Shifting hard after warmed up

[Dpacheco59]

Can anyone tell me why my 03 M45 could be shifting hard from 3rd to 4th after the car has fully warmed up. When it's cold it doesn't do it. My AT check light only comes on when I put the car in N from D every other time.. I only have one code from the transmission and it is a P0615 (starter relay circuit) any help is appreciated!

[Ilya]

To cover all bases...how's the fluid, etc.? I'm not familiar with that code but EdBwoy might be able to assist as he knows the Y34 better than anyone I know.

[Dpacheco59]

To cover all bases...how's the fluid, etc.? I'm not familiar with that code but EdBwoy might be able to assist as he knows the Y34 better than anyone I know.

Fluid is fine, doesn't smell burnt or anything, I'm planning on doing a flush to maybe help.. I've put a scanner on it and watched it while driving. It shifts through gears fine. The only time I have problems is when the car warms up, it chatter when shifting into 4th. I talked to a transmission shop and they told me that it could be clutch chatter, that doing a fluid flush would probably do it and if it didn't then I had a problem with solenoids or something else internally.


Also I don't know if this play a factor. But the shifter also sometimes when I will move through gears (P,R,N,D) on the cluster it will go blank. But I'll throw it into park and it will come back on. When it does that it throws a P0705 (Neutral saftey switch) and I replaced that already. On the scanner it still shows I'm going into the correct gears.

[Ilya]

Hmm, some strange symptoms there. Unfortunately I'm out of my 'breadth' when it comes to transmissions. Hopefully this info will help another member diagnose.

[EdBwoy]

Ilya, this one stumps me too...

Dpacheco59, out of curiosity, when your scanner says you're warmed up, are you referring to it reading the engine coolant or transmission fluid temperature?

Also, do the 2 issues occur whether you're in automatic or manual shifting mode?



Part of your issues sound like a bad connection somewhere (instrument cluster going blank), but also remember Costee had suggested checking ground points and maybe TCM connections in the other thread?

It seems your TCM is working well in that it's changing gears appropriately and communicating that to your scanner.
I will have to go over the manual again, to figure how exactly the current gear gets output to the screen in the instrument cluster.



At 133K miles, you might be running on the original fluid, but again for a normally driven car, this shouldn't really be that big of a problem. These transmissions are generally robust in the M45 (and RWD M35 [some M35x owners have reported issues] and generally anything else Nissan put the RE5R05A transmission in).
*Something to help while looking up your issues for the specific transmission.

The fluid is cheap and relatively easy to replace. I'd try that.
I usually cant tell exactly if the fluid is at the perfect level, so i use a dealer to top it off, but if you can get readings off the dipstick, I'd say youre not too far off in level.
Drain 3 qts, replace with 3. etc... and see if it improves at all.



Then, chattering sounds like we're getting to mechanical rather than electrical issues.
I think when torque converters go out, they might make some kind of chatter noise or vibration.
Does the car ever go into 5th gear or does it top out at 4th?
I thought solenoids usually resulted in slipping or hard gear shifts, but the chatter part throws me off. But hey, the transmission people would know the general issues they see.

Keep us updated.

[Dpacheco59]

Ilya, this one stumps me too...

Dpacheco59, out of curiosity, when your scanner says you're warmed up, are you referring to it reading the engine coolant or transmission fluid temperature?

Also, do the 2 issues occur whether you're in automatic or manual shifting mode?



Part of your issues sound like a bad connection somewhere (instrument cluster going blank), but also remember Costee had suggested checking ground points and maybe TCM connections in the other thread?

It seems your TCM is working well in that it's changing gears appropriately and communicating that to your scanner.
I will have to go over the manual again, to figure how exactly the current gear gets output to the screen in the instrument cluster.



At 133K miles, you might be running on the original fluid, but again for a normally driven car, this shouldn't really be that big of a problem. These transmissions are generally robust in the M45 (and RWD M35 [some M35x owners have reported issues] and generally anything else Nissan put the RE5R05A transmission in).
*Something to help while looking up your issues for the specific transmission.

The fluid is cheap and relatively easy to replace. I'd try that.
I usually cant tell exactly if the fluid is at the perfect level, so i use a dealer to top it off, but if you can get readings off the dipstick, I'd say youre not too far off in level.
Drain 3 qts, replace with 3. etc... and see if it improves at all.



Then, chattering sounds like we're getting to mechanical rather than electrical issues.
I think when torque converters go out, they might make some kind of chatter noise or vibration.
Does the car ever go into 5th gear or does it top out at 4th?
I thought solenoids usually resulted in slipping or hard gear shifts, but the chatter part throws me off. But hey, the transmission people would know the general issues they see.

Keep us updated.

So, when it was warm, I meant by temperature on the cluster, but I'm sure the transmission would be warm as well if I were driving continuously for longer than 30 minutes..

I recently just purchased the vehicle... the previous owner told me that he had the transmission rebuilt about 4 years ago.. and it has sat for about a year with being driven every so often..

Im gonna try and add and additive to the fluid I have in there now, and if it doesn't seem to do it , then I'm planning on changing the fluids, I talked to the dealer and they said to only do a drain and refill, that they don't recommend a flush and refill with this transmission...

As far as the chattering happening. I have only noticed it on Drive mode. Not the manual mode... and yes it goes into 5th gear no problem.. both Drive mode and Manual mode. I guess I'll start by checking all the connections related to the TCM and PNP switch and clean them..

[Dpacheco59]

Well tried adding some Lucas Slip stop... didn't really do anything.. if anything made it kind of worse? A few times the P1716 would come on for the revolution sensor...?? And the AT CHECK light would flash a few times when starting the car... once I cleared the code. It would just do its normal thing and chatter going into 4th...

Ordered some Nissan Matic S fluid. So next is a drain and filter change.. with hopefully some success!

It should take about 4-6 quarts for a drain right??

[2007infinitim45s]

Hey I’m having the same exact problem with my 2007 M45s, can u tell me wether the transmission flush fixed it? If not what if