Questions and Answers

Maxima Transmission Slipping Q. Dear Vincent Ciulla, I have a 1996 Nissan Maxima GXE with an automatic transmission. It has about 88,000 miles on it. I am having problems shifting from first to second gear. The problem started about one month ago, but it was better before. When it first started, it seemed like this problem would occur when the engine was cold, and would get better when the engine warmed up.

But now, it seems like it doesn't matter if engine is warmed up. I checked the transmission oil and it seems to be a nice pinkish color.

The problem is basically this. The car seems to be stuck in first gear. The engine rpm would keep revving, but the car doesn't want to shift from first to second gear. After it finally shifts to second gear, it usually shifts quickly to third (I'm thinking because the rpm is already at 4,000+, so it wants to shift again; thus, dropping down my rpm to 2,000, with loss of power). But if I go very slowly on the accelerator, then it seems to shift okay from first to second and the rest of the gears. I don't think changing the transmission fluid would help since it doesn't look that bad to me??

Do you have any comments/suggestions on what the problem(s) could be? I'm think I would probably need to have the transmission rebuilt.

Thanks,
Steve

A. You're probably right, a transmission fluid change won't help; but it is a cheap thing to do and well worth a shot. The transmission filters in that transmission are supposed to be self cleaning and do not require changing. In fact to change the transmission filter you have to remove the transmission and split it open.

If the fluid change doesn't help, then it will need to be opened up since the clutches may be wearing out.

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