yo guys i just got back from my local nissan stealership... um i mean dealership (weston nissan in south florida) from doing the latest oil change on my old '06 z. and apparently i need to have my tranny fluid changed as part of the 30,000 mile service or whatever (my z is currently close to 32,000).

anyways they want to charge me like $230 for this! anyways i thought this would be the place to ask about this... are there any other places or shops besides the dealership i can get this done at for cheaper? i did a search and i know a lot of you do it yourselves and thats its better that way 'cause you get to choose what to put into the car (i hear royal purple is good?). the thing is i have no idea how to do anything, mechanically speaking to the car. i mean as you can see, i take it in to the stealership to get the oil change. lol embarrassing i know... i mean i'd really like to learn but i'm too afraid i'll do something wrong and mess something up and be really screwed. and with the way things are going for me right now, financial wise, i really need to take care of this car, cause i'm probably not going to be able to buy another one (390z maybe?) for the next 8-9 years... damn foreclosures/bankrupsies. maybe someone in the south florida area can give me hand? i'd pay you of course! anyways any help would be appreciated guys. thanks!

 

A suggestion - joining your local Z club can have many side benefits, like finding that person to assist you. It's not very difficult and pretty rewarding too. Same with oil changes - almost impossible to screw that up but you should have a floor jack and jackstands to do it. Only way to be sure it is done right though is to do it yourself.

 

I've done this, it's not hard. It's similar to changing the engine oil (Drain from underneath, add oil into opening on top of the engine) except adding new transmission oil is a bit messier.

Get the car on jacks, locate your transmission. There's two big hex nuts you'll be working with, one located directly on the bottom of the transmission and one on the passenger's side. Remove the passenger side nut first, then remove the bottom one to drain. You'll need a manual oil pump to suck new oil from the bottles and pump it in through the opening on the passenger side I mentioned earlier. There's a much more detailed explanation with pictures on the tech site. This saves a lot of money, but requires patience due to the manual pumping of new oil.

 

you know I been wondering what would be the best transmission fluid for the Z as well. what does everyone else use?

 

I used Redline for my transmission and diff, and have been satisfied by the results.

 

yeah the guys at nissan were like "if you dont use our tranny fluid your car will break down" which i feel is a load of shiz and should be fine with another brand and without paying them 400+ bucks. anything else i can use?

 

it's a simple diy.. drain bolt and fill bolt.. shouldn't take a shop more than 30 mins if you decide to pay... I use Royal Purple for the tranny

 

I stick with the Nissan tranny fluid with no issues.

 

I think it might depend on the year you have. I read somewhere on these forums that royal purple and other tranny fluids will damage your syncro's. Either nissan's fluid or the Redline GL4 50/50 method. When it comes to price, you're probaby not gonna find anything cheaper than Nissan's Transmission fluid.

 

thanks for the replies, bro-sephs. lol doesn't sound too complicated (hopefully). i got a buddy thats probably gonna help me out with this as well, he's a tech at a local lexus so with a diy, it really shouldnt be a big deal.

anyways, where can i find and buy the nissan tranny fluid??? thanks guys

 

You should be able to get some from your local dealer.

If not you can order some here http://www.thenismoshop.com/

Also if you don't want to use the manual pump method you can purchase about 4 feet of 5/16-7/16 vinyl tubing and run it from near your battery cover down to the fill hole and pour the fluid into a funnel