Well, it was time to take the 03 Track to the dealer for third gear grinding. I had bought the Z in February of '05 with 21,000 miles. After giving a tech a ride in the Z he concluded that the syncros were shot and that the tranny had to be replaced...just as I had told him. Anyways, they said that they will be putting a new and "improved" transmission in my car with better syncros and not the same kind that had previously been installed the past 2 times...yes I said 2 times. This will be the 3rd tranny this car will have had. I was steamed to find out from the dealer when I took it in to get looked at that the transmission has already been replaced once by the previous owner at 7,000 miles, but that is a whole other story. Now, do I keep the nissan fluid in the tranny when I get it back and trust that the new and "improved" tranny will hold up, or should I take a chance at voiding my warranty and replace the tranny fluid with something like AMSOIL or something simular? Has there been anyone on this board that has put AMSOIL or something simular in a new tranny and still have it fail on them? I really need some advice. Something is not right with these trannies if the first one lasted 7,000 miles and the second 16,000 miles. It at least gives me a peace of mind knowing that they are putting an improved tranny in my Z.

 

I think if you search the board a bit you'll find plenty of occurences where the tranny had to be replaced on 03's. Not sure but it seems the clutch might also be weak. I think they improved it since then though, I just bought an 05 and I'm worried about these potential problems.

 

Don't rick voiding the warranty whatever you do. If you use a different fluid you will void the warranty and if you have nay problems down the road you're screwed. They tell you what type of fluid to use for a reason. Use it, keep your warranty, stay happy! LOL
3 is a charm! LOL

 

i have an 03 with 39,000 miles and the tranny seems fine, is this a problem with a lot of 03's or just a few?

 

Well from talking to a few individuals on this board, the '03 is infamous for tranny problems...grinding into 3rd and such. Hopefully, this new improved tranny will eliminate previous problems.

 

How do we check what version we have?

 

Get new tranny and trade that bad boy in to the same dealer.

 

I got the latest tranny installed in my 03, 2 weeks ago.... first couple days nice and strong after that hard to shift to 5th gear and 6th almost impossible if you don't yank the whole thing, like forcing to go in..... bad enough , I call nissan customer service, they told me to bring the car again and let them know what day... I will bring the car this saturday to service manager to see what's the problem now. So far 2 trannys, only 15,000 miles on her....

 

Keep the fluids they put in man.. doesnt make sense to change the fluids to whatever u want and void the warranty. If the fluids nissan put in does happen to **** up the tranny... then o well.. nissan fixes it not you... but if you put in your own aftermarket fluids and the tranny messes up.. well guess what, its your fault to them and your paying for it.

 

have them adjust the gate for the shifter.. same thing happened on mine when it was replaced.

 

How often were you getting a grind? Mine does it in third but VERY intermittent. Usually it happens right after I start...when it's cold.

 

How aggressive do you drive your car? Do you drive it hard and maybe miss gears? Do you drive hard and never miss gears? I'm just asking because I'm trying to get an idea of how weak the tranny is? I mean you should be able to pound the hell out of it and it should stand up. Especially if its only 300HP.

 

I pound mine everyday that is how I drive and also when I had the LS1 but no tranny problems. I would keep the fact fluid in it .They will replace up to 36k so until then keep the fluid the same it is hard to understand how some have problems and some dont makes no sense I am glad I have one that is OK.

 

Mine started doing it periodically right after I had bought it. Then it progressively became worse until it did it every shift into third. I don't ride the clutch or power shift, I just drive. I think the previous owner abused the hell out of it, don't know though. Hopefully problems are solved.

 

As long as your date doesn't tell you "I'm a tranny" you're fine

errrr...

 

LMAO.... good one...