7AT stalls whenever I put in Drive or Reverse

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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nismo| EVO-R High Wing | Stillen Gen 3 CAI | SEIBON TS Hood | Z1 34 Row Oil Cooler | VMR 810 Wheels | Endless MX72 Pads |Sabelt GT-140 Seat |Fly1Motorsports RS1 Fenders | Hotchkis Front Sway Bar | Berk HFC |

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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nismo| EVO-R High Wing | Stillen Gen 3 CAI | SEIBON TS Hood | Z1 34 Row Oil Cooler | VMR 810 Wheels | Endless MX72 Pads |Sabelt GT-140 Seat |Fly1Motorsports RS1 Fenders | Hotchkis Front Sway Bar | Berk HFC |