I have a 2013 nissan altima s. I was driving home from work and ran over something that blew a tire. It also seemed to be having trouble accelerating. I didnt drive but a half mile before pulling over to change my tire. While changing it I noticed a big fluid trail on the road leading to my car. When I got back in and tried to drive away my car wouldn’t drive forward or reverse. It looks like there’s a hole in the transmission pan and all the fluid leaked out my question is how much damage did i do to my transmission by driving it that half a mile while it was leaking out that much fluid? Am I gonna have to replace the whole transmission or will putting a new transmission pan and filter/gasket be good enough?
Hard to say. I would replace the pan and try it. You might get lucky.
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+1
Many years ago, I drove over some steel “rebar” rods that fell off of a truck that was in front of me.
I didn’t realize that there was a problem, and continued to drive the 20 miles or so to my home. As soon as I exited from the highway, my Taurus’s transmission downshifted VERY hard, and I then knew that I had a problem. Luckily, my house was only a couple of blocks away.
After I pulled into the driveway and exited from the vehicle, I saw a spreading stain of trans fluid on the ground. The puddle was fairly small, so there was clearly very little fluid left in the trans when I parked the car.
The next day, I had the trans pan replaced and I was able to drive that Taurus for the next 3 years with no trans problems whatsoever. I got lucky, and–hopefully–the OP will be equally lucky.
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There has been some transmission damage. The only question is the degree as that can vary. Replace the pan/fluid and pray/make a wish.
About 15 years ago I hit a chunk of metal farm debris one night about 10 miles from my house which is out in the sticks. The debris not only cut the left tire open but it bounced up and slashed the air bag open on the Air Ride system. This led to the car slamming to the ground and no way to get a jack under it.
I left the car there that night and had to return the next day with 2 floor jacks and a shovel; the latter for digging a hole to sit the jack in and which got the car high enough to wrestle the second jack under.
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Replace the pan and add the 3-4 qts you lost and you will probably be just fine. One good thing going for you is that you stopped before you pushed it until you could not proceed any further.
Chances are you have the CVT transmission…and they may be more prone to damage from an instance like this as compared to a conventional transmission but who knows. Stopping as early as you did is the best thing you have going for you and your transmission…which improves your odds of being OK quite a bit.
I say just go for it and see what happens… What is your alternative? Worry so much that you replace your transmission before trying the obvious solution? You need to replace the pan and refill and see what you get. If you have major issues then you can cross the bridge of trans repair or replacement.
You are still in the repair phase and I think you’ll be OK…you have to try at least and leave the worry on the side of the road for now. You can pick it up later if that makes you feel any better.
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Be sure to use the proper transmission fluid.
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Hopefully replacing the pan and fluid will get this vehicle on the road, although it is indeed CVT and AFAIK it is the first year of production for the new generation of Altima CVT transmission, where it had an increased failure rate.
If transmission does not make it, I would consider talking to insurance, it might be covered under the “comprehensive” part of it
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