Hi guys, I'm new in this forum. There's this 1990 red Nissan 300ZX non turbo, 87,000 miles, auto tranny that I want to buy. The car is great. Engine is still great, body and chassis too but one thing. The automatic tranny seems kinda weird. I have never own a 300ZX before with an auto tranny. The tranny feels weird, it seems like the tranny is a bit sluggish and keep on shifting to the right gear. Do you think that's normal? I heard that early 90's Nissan, all their auto tranny are like that when they get old.

 

Any advice and suggestion will be appreciated. Thanks a lot guys.

I know this may sound strange but have you smelt the ATF dipstick ?. If the fluid is not red of you can smell a hint of burnt toast then I wouldn't touch it.

 

Is it possible to find someone in your area with a 300zx Auto and have a drive. You may find that their car is the same oryou may find the car you are looking to buy has a shot tranny !.

Originally posted by smw1

I know this may sound strange but have you smelt the ATF dipstick ?. If the fluid is not red of you can smell a hint of burnt toast then I wouldn't touch it.

 

Is it possible to find someone in your area with a 300zx Auto and have a drive. You may find that their car is the same oryou may find the car you are looking to buy has a shot tranny !.

 

Yea, I totally forget to check the ATF dipstick. Can you tell me where is the ATF dipstick located for that car? I think when he calls me again about the car, I will check that before I buy the car. He's selling the car for $5000 but my offer was $4000, he said that he's gonna think about it and let me know.

 

Is this the right price?

 

Thanks again for your advice, I really appreciate that.

I've a 1990 NA with auto tranny and about 90k miles. The change characteristics differ with tranny oil temperature. When it's cold it seems to hold the lower gears longer than when it's warmed up.

 

Try accelerating steadily so that it goes through all of the gears. If it's cold, it will often stay in 3rd longer than seems necessary, but if you depress the accelerator it'd speed up and move into 4th (overdrive). When it's warm, this auto flatspot dissapears.

 

You will also notice that the tranny will tell the engine management to ease off the gas when it's about to change. If you are accelerating medium hard when this takes place then it's ok, but if you cruising on the point of changing from one gear to the next, this 'ease off the gas' becomes more noticeable.

 

Finally, mine's a Japanese Import ie sold in Japan then exported to the UK later in it's life, so the auto gear box has in effect (and I'm going to get people upset here) 7 forward gears. first, 2nd, lock-up in second, third, lock-up in third, overdrive (4th) and lock-up in overdrive. It's possible to feel all of these stages as the car accelerates (steadily) from standstill to say 60mph and above.

 

...as for the auto dipstick - back of the engine, opposite side to the engine oil dipstick, same yellow o ring top. Don't get them mixed up they are different lengths.

 

...hope this helps.

 

Jack

You can feel sort of hesitations as it changes 1-2 and 2-3 when going from cold in really stone cold weather and it needs warmed to go to 4th when cold at 30ish.

 

For the hesitations I think this is just the ecu retarding the engine timing to smooth out the changes and a v cold engine then slurrs a bit. When mine is warmed up the changes are hardly felt unless you kicked down whereby the changes happen about 7000rpm.

 

Never knew the lock up could work in 2nd though. I feel it in 4th but I am not convinced I can feel it in overdrive locked out (3rd) but engine braking is defo there with OD off. Mines a UK.

 

Just realised Jack already said most of this in a different way

When I tried out the car, the weather was rainy around 40F. The engine was already warmed up though. I'm just afraid that the car will have a transmission failure in the future.

Willie

 

...to my knowledge only Jap imports have lock-up in 2nd - something to do with relatively slow cruising speeds in Japan. But I didn't know engine braking happened with the od off - and thats after nearly 3 years of ownership... 2nd thing new from you this week.

 

cheerz

 

Jack