Q45 transmission not shifting

[daftphunk]

Hi all,
Just recently picked up a 1997 Q45.
The previous owner said he recently did a transmission flush but without papers I can't really attest to that. Anyways, the car was sort of 'slipping' through gears recently. It would hesitate to shift but it would definitely shift. Today I hopped on the freeway and it wouldn't shift into high gear (4th?) I was on the freeway going 60 at maybe 4000k rpm. 70 at 5000rpm etc. I couldn't get it to shift up but took it off the freeway. It would shift though 1st and 2nd, I assume, just fine. But again I'll be going 40mph at 3k rpm and It just won't shift up.

I did a search and there was a lot of different information out there, and a lot of it involves me getting under the car, i.e. shift solenoids, etc etc. I'm not throwing any codes, as far as I know unless they appear somewhere other than the dash.

A lot of searches came up with transmission flushes. Is this something that I should go and have done now? I don't want to pay for a transmission flush and then end up having to go and replace everything else - though that would mostly be the proper way of doing it, I'd rather try for some short term stuff while I still have school for these next few weeks and then go for the long haul during my break.

Just trying to get some ideas. I know it's tough without actually diagnosing anything and previous history - just need a general outline of where I should go from here first.

Thanks!

[elwesso]

Transmission is probably junk. How many miles on the car? If it's 120-150k I wouldn't waste the money on a transmission and get a new one. Rebuilds typically are best done by Nissan, for whatever reason local rebuilds seem to not do well. Case in point, I haven't heard of any that went well.

[daftphunk]

Thanks for the info.

Yeah the car is at 200k, lol. I wouldn't expect the transmission to be doing so well at this point. Motor was rebuilt I believe and is still running strong.

Where to go about sourcing a new transmission? Or would finding a used one and tossing it in be an okay method? I was really hoping this transmission would last me awhile so when it did die, I could just do a manual swap... but this isn't quite as long as I hoped it would last. I've done auto to manual conversions, swapped trannies, etc. but never had to swap an auto transmission out/in. Is it much different/more difficult than any of the above mentioned?

But man, if the price is right that manual conversion doesn't sound too bad...

[elwesso]

Problem is there's no transmission that bolts to the VH41, and I don't think anyone make plates that match up to the VH41. I can't remember the difference on the bellhousing, since it gets confusing between JDM VH41's and US VH41's (they're actually quite different)..

New transmission is best sourced through infiniti... www.everythinginfiniti.com.. Call them and tell them Wes from NICO sent you.

Swapping the auto in/out is pretty straight forward, as I'm sure you know the exhaust is usually the hardest part if it's rusted.