Pumped the 3 quarts of mt 85 in the tranny just now, emptied all three without any oil spilling out through the fill hole. Anyone else get three in with no overflow? What gives?

Actually it's not :tiphat:

:tup:

I bought 4 qts when I did mine a few weeks ago because I have read others on here running just short with 3 quarts. I only used 1/4 of the 4th bottle but I over pumped and let it drain back out to make sure it was full so probably only an 1/8th of the 4th quart was needed to get it to come out the fill hole. If you want to get another quart to top it off it is probably ok to drive with the three quarts you put in for now. Try and stick your finger into the fill hole and make sure you can feel the top of the oil level.

Most likely explanation is your car is not perfectly level. Whether it's how you jacked it up and supported it on four jackstands, or the floor or driveway you're using slants sideways slightly, it can throw the fill line off. In any case, you don't want to overfill your tranny, so three quarts should be plenty.

I jack my car up perfectly level (within 0.01% slope, checked with a properly calibrated 4' digital level - I have to use different size jack stands to get it perfect in my garage) and refilling the transmission with exactly 3 quarts of fluid never causes overflow. You can't overfill it because the fluid will just pour out the fill plug when it's full. IMO it is better to pump enough fluid in there to make it overflow than to leave it short. However, if you can feel the fluid level when you stick your finger in the fill hole, it should be fine even if you only used 3 quarts.

:tup:

Not as much of a shifting feel improvement as I had hoped, did this for my 60k service (first service since owning the car). The fluid that came out still looked pretty clean and smelled good as well so I'm not sure it needed it that badly. Still, good to know exactly when it was done last.

I didn't run the stock mt oil very long, and it was my wife's DD for the first year. But I admit I did not notice much of a shifting improvement when I made the switch over to Redline around 10K miles. My heavy TWM DE shift knob and short shifter were much more noticeable improvements ;) :driving:

Being under warranty and not being able to do any mods is killing me!

I don't want to derail a tech thread such as this much further, but don't let the warranty stop you. I have 100K mile aftermarket warranty, and I've got a few mods including a tune. Almost everything that's actually broken on my Z hasn't been covered by Nissan (CMC, rear diff bushing, idle issues). None of that stuff was related to mods, and multiple dealers never said a word about any of the mods except as a compliment. I DIY most everything that's gone wrong and even replaced my CSC as a preventative measure when my CMC failed. The dealer did a headliner replacement for me under warranty, but that's it. If you really think it will be a problem, then your compromise is to put the OEM stuff back on before you take it in for warranty service :tup:

Yeah, keeping the oem parts is a good call. I'm still new with the car, only had her for 5 months, so I'm gonna chip away at the mods after making sure I know what I want. Getting ready to have the CSC replaced since I'm getting clutch pedal stickiness, different engage point when cold and a rattling vibration in the pedal :ughdance: Luckily my warranty covers it, oddly enough, not the headliner. Definitely, gonna swap out my pedal assembly as well after that's done.

Tranny fluid is not exposed to any combustion and gets worn out through the constant meshing of gears. It will usually look clean and not have much of an odor, but it needs to be changed periodically.

You are correct, I suppose it's just a habit of mine to smell oils and I mean that it looked clean as in an absence of synchro shavings, not a color change like with crank case oil.

you sure about that? :ugh:

Well diff fluid is the same but its usually nasty looking

Diff lubricants are completely different. That sulfur odor comes from high-pressure additives needed there, but DON'T use diff lubricants in your gearbox, those same additives will damage the tranny and shorten its lifespan!

Of course but I'm talking about the way it looks not smells.

My point is, there have been Z owners who've refilled both their tranny and diff with the SAME lubricant. Your comment, "diff fluid is the same" could be misconstrued and I wanted to be accurate. Visually speaking, I've found Redline MT85 (my gearbox lube of choice) is quite a bit lighter, almost honey colored, than the darker hues of synthetic diff fluids from Valvoline or Motul.

I see, makes sense.

Are you able to reuse the drain and fill plug washers? I done other transmission fluid changes on other cars and they were fine reusing the washers and never leaked even though the manual says to replace them. However, i heard some manufacturers use crush washers on theirs. Is the 370z one of them?

The washers on the transmission are not the same type of crush washers that are found on the oil pan so you might be able to reuse them without issue but why risk an oil leak and a new tranny for a couple bucks worth of washers :confused:

Well i got everything besides the dang washers and they have to be special ordered or ordered online so itis just impatience. I suppose i will order some

Order a bunch. The shipping will probably cost more than the washers, so you might as well buy a dozen and have a lifetime supply.

i just did the tranny and diff oils yesterday. i wasnt well prepared so i didnt order any washers, i sorta did the diff and gearbox as a 'might-aswell' while i was doing the engine oil.

my only input at this point is that because the o-rings are not a snug fit around the core of the plugs, each time you tighten them down there is a chance you wont tighten it down on the same indentation as the previous. so you might not get a good/perfect seal. for this reason, i overtightened all plugs about 1/16th of a turn more. if the o-ring was more of a snug fit then id say re-using is fine without hesitation

on a side note, the Dimple magnetic drain plug i put on the gearbox did catch quite a lot of black particles. the diff drain plug came out black as expected.

Very informative thread. Will probably be doing this soon since you guys have noticed smoother shifting.

So if I change the transmission and rear diff all together, I will need 4 of those washers/gaskets correct?

I went on courtesyparts.com to order those. Guess what... those $2 washers will cost $12 to ship. That's ridiculous! Is there any other web sites to order these parts?

If you're intent on changing those washers, just get 'em locally. They were $2.xx at the local nissan/infiniti dealer. First time I did mine I just reused the old ones on both trans and diff with no leaking.

Unlike changing motor oil, the tranny and diff fluid isn't changed nearly as often. Perfectly fine to reuse the washers

Do you guys know where I can get the Redline MT-85 oil? Preferably locally? Autozone and other auto-parts stores don't have it.

I used a Siphon pump the first time I did a oil change on it, but this time I made a pump kit, works way better, IMO used it for both the tranny and diff. I got a new clean pump from Starbucks, the ones they use for syrup, cut the tube down to fit, and drilled out the top of a Redline oil 1Qt. bottle. Done.
The pump end is log enough to go into the Tranny/Diff and you just push the bottle up and down. worked great!

I ordered 4 drain plug crush washers from that courtesy nissan link on the original post and it was $20.... I then looked at the bottom of the courtesy nissan page and it says "this part fits 350z and nissan leaf" doesn't say 370z anywhere. Maybe they are the same? maybe the website changed? I skimmed through the 14 pages of posts and didn't read anyone having a problem with them....

Wow... that's like $5 per washer :thumbsdown: I get them for ~$2 apiece at my local dealer FYI.

As for your question regarding the washers, what is the Nissan part number for the ones you have? If it's the link above with Part # 11026-4N200, then you're good :tup:

I've done the trans oil twice now. Both times reused the original washers and no leaks. When I do the diff this spring (2nd time), I don't plan on replacing the washers either.

For the engine oil yes because it's a compressible type copper washer, but for the diff and trans (6mt) I see little reason in replacing them unless damaged.

Ordered everything I need from Z1 recently and am planning to put it all to use this weekend. I had planned on doing this a few months ago and stopped in the Nissan dealership to pick up the gaskets and of course all they had was 1 in stock - I bought it anyway. I also got 4 from Z1 - here's a pic of both of them together:

http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...vs-z1-part.jpg

The Nissan dealer part looks more like what is on the drain plugs in pics that have been posted in this thread and the DIY Differential thread. Should I seek out 3 more of the OEM gaskets or is it safe to simply remove the old one and go with the copper style Z1 washers?

Edit, looks like z1 is supplying copper washers in place of the aluminum ones. I've done my trans fluid twice now. Reused the washers both times.

Do you really need to replace the transmission fluid/oil every 20,000 miles or 24 months?

Those copper style washers look very similar to the ones for the power steering. They're probably fine, but I would go ahead and try to find the OEM gaskets/washers. But that's just me ... YMMV

Clean fluid never hurts.
I NEVER go by factory specs on fluids. It's not that expensive in the long run and it could give you a crap load more miles. If that's what you're wanting.