R32 Gts4 Auto trans wont go into 3rd or OD

[TheOrangeSkittle]

Hello so recently my car suddenly just one day refused to go into 4th gear/OD, I thought it was just way too cold and the car couldnt warm up and didnt end up driving it for a month after that. Well I starred driving it again recently and I noticed it slips alot in every gear. Even going from a stop to start it struggles to put itself in 1st and the engine will rev but gains no speed. However when it does go into gear it can hold it fine unless I suddenly rev it to much itll slip out for a second, so I check the trans fluid and its brown so I order some castrol trans fluid after abit of research and drain it and fill it up hoping this would make some sort of difference, well driving it right now it will shift into 1st and 2nd no problem no slip at all on its own or manually. But now when it needs to shift to 3rd itll shift out of 2nd and the engine will rev and rev and not shift to 3rd or 4th at all. I know nothing about transmissions and I couldnt find a whole lot searching for an auto trans,   3rd gear worked every time before but slipped a little occasionaly. Now it wont go into 3rd at all after changing the fluid.  Any help would be appreciated.  I know castrol transmax z is what everyone recommends but I had some castrol import atf for nissans honda toyota etc.  Am not sure if the fluid would make that much difference but like I said. Im clueless with transmissions and couldnt find much info.  

 

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by TheOrangeSkittle

[GTSBoy]

Autos are full of black magic and spite. Yours will either worn out friction surfaces, or blocked oil galleries, or stuck pistons/broken springs or a dud solenoid. Or possibly something different.

Automatic trans specialists make money from knowing that no-one can really fix their own auto.

[TheOrangeSkittle]

1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

Autos are full of black magic and spite. Yours will either worn out friction surfaces, or blocked oil galleries, or stuck pistons/broken springs or a dud solenoid. Or possibly something different.

Automatic trans specialists make money from knowing that no-one can really fix their own auto.

Yeah was planning on converting to manual sometime and Ig this is gunna be the reason I park it till I save up enough to get that done, I know itd AT LEAST be like 500 dollars just to have a guy open the pan and change a solenoid if its even that,  just so confused why 4th died when it wasnt slipping and nothing was wrong. Just cruising on the highway 3k rpm 3 days a week and then last week it just couldnt go into 4th and then suddenly every gear is slipping crazy bad.  

[GTSBoy]

14 minutes ago, TheOrangeSkittle said:

just so confused why 4th died when it wasnt slipping and nothing was wrong

See my previous post!

[Rusty Nuts]

If the fluid was brown, probably particulates in there from wearing parts, did you change the filter with the fluid? A blocked filter can cause all sorts of mayhem in an auto box. Personally never understand changing any lubricating fluid without changing filter.

[TheOrangeSkittle]

10 minutes ago, Rusty Nuts said:

If the fluid was brown, probably particulates in there from wearing parts, did you change the filter with the fluid? A blocked filter can cause all sorts of mayhem in an auto box. Personally never understand changing any lubricating fluid without changing filter.

I cant find where the gasket and filter are or what part number it is, I planned on dropping the pan but I have 0 clue where to even get the parts. Searching anything auto for the car brings up manual parts, and also I dont get how just draining the fluid would make me lose 3rd gear entirely when 1st and 2nd work better than ever now and it shifted into 3rd somewhat okay before.  

 

Do 300zx auto trans gaskets and filter fit gts4 auto transmission? I know a lot of parts are interchangeable

Edited February 3, 2020 by TheOrangeSkittle

[Rusty Nuts]

Your auto is a RE4R01A which was found in non-turbo 300zx and a zillion other nissan models. Just check the ryco catalogue online.

[TheOrangeSkittle]

thank you so much I couldn't find what the number was for sure, could the filter mess with it that much though if it wasn't before?

[Rusty Nuts]

Yes, and remember just changing whats in the pan, is not all the fluid in the system. Could be as little as a third of the fluid in the pan. Too little fluid, Too much fluid, blocked filter can all cause problems.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Rusty Nuts

[TheOrangeSkittle]

do you think I should also try and replace the solenoids? sorry to ask so many questions, can draining the fluid mess up the solenoids if they were working before?

 

I took out about 4L of fluid and put that much back in, I think that's only half but was hoping it would at least be able to get into 4th with that and id keep doing fluid changes every few months.

Edited February 3, 2020 by TheOrangeSkittle

[Rusty Nuts]

Mate, if you don't know the solenoids are rooted, don't change them. If you didn't flush out all the old fluid the first time you just have slightly diluted dirty fluid in there. The solenoids may just be sticking because they are full of shit. Remember low fluid levels cause heat and wear, Too high levels cause foaming, cavitation and wear. If you are not sure of what you are doing get an auto place to flush and change the filter.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Rusty Nuts

[TheOrangeSkittle]

Alright thanks, so im getting a new filter and gasket and more fluid, can you take them off and clean them? or would more new fluid just clean them out eventually?

[Rusty Nuts]

Just put a new one in, its a closed system the crap has to go somewhere hence the filter.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Rusty Nuts

[TheOrangeSkittle]

Alright well I will try this out ina few days! thanks for the help! its only got about 75km on the transmission but I don't think the fluid was ever changed.

[Rusty Nuts]

Filter is Ryco RTK32

[zoomzoom]

From memory, for 3rd gear both solenoid A & B are off, and 4th gear solenoid A off, solenoid B on. If they weren't working, 1st and 2nd should show problems too. Don't jump to replace them yet.

[TheOrangeSkittle]

Am not gunna replace them but if I can get to them easily when I drop the pan I might take them off and clean them and see if that helps, still cant think of why the fluid alone would make 3rd gear not work at all anymore, it shouldnt be worn out its only got 75k km and the fluid I used was castrol import atf which is supposed to meet the reqs for nissans and japanese standards. I took about 4L out and put the same amount back in.

[KiwiRS4T]

4 minutes ago, TheOrangeSkittle said:

Am not gunna replace them but if I can get to them easily when I drop the pan I might take them off and clean them and see if that helps, still cant think of why the fluid alone would make 3rd gear not work at all anymore, it shouldnt be worn out its only got 75k km and the fluid I used was castrol import atf which is supposed to meet the reqs for nissans and japanese standards. I took about 4L out and put the same amount back in.

Look in the Stagea section DIY for how to change all of your trans fluid. You will need about 12L. Its not high skill just tedious and potentially messy. The filter is a metal item so you can just take it out and clean it and put it back.

There are magnets at the bottom of the pan so if a lot of metal fragments are stuck to them you might need to look for another box or start that manual conversion.

[zoomzoom]

12 hours ago, TheOrangeSkittle said:

Am not gunna replace them but if I can get to them easily when I drop the pan I might take them off and clean them and see if that helps, still cant think of why the fluid alone would make 3rd gear not work at all anymore, it shouldnt be worn out its only got 75k km and the fluid I used was castrol import atf which is supposed to meet the reqs for nissans and japanese standards. I took about 4L out and put the same amount back in.

The type of fluid can affect the operation under certain circumstances, but not outright failure. Before I replaced my valve body with a modded unit, I replaced the fluid with some inexpensive ATF, maybe valvoline. It caused 3rd and 4th gear to flare a lot, especially on downshifts.

In your situation I'd be tempted to look inside the valve body to see if there's any contamination or build up from old fluid like sludge in an engine. The valve body is a made up of 2 plates sandwiched together, which is then bolted to the transmission body.

Pretty tough job if you've not done anything like it though. Looking up at the transmission, it's not obvious which bolts are holding the valve body plates together, and which ones are holding the entire valve body onto the transmission. Oh, and if you get it wrong and try to take out the ones holding the valve body plates together before removing the entire body, the bolts snap.

[TheOrangeSkittle]

On 2/3/2020 at 7:40 PM, zoomzoom said:

The type of fluid can affect the operation under certain circumstances, but not outright failure. Before I replaced my valve body with a modded unit, I replaced the fluid with some inexpensive ATF, maybe valvoline. It caused 3rd and 4th gear to flare a lot, especially on downshifts.

In your situation I'd be tempted to look inside the valve body to see if there's any contamination or build up from old fluid like sludge in an engine. The valve body is a made up of 2 plates sandwiched together, which is then bolted to the transmission body.

Pretty tough job if you've not done anything like it though. Looking up at the transmission, it's not obvious which bolts are holding the valve body plates together, and which ones are holding the entire valve body onto the transmission. Oh, and if you get it wrong and try to take out the ones holding the valve body plates together before removing the entire body, the bolts snap.

Hello so I still haven't dropped the pan, been way too cold, every shop ive called said clutchs are bad trans is bad need a new one, but lemme summarize when this all started, 4th gear stopped working entirely suddenly, then 3rd 2nd and 1st slipped bad, changed the fluid. 1st and 2nd work fine they have 0 slip, 3rd wont engage BUT if I get the revs to 5.5k it will grab but barely, but from 1k-5k it doesn't do anything acts like its in neutral almost but at 5.5k it will half grab and the car will pull thought opposite should be true if clutchs were bad, should it not slip at higher rpm and grab at lower?