7AT stalls whenever I put in Drive or Reverse

markesc

Had this JUST happen to me today.

Car drives/shifts fine once I'm moving, but dies when I come to a complete stop. I'm 90% sure it's the torque converter.

I bought the silver warranty plan when I bought the car new in 3-2014, sitting at 56k miles now. Never had any transmission related issues like this until today.

Anyone know if Nissan is going to cover this or am I looking at $$$.

SG4247

Thats good! Maybe?

Hard to know if its an engine performance issue or converter concern.

Should have had a MIL on the dash if its that lean?

kittens

from one end of the spectrum to the other... now the dealer called me saying the entire transmission needs to be replaced (new one is 10k LOL). Tech said it was slipping on the highway (but that has never happened to me)

so I am not sure what to do... the car is probably worth 12-13k with a good transmission so definitely not paying 10k. I'm just going to drive it back for now and either try and get a used one or just sell as is. I am not the best mechanically and probably will only own cars with warranties now. I have had this car for 4.5 years almost and this is the first problem that I have had outside of a sensor. I was going to eventually get a Corvette anyway but wish I had known this was going to happen (hindsight 20/20, etc)

kittens

I just drove it back from the dealer with a few stops and it didn't die at all... there is a bit of idle drop though thats about it and I think that's normal? so confused right now they cleaned my MAF and throttle bodies

SG4247

Sounds like its fixed!

Mine idle drops at a stop as well, and I only have 27K miles on it.

Keep on truckin!

kittens

What's weird is that they still said I needed a new transmission. I wonder if they just cleaned the MAF/throttle bodies and neglected to see if that fixed it. I will see if it stays fixed haha

Eagle

I had a lot of "bad luck" with my 7AT before i switched to the 6MT. The problem you initially described where the car would not stay in D or R and stall out at idle was exactly what happened during my first warranty issue. Dealer said torque converter seized and ended up replacing the whole trans. I had the extended Silver warranty and it was done at no cost to me.

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markesc

That's EXACTLY what's occurred here.

So I learned something new:

Evidently the ambiguity and lack of clear communication from Nissan and all of the other major manufacturers around AT fluid change intervals all stems from attempting to advertise a lower cost of ownership of the vehicle.

Basically what's happening is that they are gaming the numbers by trying to label the transmissions as "maint free" "Sealed" and other terms that lead the majority of the public to think that the fluid is fine for 100k miles.

Now I'm unsure of how many people shop for cars and actually look at cost of ownership over say 5-10 years vs. just the price of the car + say gas mileage, but this to me sounds believable and explains why dealerships/manufacturers mutually benefit although at the destruction of reputation and risk of lawsuits if you have enough people that have self destructing transmissions.

............

As far as mine goes: They've gotten the claim finalized and approved, so it's just a matter of waiting 2-3 weeks for it to arrive and get installed. Luckily my dealership is letting me keep the loaner car at no cost.

Overall I think it's been handled well, but I do believe that the above explanation vindicates my suspicion around why I couldn't get a straight answer whenever I'd inquire about AT fluid changes in the past.

and yes, I agree: Next car will just be a reg manual as the AT or even dual clutch setups seem like a major liability post 5-8 years unless of course one is willing to have them built/modified/etc.

While I do love the Z, it seems like it would be a smart move if Nissan sourced something more robust like the ZF 8 speed perhaps?

Eagle

I also came to the same conclusion that the ambiguity on maintaining the 7AT was no accident. Unfortunately my problems with that trans did not end there with that first replacement, however the remedy I sought ought was all related to maintaining the trans fluid. First I just changed it out more frequently (every 10-15k) since I was using the car in a "heavy duty" sort of manner. Secondly, I added a transmission oil cooler core.

One thing id watch out for is the fluid that the dealer fills your new trans with. Make sure they use Matic-S and not Matic-J, there was a training issue here in SoCal where the techs mistakenly thought that the 370z could use matic-j because they thought it was interchangeable. The truth is it isn't, that fluid is designed for the automatic in the 350z and does not have the necessary friction modifiers for the 370z. If they put that fluid instead of matic-s in your car, you will legitimately have another warranty issue on your hands. There is even a TSB out there that describes this very issue but somehow, it gets misunderstood by the dealers.

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Tractionless

As a 7AT owner I can't wait to hear the outcome.

I full flushed per JCHammond's directions at 72k when I got the car. 10k later I dumped the pan and the fluid was still red so I simply refilled. I'll go in 15k later and see what it looks like on a pan dump next time. I have a Hayden trans. cooler sitting in holding pattern for when my front bumper cover comes off for headlight mods. I'm also working with an ECUtek tuner firming up shifts so as to save the friction plates. The car is only street driven but sometimes spiritedly.

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markesc

Yeah still rolling in the loaner 2019 Sentra... basically you have to plan an 1/8th of a mile ahead if you want to be in a certain lane at a certain time, because there really is NO power. I mean, none. A prius is faster. It beats walking and it's strangely calming to drive, but made me realize one thing: 99.9% of the cars/vehicles on the road are boring and just "fit in" and now I'm one of them! I just don't see Nissan lasting much longer selling cars like the Sentra...

So apparently they had to order a transmission from NY and have it shipped here, "2-3 weeks" So I think it's been about 2 weeks, so perhaps I'll get the car back this coming week...

My latest theory:

1) Transmission fluid wasn't changed til 40k miles, and either that was simply too late and damage was done up until that point (and yes, I asked starting around 20k miles, and got the "it's a sealed transmission/100k miles speech), or
2) The wrong fluid/under/over fill occurred when it was done
3) Bad luck...

I think a Stillen Transmission cooler will be ordered once I get the car back and if everything seems fine. I'll only have 12months/12k mile warranty on the new transmission, then, I'm on my own with the thing.

In the big picture: If this doesn't work, or it breaks again, I'll just have a transmission built as that's still going to be cheaper than starting over with a newer car and going into debt (Short of a new job that pays more, then I'd keep it and get a lexus product as a daily/shoulda kept my sc300).

Is this the one to buy?

https://www.stillen.com/performance/...ooler-kit.html

(something tells me that the only reason it didn't come stock with the car was: a) cost savings b) risk/reliability with running additional lines c) Nissan doesn't adequately stress test vehicles before putting out into the market (the cvt lawsuits are a perfect example).

Tractionless

Not sure I bought the Hayden unit Z1 sells on their site for $79 on ebay for $29 shipped. Says for vehicles 10k GVWR and under.

I believe the Z's have a trans cooler built into the radiator but it probably doesn't keep the fluid cool enough during spirited driving.

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Ghostvette

There is a trans cooler inside the radiator, and barely holds up to daily driving. That's why the recommendation to put an external cooler on (heat is the killer for ALL A/Ts, not just ours). I've had best luck with A/Ts when changing fluid & filter at 10k or annually, depending on how it's driven. Yeah, it's a pain in the tuckus, especially on the ones with no drain plug.

in short:
1) external trans cooler
2) regular fluid changes with a quality fluid
3) don't buy the dealer BS about 'sealed' transmissions... they don't exist.

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Tractionless

It's amazing that I've seen SC'd Z's without any trans. mods including a cooler and the owner thinks all is well!! And as far as #3 goes my '13 F150 V6 company truck has a trans. whose 1st service doesn't come until 150k miles haha. So far six years and 120k on the original fluid. Glad I don't foot the fill on it!!

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