[sirnixalot]

So i am coming up on 20k miles so i decided it was time to flush the transmission and the power steering. I used Valvoline Mercon V ATF which is suitable for J-matic (No nissan dealer here to even get J or S matic from anyway) and the power steering calls for Dex 3 which the Mercon V stuff is good for as well.

http://www.valvoline.com/pdf/MERCON_V.pdf

The transmission was flushed with 21 quarts where as the power steering system was flushed using 1 quart.

Just to show you what a difference it is even after only 19xxx miles.

Haven't driven it yet as i am having a post flush beer :fantastic:

 

[nismo08frontier]

wow big difference after only 20K, Im coming up on that too. Any problems with the full flush as apposed to just a drop and fill as that issue has been discussed?

 

[colin123]

what people tend to have problems with is a reverse flush which forces any debris that has been collected on the pick up screen back into the tranny. i stay far away from those personally. but there are other ways to flush a tranny that work with the natural flow and use the pump in the tranny itself to do the fluid transfer instead of a pressurized external flush pump. the best thing you could probably do is drain, measure how much drains out, then pull off the pan and clean the filter screen put the pan back on with a new gasket, refill, then pull off the hoses going to the cooler and do a two bucket flush. thats the safest way i know of to get the filter clean and change out as much as possible of the old fluid. was taught all of this from a friend that is now a master tech who was taught this by a wyotech (spelling?) instructor that "would love to blow up every reverse flush system ever made" lol

on a side note you may want to do your transfer case as well if you have any atf leftover cause i hear the fluid in that gets pretty nasty looking pretty fast too, i think i've seen a few guys say it looked worse than than their tranny fluid by far.

 

[dubie2003]

This is some good info. How did you actally flush the PS system thou?

 

[colin123]

not sure exactly how he did it but there are 2 hoses on the res tank, the one on the bottom that points strait down is the return hose and the one that comes out of the res tank at an angle and is shaped like an "S" goes right to the pump is the suction hose. if you get a union and a bit of hose the same size as the return hose and long enough to go to a small bucket from the engine bay. remove the res tank from the return hose and cap the nipple on the res tank that the return hooks up to then hook your hose and union to the return hose and place in empty bucket. now jack up the front of the truck. with the res tank still attached to the suction hose fill the res with new fluid turn your keys so that the steering wheel unlocks but leave the truck off and start to cycle the the steering wheel. when the res gets low (try to not let it get empty cause then your going to introduce air that will have to be bled out of the system) stop and add more fluid then cycle the wheel some more keeping an eye on the res level and the fluid entering the bucket. once the fluid going into the bucket looks clean your flushed. just take your hose off and put it all back together fill the res to full line and give it a couple more cycles before you put the truck back on the ground and check level ( it may burp) start her up and give it a couple quick cycles and if the level is still good then your done if not top it off. it sounds like alot more work than it really is. we don't have a power steering filter so you'd be surprised how quick the fluid will get dirty and contaminated. OP if you did it an easier way let me know, this is how i've done every vehicle i've owned including my frontier.

 

[dubie2003]

not sure exactly how he did it but there are 2 hoses on the res tank, the one on the bottom that points strait down is the return hose and the one that comes out of the res tank at an angle and is shaped like an "S" goes right to the pump is the suction hose. if you get a union and a bit of hose the same size as the return hose and long enough to go to a small bucket from the engine bay. remove the res tank from the return hose and cap the nipple on the res tank that the return hooks up to then hook your hose and union to the return hose and place in empty bucket. now jack up the front of the truck. with the res tank still attached to the suction hose fill the res with new fluid turn your keys so that the steering wheel unlocks but leave the truck off and start to cycle the the steering wheel. when the res gets low (try to not let it get empty cause then your going to introduce air that will have to be bled out of the system) stop and add more fluid then cycle the wheel some more keeping an eye on the res level and the fluid entering the bucket. once the fluid going into the bucket looks clean your flushed. just take your hose off and put it all back together fill the res to full line and give it a couple more cycles before you put the truck back on the ground and check level ( it may burp) start her up and give it a couple quick cycles and if the level is still good then your done if not top it off. it sounds like alot more work than it really is. we don't have a power steering filter so you'd be surprised how quick the fluid will get dirty and contaminated. OP if you did it an easier way let me know, this is how i've done every vehicle i've owned including my frontier.

Basically you disconnect the return line and re-direct it into a bucket to catch the old fluid and use some kind of stopper so that when you add new fluid, it doesn't just pour out the now unhooked side.

Kinda like a DIY trans flush when you disconnect the trans filter line.

 

[sirnixalot]

The shop i use (used to work there) has 2 flush machines from Wynns. The transmission flush machine is not a reverse flow one. The powersteering one just has 2 hoses you stick in the reservoir that sucks the old stuff up and puts new stuff in a little at a time until its all new.

If you wanted to DIY the PS flush i guess the easiest way to do it would be to use one of those hand fluid transfer pumps and repeat pumping out most of the reservoir and topping it up until you have gone through a quart of fluid, this is with the engine running by the way. Also what the mechanic had me do prior to flushing is turn the steering wheel lock to lock 10 times to work the fluid through the rack.

I personally prefer the atf flush to a drain and fill because it gets all the fluid out of the torque converter etc. The service manual outlines how to do the flush yourself as well.

If you were to diy it you i would get some clear hose to connect with the cooler lines to make it easier to see when the fluid is good but you do not have to as you can just look at the old fluid pumping out into the bucket. Use the 2 hoses going to the radiator trans cooler, one will suck up the new fluid and one will pum the old out. Just fill a clean bucket with the new atf and stick the "suck" hose in it, then another bucket to collect the old stuff thats coming out of the other hose. I do not know which hose is the in and which is the out.

You should only need 17 quarts to do a complete flush but i had 24 quarts so i had him use a few more for good measure. Still have 2 extra's to top up if needs be in the future.

 

[colin123]

lucky, after the last time i did my power steering myself my arms were pretty tired lol thats good though with standard direction flow flush, reverse flow is the devil lol

Basically you disconnect the return line and re-direct it into a bucket to catch the old fluid and use some kind of stopper so that when you add new fluid, it doesn't just pour out the now unhooked side.

Kinda like a DIY trans flush when you disconnect the trans filter line.

yep pretty much, really easy