Which Castrol tranny oil to get?

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Dwyck99
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Which Castrol tranny oil to get?

Postby Dwyck99 » Sun Aug 07, 2016 12:09 pm

I'm going to do a drain and fill of the transmission when I do the cooler bypass? I'm a little confused on which jug of fluid to get. I looked on the Castrol website and Transmax Full Syntheic Multi-Vehicle says it is approved by both Ford and GM and exceeds requirements of JASO-1A and recommended for a wide range of import vehicles. Then there is Transmax Import Mulit-Vehicle which is can by used in Honda, Nissan, etc. I saw the Frontier thread where someone says that the Castrol USA equivalent is called Castrol IMPORT MULTIVEHICLE, but I saw other post saying to use the one that says synthetic. Is either one fine to use? Is it best to stick with Import Multivehicle since that is the equivalent to oem or always better to get the full synthetic?


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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Mon Aug 08, 2016 4:35 am

Castrol Transmax Import Multi-vehicle ATF is the same one:

http://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/img ... tf_1qt.jpg

Another good choice, which I use, is Valvoline Maxlife ATF:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/wcssto ... i_larg.jpg

Both are compatible with NissanMatic Type "J" and "S" ATF.

Dwyck99
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Postby Dwyck99 » Mon Aug 08, 2016 6:45 am

Thx, I'll be getting whichever is cheaper at Advance or Wally. I've heard some say that as long as you're doing the bypass that's a good time to drain the tranny fluid, but will that really get out a significant amount compared to using the actual drain plug? I don't have a 10mm hex socket for that plug yet so if using the cooler line alone is sufficient I'll just stick with that without buying that socket.

I saw you recommend getting a pump to fill the tranny through the fill port.... isn't using the dipstick shaft just as proper?

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Postby smj999smj » Mon Aug 08, 2016 2:13 pm

I think you are confusing the transfer case with the transmission pan. The transmission pan has a 19MM drain plug and uses a Nissan 11026-01M02 crush washer. You won't lose a lot of transmission fluid doing the bypass...maybe not even enough to have to top the fluid off. If you want to drain the transmission, then remove the drain plug and replace the crush washer. When you reinstall the drain plug, torque to 26 ft/lbs. Doing it this way, you will replace about one gallon of transmission fluid. If you want to replace more than that, you can do a flush by draining the ATF out of the outlet cooler line (plug off the inlet side line) with the engine running while installing new fluid through the AT dipstick. To do this, you'll need about 12 quarts. It's a little trickier, but does change out more of the old fluid, however, you will never get "all" of the old fluid out. That said, the ATF is synthetic and unless the fluid is extremely dirty or contaminated, a flush shouldn't be necessary. Also, NissanMatic "S" and "J" tends to drain a dark, almost brown color; this is normal. It also tends to look a bit clear on the dipstick. After using Valvoline Maxlife ATF, my ATF drains a cherry red color and shows up on the dipstick looking more like ATF normally does. Walmart sells Valvoline Maxlife in one gallon jugs for $17.50, which is probably the cheapest you are going to find. Castrol Transmax Import usually runs about $6/quart and NissanMatic "J" and "S" run about $9/qt.
The transfer case, both the standard and "AUTO" mode units, have drain plugs that require 10MM hex sockets (so do the diffs). They use an aluminum crush washer, Nissan 11026-4N200. They also have a torque spec of about 26 ft/lb. The transfer cases take NissanMatic Type "D" ATF or Dexron III/Mercon, but I use Valvoline Maxlife ATF in that as well. The "AUTO" mode transfer case was used strictly in the "LE" trim Pathfinders in the US and takes a lot more fluid...almost 5 quarts if I remember correctly. The standard transfer case takes about half that much. For the transfer case, as well as the diffs, I recommend using a fluid transfer pump.

Dwyck99
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Postby Dwyck99 » Mon Aug 08, 2016 11:18 pm

smj999smj wrote:I think you are confusing the transfer case with the transmission pan. The transmission pan has a 19MM drain plug and uses a Nissan 11026-01M02 crush washer. You won't lose a lot of transmission fluid doing the bypass...maybe not even enough to have to top the fluid off. If you want to drain the transmission, then remove the drain plug and replace the crush washer. When you reinstall the drain plug, torque to 26 ft/lbs. Doing it this way, you will replace about one gallon of transmission fluid. If you want to replace more than that, you can do a flush by draining the ATF out of the outlet cooler line (plug off the inlet side line) with the engine running while installing new fluid through the AT dipstick. To do this, you'll need about 12 quarts. It's a little trickier, but does change out more of the old fluid, however, you will never get "all" of the old fluid out. That said, the ATF is synthetic and unless the fluid is extremely dirty or contaminated, a flush shouldn't be necessary. Also, NissanMatic "S" and "J" tends to drain a dark, almost brown color; this is normal. It also tends to look a bit clear on the dipstick. After using Valvoline Maxlife ATF, my ATF drains a cherry red color and shows up on the dipstick looking more like ATF normally does. Walmart sells Valvoline Maxlife in one gallon jugs for $17.50, which is probably the cheapest you are going to find. Castrol Transmax Import usually runs about $6/quart and NissanMatic "J" and "S" run about $9/qt.
The transfer case, both the standard and "AUTO" mode units, have drain plugs that require 10MM hex sockets (so do the diffs). They use an aluminum crush washer, Nissan 11026-4N200. They also have a torque spec of about 26 ft/lb. The transfer cases take NissanMatic Type "D" ATF or Dexron III/Mercon, but I use Valvoline Maxlife ATF in that as well. The "AUTO" mode transfer case was used strictly in the "LE" trim Pathfinders in the US and takes a lot more fluid...almost 5 quarts if I remember correctly. The standard transfer case takes about half that much. For the transfer case, as well as the diffs, I recommend using a fluid transfer pump.

Gotcha. The reason I thought it was a 10mm hex was due to watching a Youtube video "Transmission Fluid Change on 2005 Nissan Xterra (second generation)" and the guy used a 10mm hex and there was a fill plug on the side. I couldn't find a vid for the PF but figured it as probably a 10mm as well. I'm guessing the guy wrong to call it transmission when he should have called it transfer case? Unless that's the way the 05 Xterra is designed.

I needed parts for the PF and Courtesy Nissan is just an hour and a half away from me. We made it a day trip and took it as an opportunity to do some bulk shopping at Costco which is right down the street from Courtesy. I took a printout of their online prices for my camshaft pos sensor and oil filter which they honored. I also got two crush washers. It was just a few cents over $113 for everything... just the sensor alone at my local dealer would have been right at $150 with tax.

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Postby smj999smj » Tue Aug 09, 2016 12:36 pm

The automatic transmission used in the Xterra is the same as the Pathfinder, so, either the transmission in the video was a manual transmission or they were servicing the transfer case rather than the auto tranny. The auto trannies do not have fill holes on the side for either vehicle; they have a 19MM head drain plug and they fill though the dipstick. FYI, the engine oil pan and transmission pan both use the same drain plug crush washer, 11026-01M02; you can get these in bulk on Ebay in bags or 10, 20, etc.

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Postby Dwyck99 » Wed Aug 10, 2016 10:28 am

Spent yesterday doing almost everything - oil change, bypass, and installation of sensor. SES light cleared out no more vdc off/slip light. Pickup fees more responsive and stronger and of course it cranks like it should now. All that's left to do is change trannie fluid. Thx for all the help.


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