# 98 Frontier 4x2 Hard shift from 1st to 2nd (auto trans)



## pir8 (Dec 1, 2005)

Hey everyone,

I have a 98 Nissan Frontier 4x2 King cab. It has 114000kms ( about 68000 miles) on it. When the truck is cold, and your accelerating (normal acceloration) and it shifts from 1st to 2nd its pretty hard. As the truck warms up (5-10 mins of driving) the shifting from 1st to 2nd is perfect. Not to soft, not to hard. All other gear shifts are fine in any temprature range. Just this first to 2nd when the engine is cold under normal acceleration.

If you accelerate hard when its cold, its a normal kick that you get from 1st to 2nd. 

Any ideas?

I'm planning on chaging the transmission fluid. But I understand that there is a strainer / filter that is located in the valve body. Should that be changed?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks all.

Mark


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## jerryp58 (Jan 6, 2005)

pir8 said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> I have a 98 Nissan Frontier 4x2 King cab. It has 114000kms ( about 68000 miles) on it. When the truck is cold, and your accelerating (normal acceloration) and it shifts from 1st to 2nd its pretty hard. As the truck warms up (5-10 mins of driving) the shifting from 1st to 2nd is perfect. Not to soft, not to hard. All other gear shifts are fine in any temprature range. Just this first to 2nd when the engine is cold under normal acceleration.
> 
> ...


How's the fluid level? My previous would hold 1st too long and bang into 2nd when the fluid was low.

The strainer should be on the bottom of valve body and comes off with a bolt or two once the pan is dropped.

Keep in mind that you'll probably be changing less than 50% of the fluid with a single drain (most of it sits in the torque converter).

You could go the power flush route at a shop, or do several "drain & refill" cycles on your own.


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## pir8 (Dec 1, 2005)

The fluid level is perfect. Its at the proper level when its hot and cold. Should I do anything to the strainer?

Mark


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## jerryp58 (Jan 6, 2005)

pir8 said:


> The fluid level is perfect. Its at the proper level when its hot and cold. Should I do anything to the strainer?
> 
> Mark


Some people just clean them off, but they're usually less than $10 and they usually come with the pan gasket (which you'll need anyway), so I have always changed it. In my previous vehicle, I also added a drain plug to the trans pan the first time I took it off (since it didn't have one from the factory) which made subsequent drain & fills much easier.


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