of course>
have your buddy stand there & tell him to squeeze that oil down while u r under the car to monitor the oil... of course, you'll have to suspend your vehicle in the air w/ 4 jackstands to keep the vehicle 'level'
same method works for the differential.
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ricebike
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2002 Quest
2005 Altima - Location: CNJ
tex240 wrote:you wouldnt know how the best way to get at those front 2 bolts for taking the hole top plate off to replace the shifter do you? thanks
u can attack those bolts w/ 1/4" drive socket & universal joint or jam a phillips head screwdriver @ a slight angle d/t that plastic piece in the way, also an offset screwdriver may work as well...
I seriously doubt that the oil in there was anything other than the stock oil.. The amount of (Don King- exactly haha) stalagmites (or is it stalagtites? I forget which one comes up from the bottom...) in there must have generated over a LONNG time. Either way I'm glad to have it done now!ricebike wrote:hmm, fiz, i hope that was GL-4 gear oil in the transmission...GL-5 would eat away @ the synchros...hence, the stalagtites/stalagmites on the magnetic drain plug. <mine's look like don king when i did this job @ 105K; changed 'em again @ 150K w/ much less metal on it>
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ricebike
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2002 Quest
2005 Altima - Location: CNJ
Re: The PITA Snap Ring Thing
fiznat wrote:Underneath that boot is the most frustrating step of the entire process... and no, I dont have a pic of it cause I got so pissed off... The shifter will still be sticking up out of the hole, and you will see down near the base that there is a little silver ring (more like a C) that is holding it in the hole. The C has little loops on each end of it that you are supposed to grab with a pair of needle nose pliers, squeeze together and lift out. Let me tell you, this is harder than it sounds. The pliers kept slipping out of the ring as I tried to lift it out over and over again-- this took me like 15 minutes to do, just screwing around with the stupid thing. It helps to get one side out first and then "help" it with the flathead.
this tool helps w/ that cumbersome snap ring <& reduces the amount of swear words>, if u go that route in refilling your transmission fluid:
http://www.northerntool.com/we...yId=0
i have a cheapo version from pepboys <10 bucks & it was a "snap":ylsuper
edit: w00t, this is the one! http://www.partsamerica.com/Pa...=3402 or was it the external snap ring pliers... either/or cheap @ advance auto parts w/ lifetime warranty to boot!