I have a 2010 infiniti g37x sedan, it is at 160k miles right now. The dealership said they would do a drain and fill and it shouldn't affect anything. I'm super nervous about it, but the shifting and acceleration is a bit off. well, more than normal i should say. i feel like it should be done, anyone have any input? Also, I should add I don't believe it has been done yet. Thanks!

 

I have only done "flushes", or what's called full 12 quart fluid exchanges for 80K miles and have had zero issues. The car feels new after each. If the fluid has never been changed, I'd do the drain and fill and many warn against full fluid exchanges and imply that the old fluid is holding the transmission together.

If you do a drain and fill (3-4 quarts) at the dealer, I'd probably follow up with another in another 10K miles. These transmissions run hot, which breaks down the transmission fluid and causes a host of other issues, so you will be pleasantly surprised with even a simple drain and fill.

 

Alright, sounds good. Im assuming it will perform better, i just didnt wanna risk anything since it is so high in milage and i heard about the break down into the fluid.

 

At that mileage safer to do a drain and fill and its a good time to check the magnets in the pan for 'chunks of joy'. The 7AT does not like hard launches.... but my new transmission is great! lol

 

Silly question but can you drop the pan without doing a complete fluid exchange? I'm in the same boat here, high mileage (170k) and it's not known when the last fluid service was done. I have ATF fluid to do the transmission and transfer case but of course I'm not wanting to do a flush at this point. So just drain, drop the pan, clean the magnets and refill?

Sorry for my ignorance, I could probably just search the forum.

 

i would be bringing mine to the dealership. im not sure if they drop the pan. i think they just open the bleeder / drain with the adapter and drain. the tech told me it is a process starting the car and reaching a certain temp to allow the fluid to leak out or somehting. no idea. rather let them do that. but i read somehwere that when you just do a drain and fill. your only able to drain like half or less than half of what there is in the engine. so some people say it may be recommended to have a couple drain and fills. maybe like a few thousand miles apart.

 

The transmission holds close to 10 quarts, and a drain and fill replaces around 3-4. At your mileage, I would do another drain and fill again near the end of the year. The dealership does not take the pan off and clean the magnets.

One of the best performance mods for the 7AT is a transmission service as its night and day.

 

6MT right? Still looking for someone that replaced a 7AT. Seems that most are simply repairing and changing out the valve body and TCMs when they fail.

 

7AT. I have an X. Swapped the whole transmission for free. Friend used to be a master tech at the dealership and he swapped it to teach other mechanics how its done and I got a free transmission out of it. Magnets were chunky....

Most of the fluid would be in the valves and in the torque converter. The pan holds a little bit extra, but not too much after you drain.
You can check out this video of what it looks like when you drop it: And I used this video as a guide to to drain and fill the new transmission after about 70k miles:

 

Thank you. Waiting on my dad to install a lift in his shop..... But We are currently waiting for warmer weather to pour the concrete, so it maybe a early spring. But once both of those are done I'll be looking forward to doing the fluid maintenance, should make for easier work.

 

This pic from your build thread threw me off as it looks like a 6MT (I should have noticed there is no clutch pedal):


Insane that you got a new transmission for free, installed by a seasoned tech. Outlier. What would that job cost the rest of us? 15K?

Also, my favorite drain and fill video is this one. 370Z, but same transmission.

 

A lift is a game changer for the drain and fill DIY as the car needs to be running to correctly check and top off the fluid and laying under a running car on jack stands to save $300 isn't in the cards for me. I have access to one on the local military base, but everything is timed and scheduled so I was worried that I may take to long (I tinker and review/repair and clean other crap when I DIY so I am slow) or forget a necessary non-standard tool at home, so I went the dealership route and used a discount code then performed the full exchange as that is not something we can DIY. I do these on the family Hondas (CRV/Pilot) every other oil change as the process is straight forward with a dipstick in place (not much different from changing the oil).

Since Infiniti and Nissan likely wont be around when I need the next one, I may just give the DIY a shot as I don't think most mechanics understand the correct procedure for our transmission as it's somewhat particular.

 

It throws off everyone and its hilarious. My shift boot was super damaged and the silver bezel was all scratched up too, so I just did a new boot and changed the shifter from a button to a press down mechanism. 6MT guys hate me for it. Every time someone new tries to drive my car, there is a lot of confusion.

As for the cost of a transmission swap, that probably isn't far off from a dealership price. Maybe around 10k or so, but if youre spending that money, a Bulletproof built transmission from Level 10 (https://www.levelten.com/product_p/infin-g1800-re7.htm) or a VR transmission from a Q50S is a much better use of that money and wont cost much extra. I got super lucky, right place, right time, right people. My 2nd gear was missing a few teeth on one of the planetary gears and would grind horribly. And this was only at like 90k km. Ive put another 100k km on the new transmission and so far so good. Going to be hitting 200k km soon. (about 125k miles)

 

I'm aware of the Level 10 transmission, and spent some time over the weekend reading about the VR30 transmission swap. Waiting for both to become more tried and proven as I have not seen any reports on either long term.

 

I had a 6MT sedan and I would do transmission drain and refill with Amsoil every 15k. Shifted like butter!