# my Auto trans in my 94 is out of an 89, what to do??



## DonaldHays (Jul 22, 2004)

Hey Everyone,

I was back at hoem the other day (south Oklahoma) and visited the local guy down there that only works on Nissan and Infiniti cars. He said that he replaced the trans in my car with one out of an 89! I have heard nothing but bad about the 89-91 Auto's and the fact my car is a 94 with only 81k now and teh trans had 170k on it. What should I do to make sure this old 89 trans will hold up or maybe last for awhile at least? 

One other question also, my weird idle stopped, but on the flip side my car has started missing on the open highway while cruising not bad to the point where the tach jumps or anything you can just feel it barely. if your on teh gas at all it dont do this. its weird the idle issues are fine now and its missing a bit on the highway now, any clues what to check for?


Almost forgot one of the local Oklahoma city shops said the bad idle is cause my head gasket is starting to go also. I said humm 80k miles and no oil or water loss and no smoke (but when my cougar went it did all the 3 things) he said well its getting bad isnt blown yet but getting there. After the price they said top fix, I said well can sit in the garage for awhile since its just a 2nd car anyhow, the guy quickly came back with well the owner will prob buy the car if you will sell it! I was like humm yeah bet he would. 

I have heard of places like that before (one almost got my sister when her T-Belt on her Storm Gsi broke) I called them and went and spoke with them) they took the storm back in and reset the timing and the car was fine and refunded her money for the 225.00. They told her she had bent-smashed valves and that why the car was barely running and offred to buy it and then when I went down there with the car and her they fixed it for her. was back in 96 and the car only had like 72k and was in really great shape then so they offred her 200.00 for the car. 

I HATE PLACES LIKE THAT!

But wondering how common is it for head gasket failure in the 89-94 vg30e? isnt really is it?
Thanks Guys

Donnie H.


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## J..M (Aug 7, 2005)

DonaldHays said:


> I visited the local guy down there that only works on Nissan and Infiniti cars. He said that he replaced the trans in my car with one out of an 89!


WHY ? 

Doesn't anyone repair cars anymore ?


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## Matt93SE (Sep 17, 2003)

Because it costs significantly more to repair one of these transmissions than to replace it. rebuild is about $2000. junkyard replacement is under $1000. ($2-500 for the tranny, 2-300 labor).


As for making the 89 last, the only thing you can do is keep regular fluid flushes and don't drive it too hard. stick a *small* tranny cooler on it and make sure it maintains proper operating temps. It gets cold enough up there in the winter that it's a good idea to remove or block off the tranny cooler with some cardboard for the winder months. (the transmission works best between 170 and 220 degrees or so- might check elsewhere to verify the numbers, but there is a definite temp range they should run at..) any cooler than that and it will shift hard. any hotter than that and it starts breaking down the transmisson fluid and kill the life of the transmission.

As for the head gasket, I would tell that mechanic to stuff it. he's just trying to scare you into selling the car for cheap before it blows up. the only time I ever see blown head gaskets on these cars is when people abuse them:
1. overheat.. this can be caused by running it low on coolant, never changing the coolant, broken radiator fans, clogged radiator, etc..
2. nitrous oxide or boost. too much = blown gasket.

either one is easily preventable if you pay attention to the car and don't overheat the engine.


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## J..M (Aug 7, 2005)

The last time I had a auto-trans refurbed it was £350.00 ($628.00) all in........ You seem to have theives @ work.... I think the idea is that you let them know your not a idiot & they tend not to try & fleece you.

The only reason I had it done by a garage was I had work commitments Otherwise I would of taken some time off to do it my self


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## Matt93SE (Sep 17, 2003)

Around here, it costs more than that for just the parts to rebuild a transmission!


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## DonaldHays (Jul 22, 2004)

*Excuss me while I shoot my maxima, issues yet again*

I am about ready to shoot the Maxima. 

The weird idle had stopped on its own a few days back now and yesterday it had started a slight miss-cut out on the freeway while cruising along but under pressure wasnt missing or cutting out. 

Late last night the missing-cutting out just stopped all together (odd) now today going to lunch I started the maxima up and she went crazy with a 1800 rpm idle and then dropped to like 600 then back up and down and back up and down and back until I reved her up and still no fix after cutting the ac on the issue went away, until I got into the drve thru and she was sputtering and going back and forth between 500-1000 rpms. I guess its typical after the car has sit for so long now. 

I have used the search on here and still isnt much help, where do I start to check to see what the issue is before i take it down to the guy that works on them in my hometown. 

I dont think is anything major at all as teh car still drives great and has no loss of power and such just a funky idle at times and miss and cuts out when it feels like it.

I do work on my own cars when I have the time and its nothing too major that is. if it has to deal with motor-trans swap its going into a shop as I dont have time to deal with things like that now day's, wish i still did however such a rip off for some major repairs!


Thanks for any help guys.


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## Matt93SE (Sep 17, 2003)

sounds like a major vacuum leak.

open the hood while it's idling and listen for sounds of a vacuum leak (hisssssssssss).

if you think you've found it but you're not sure, grab a can of starter fluid, throttle body cleaner, etc... squirt the area you think is leaking while the engine is running. if the engine revs up, then there's your leak. if not, move on.

if this happened right after the tranny was replaced, it wouldn't surprise me if they yanked a few hoses loose over there. there's a ton of hoses on that side of the engine above the tranny.


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## DonaldHays (Jul 22, 2004)

The trans was replaced in 2001 when the grandson started fixing the car up as the 94 trans in teh car was stuck in first gear and wouldnt shift out of it, all else worked fine the guy said besides 2-4th gear as it had stopped up from not being serviced and fron it sitting all the years (1997-2001) It was driven very little durring that time from teh records I have on the car maybe around 300 miles at the most. I did right after getting the Max notice I had a few bad vacume lines near the brake fluid under the hood and replaced them, I will check on the other ones in the am when I get up. 

I also just started hearing a thud-clunking sound from my drivers side front wheel, sounds sorta like my sisters storm did when her front strut mounts went out on it, guess something else to look into as well.

Thanks for the heads up on that

Donnie H.


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