I see it's preventative but did you guys do it?

 

No, it's not even recommended in the service manual. It's not supposed to be done until 40-45k miles. However, my car (06) had 38k miles on it when I changed it because of gears grinding. Also my fluids were 4 years old at the time of last week.

 

well I'm at 49k right now and the manual says preventative 30k, required 60k

I guess I'll do it now. Should I do a drain or a complete flush?

The dealer gave me only 6 qts, will that be enough for a drain. How much more is needed for a flush?

 

there's no real way to flush the manual trans that I know of, just drain and refill.

 

https://my350z.com/forum/maintenance...intenance.html

 

is 6 qts enough?

 

M/T capacity is 2.9L or 3 1/8 qts (as listed in the service manaul).

 

Too much

 

i got my transmission fluids changed at 30k, it was $120 i think... figured better safe than sorry for $120.

 

Ok I have a question after reading the link with the scheduled maintenance. I use the schedule 2. It says change the oil for the diff and tranny every 30k miles if you are in severe use, however I would like to follow schedule 2 for the diff and tranny oil... So would 60k be the ideal time (or how many months), and what is nissans recommended change for the rear diff and tranny?

 

The owners manual has several maintenance schedules. The definition of "severe" is a judgement call. But I would consider

110 degree temperatures in Arizona severe.
Also -20 degrees in North Dakota.
Short trips where the engine does NOT reach operating temperature is also severe.

 

Which manual?

 

2007 Service and maintenance guide.

also found here

http://www.350zmotoring.com/forums/350Z_Maintenance.php

 

The problem is that's the same guide that's on the Nissan site. It's generic, covering all vehicles. Only the "Premium" service suggests changing it, along with a lot of other stuff. Premium as in it will cost you a premium price if you follow their recommendations. The two "normal" maintenance intervals (S1, S2) are the ones provided with the Maintenance Manual that comes with the Z as well as the Factory Service Manual. It's more about marketing than what is required to properly maintain any car.

That being said, most of us are obsessive about are Zs and do tend to "over do it" some. The main reason I changed mine at 25K was to try and alleviate the hard, notchy shifting issue. Going to Royal Purple made it worse than before in cold weather. Switching to Redline hasn't been any better. The only real reason to justify changing it is to go synthetic for the bump in gas mileage.

 

Thanks for the info. Very informative as always. How much of a bump in gas mileage was it? I'm going to do mine every 30k from now on.

Do I need to do a flush? Some people were against flushes and said they might ruin the car. And I don't want to do a flush anyway.

 

I gained about 2mpg. When I went from the stock 18" wheels to the much wider 19" ones, my highway mileage dropped about 3mpg. The switch to synthetic got 2mpg back.

No need to flush - open the top plug then open the bottom and leave it drain for 30 minutes and it will be virtually empty.