I bought Nissan’s Haynes Repair Manual book since I was getting lost in the suggestions provided.
Answers:
VDC Driver: Is transmission fluid synomymous to automatic transaxle fluid?
Nevada_545: No engine light is on
OK4450 and Circuitsmith: I read about a compression test in this book, it may actually give some information on how my engine. I liked this suggestion.
Circuitsmith: I don’t know if the four spark plugs were OEM. What is a valve lash checked/adjusted do in terms of my problem?
Anybody has a referall for a great mechanic in Ventura County, CA?
No prior history of a problematic transmission means that it was working fine until it wasnt. Basically I think your tranny went as far on its original trans fluid as mechanically possible. Like others mentioned…it should have been changed almost 4X by this time. I think what you are witness to is what happens when the transmission receives zero attention and goes as far as it possibly can before giving up the ghost.
Well…how many times has this trans fluid been changed in all these miles? If the answer is “None” your answer is also the reason why this has happened. The tranny fluid can only go so far till it cannot support proper function of the transmission. At that time is it too late to change it all of a sudden…the damage having been done.
Blackbird
Blackbird: thanks fo the remark.
The valves in your engine need a little freeplay in the mechanism that opens and closes them.
This is called lash or clearance.
Too much and the valve train gets noisy, parts get pounded out of shape and the valves don’t open fully, reducing performance.
Too little and the valves don’t close as tightly as they should, reducing compression and overheating the exhaust valve.
Some engines use a self adjusting system, but with others the lash needs to be measured periodically and adjusted if it’s out of a specified range.
Circuitsmith!
Thank you!! In the book, they described as valve clearance so I wasn’t sure if what I was reading about it is what you were refering to.
Yes, transaxle fluid is the same as transmission fluid.
UPDATE:
Transmission fluid checked today: clear, and red (even though in 14 years, it has never been checked. I was amazed…)
Sparks plugs checked today: still ok, but, not GSK. They were from Ford (?)
Car had a tune-up and car seems to drive better, smoother, stronger. Real test (uphill) to come!