Looking thru the maintenence guide of my 2011 sedan it seems that the maintenence schedule is pretty good for the average luxery car. Really only a coolant flush and spark plug change after 7 years so I really only have to worry about oil changes and biannual air fiter replacements the first 5 or 6 years besides the usual wear and tear with tires, brakes etc...... Yearly brake fluid and cabin filter replacements is manufacturer overkill in my eyes so i won't be following that.

One thing I noticed is that the schedule recommends checking and eventually replacing the tranny fluid except for 7SP AT for G37 and the EX. What's the deal? Am I missing something or is this some super duper tranny fluid that doesn't need checking or replacing? Or do the 7SP AT not use fluid for some reason?

 

This is something I'm interested to find out as well, anyone?

 

The 7sp auto tranny is fully enclosed. No dipstick, no drain plug... theoretically, it won't get any dirt in it.

However... it WILL get metal shavings in it as the tranny breaks in, but I believe it has a magnet in the bottom to attract and hold them away from the moving parts.

All that said, I am still going to have mine flushed and refilled at 50k. I'd rather err on the side of caution.

 

Do you plan to have this done at a Infiniti dealership?

 

we don't have dipsticks for our transmission either (6mt) -- our manual states every 30K. with all the issues with our transmissions, i try my best to follow the transmission guidelines religiously.

 

I have to have someone do it since I don't have the equipment necessary to do it myself. So, yeah, I'll be taking it to the dealer.

 

IIRC its about a 300.00 service bill to drain and refill. Not even sure if thats a COMPLETE drain or just opening the drain plug and sucking out whatever is available (service manual shows the complete procedure, it involves a vacuum pump and seems that it can get messy).

Kinda stinks we cant technically do it ourselves, but Ive read on the forum that the transmission has so many sensors, it would know there is something wrong long before the owner would even if we had access to the fluid.

 

The trans doesn't have a lower drain plug and an upper fill plug?

 

You need a special pump to add fluid to the 7 speeds. You should also wait until the transmission is fully warmed up, verify temperature using consult III.

 

Oh yeah I still plan on changing it at 60k.

 

Is this special bump pretty much only available at Infiniti dealership?

I asked my service advisor about the service and he said it won't need changed until about 100K miles. I was surprised because he didn't want to do it I guess my SA is nice and honest man.

 

I recall asking my dealer about it just to see what they said... a standard drain and re-fill cost around $300 and a full trans flush was $500!

 

A dealer in my area charge < $250 for complete oil flush. The 1st 15K miles is brutal on oil with all kind of metal shavings from new components and casting. On all of my cars, I flush the trans oil at the 30k miles or sooner because they are all dark. After that the oil will last for at least 75k miles and still looks clean.