ENGINE AND transmission FLUSH? GOOD OR BAD??

[Mrmarcus26]

Hello,

I have a 2006 M35x w/ 128,700 on it. I'm the second owner and I brought it with 98,000 on it. I'm not afraid of miles on cars and have owned imports since I been driving. I'm thinking about taking my car to Nissan and getting my MOTOR and TRANS flushed to give my car a fresh feel and to make sure I'm ahead of problems. Do you guys think this is good to do? It's about $175 each in Philly. I hear mixed feelings about this and I just need to hear the truth. PLEASE HELP.

[zerg711]

I drain and fill transmission fluid for all my car at 30k interval. Drain and fill does not replace all the transmission fluid. I don't think I've every flushed the transmission. I believe you should definitely consider transmission service since it is pretty high in mileage.

I don't even know what a motor flush is

[cruzad3r]

lol not sure what motor flush is either but if you're paying 170 for the transmission flush then I suggest you do it. Like zerg, I drain and refill mine and if you're doing it often then most likely your transmission fluid is 98% new.

So to answer your question, I say do it.

[sunoco]

lol not sure what motor flush is either but if you're paying 170 for the transmission flush then I suggest you do it. Like zerg, I drain and refill mine and if you're doing it often then most likely your transmission fluid is 98% new.

So to answer your question, I say do it.

draining and filling the trans is nowhere near a flush, imo. not totaly sure of the percent but I think you can only get like 70% out with a drain and like 90+% out with a flush.


OP - Theres no worries with a flush, I would take it to the dealership for the flush, but thats just me.

I too, am not sure what a "motor" flush is. Fill us in?

[rowland220]

transmission Flush. Yes always good. Engine Flush, pls dont do it. I dont know if you know what they do or if they explained it but its like exfoliating your crankcase with paint thinner. Infinitis are fussy when it comes to internals and coatings and if I was advised not to do it on my mustang Im sure its a bad idea on an M. As long as you run good oil you should be fine

[cruzad3r]

lol not sure what motor flush is either but if you're paying 170 for the transmission flush then I suggest you do it. Like zerg, I drain and refill mine and if you're doing it often then most likely your transmission fluid is 98% new.

So to answer your question, I say do it.

draining and filling the trans is nowhere near a flush, imo. not totaly sure of the percent but I think you can only get like 70% out with a drain and like 90+% out with a flush.


OP - Theres no worries with a flush, I would take it to the dealership for the flush, but thats just me.

I too, am not sure what a "motor" flush is. Fill us in?

Well if you drain and fill every 10k and you do that 3 time in a row, then you've accomplished your goal

[Mrmarcus26]

I have yet to do either because I'm scared BUT a motor flush is just like a trans flush from what I hear. It's replacing all the oil sludge with fresh oil! It sounds great to me. It seems like if you did both it would make your car feel new. The Nissan Dealer in Philadelphia has both services for $175 each. I'm high on miles and I want to keep my M35 at least to 200,000!

[debiniarthug]

I have 165K miles on mine. I did the transmission flush at 100K and the whole care felt better. Highly recommended. Oh yeah, be sure to change your rear differential oil. Also very important. After seeing how dirty mine was I'm going to do in again after 20k miles. Good luck getting your M to 200K, it needs to be serviced to make it there. My advice, find a good mechanic and everytime he does something for you make sure you tip him.

[Mrmarcus26]

I JUST TALKED TO A GUY AT THE INFINITI DEALER. HE WORKS IN SERVICE AND HE SAID THE TRANS FLUSH IS A NOT GOOD. BECAUSE THE TRANS HAS DIRT AND METALS INSIDE OF IT THAT IT NEEDS. IF YOU DO A FLUSH IT MIGHT MESS IT UP AND KILL YOUR TRANS.... I FOUND A DEALER IN DELAWARE THAT DOES IT FOR $129.00!!! THATS RIGHT $129.00 BUT IM JUST GONNA DO IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS

[Mrmarcus26]

I JUST TALKED TO A GUY AT THE INFINITI DEALER. HE WORKS IN SERVICE AND HE SAID THE TRANS FLUSH IS A NOT GOOD. BECAUSE THE TRANS HAS DIRT AND METALS INSIDE OF IT THAT IT NEEDS. IF YOU DO A FLUSH IT MIGHT MESS IT UP AND KILL YOUR TRANS.... I FOUND A DEALER IN DELAWARE THAT DOES IT FOR $129.00!!! THATS RIGHT $129.00 BUT IM JUST GONNA DO IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS

[sunoco]

I JUST TALKED TO A GUY AT THE INFINITI DEALER. HE WORKS IN SERVICE AND HE SAID THE TRANS FLUSH IS A NOT GOOD. BECAUSE THE TRANS HAS DIRT AND METALS INSIDE OF IT THAT IT NEEDS. IF YOU DO A FLUSH IT MIGHT MESS IT UP AND KILL YOUR TRANS.... I FOUND A DEALER IN DELAWARE THAT DOES IT FOR $129.00!!! THATS RIGHT $129.00 BUT IM JUST GONNA DO IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS

I find it suprising that the dealership told you the trans flush is not good, because it is a Infiniti recommended service.....

[Mrmarcus26]

It's a guy from parts who said he was just talking to me personally and not to make money. So he wasn't trying to just seek the dealership service.

[EniGmA1987]

If you haven't had a trans flush in 75-100k miles then ya it could be bad. Also older flushes were bad because of the incredibly high pressure water being forced through the trans. But now days a flush is relatively safe to do and should be done at least every 50k miles (with a drain and fill maybe every 25k in between the flushes. It might be bad to do once you get up past 125k miles, but at that point you should still be doing drain and fills. Unfortunately the previous owner of my car didn't do a single drain and fill or flush (that was recorded at least) so my trans had its first flush done at 105k miles. Service still recommended it and said it shouldn't harm the trans with the newer method of doing it. I didnt really notice much of a difference in performance or smoothness afterward, but it is good knowing it has new oil in there.

[szh]

A simple drain and fill change will only get between 50 to 60% of the transmission fluid out - way too much is held inside in between gears and inside channels when "drained". I suppose doing 3 every 10k miles will do better, but it still mixes too much of the old fluid with new for my liking.

So, it is best to do regular transmissions flushes using the powered system that Infiniti dealers have (from BG?) - this system cycles the gears under power. Basically, new fluid is fed in by the transmission pump, so that when it runs clean, you can be sure that the fluid is throughly swapped out. As always, remember to use Fluid J or S (or infiniti-accepted compatibles) to avoid the warranty issues!

BTW, old school wisdom said that replacing transmission fluid on cars that had many miles would lead to problems ... just like the old school wisdom that synthetic oil in old cars that had used only dino oils was a bad thing to do.

Yeah, I suppose, in theory, problems are possible, but I would much rather have clean fluid in my cars. So, I follow a regimen of doing a powered transmission flush every 30,000 miles. I figure the cost of this preventative maintenance is worth it - today's modern transmissions are expensive to replace (probably near 4500 dollars with labor! ), and I'd much rather take care of it now than have to replace the transmission sooner.

Differential fluid is less critical, but it is an inexpensive DIY. Just get enough Mobil 1 Synthetic 75W-90 or 75W-140 (remember that the X models have two differentials, so you need extra!) and do a drain and fill (remember to open the fill plug first ... in case you have difficulty with it, then having done the drain plug first will cause you to smack your head!). Using one of those pumped bottles (with a hose), makes it easier, since it is tough to tilt the bottle to get the fluid into the differential. There is a video on this in a thread here ...

By the way, don't forget the power steering fluid - it needs regular change too. And, in the case of the older Y34 models, the fan fluid should be replaced (it uses PS fluid). For me, every 30k mark is a good place to do these items - if the total cost gets high for a single service point, then space them out a bit.

MOST importantly, you all should replace the brake fluid every 2 years or 30k miles (certainly less than 45k miles!) - absorbed water in the fluid, etc., can lead to safety issues.

Z

[szh]

Forgot to mention: some places think that an "engine flush" means "throw a bottle of BG-44K (or the Nissan equivalent) into the gas tank" and call it done! That is an expensive approach.

So, find out the exact procedure that is used - if it is a powered rail flush to clean the injectors and remove carbon build-up, it can be a good thing to do for older cars. Or any car that is experiencing stumbling and performance loss due to such problems.

Ultimately, bad carbon or sludge build-up will require a thorough hand-clean of the plenum and more. And, in the worst case, opening the engine up to remove any gunk from the inside.

Our newer (hopefully, well-maintained) cars, with relatively frequent oil changes, should not require such drastic methods! If you have to do more than a hand-clean of the plenum (rarely), then you are not maintaining your engine well enough!

Z

[Mrmarcus26]

Just got BOTH ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION FLUSHED TODAY AT NISSAN! They used BG for both and I upgraded to the NISSAN MATIC S FLUID for the trans. I drove 75miles today alone just trying to get a feel of the car now. It feels great. I'm excited and Im glad I decided to go ahead and get it done. It's only day one but I'm confident that the car will be ok. My last 2 cars were Lexus so I wasnt to fond on infiniti. BUT I'm loving this M more and more

[szh]

Excellent!

Z

[wingFeather]

Marcus, any updates? Transmission still strong?

[Mrmarcus26]

My car is at 136,000 and after the engine and Trans flush. It still feels like when I first brought it. I suggest it to everyone