Reduction gear oil swap

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knightarmor

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2011
Messages
97
Has anyone replaced the reduction gear oil on their Leaf on their own yet? Curious if I have correctly identified the fill and drain plugs.
 
It is not required until 100 or 150K (I forget which) so unless you have a very high mileage Leaf, I'd not worry about it...

knightarmor said:
Has anyone replaced the reduction gear oil on their Leaf on their own yet? Curious if I have correctly identified the fill and drain plugs.
 
I'm more concerned with what the oil looks like with 32K miles of hard driving after a year in WA state. I'm used to replacing any type of gear oil in a new car after only 10K miles or so because I am paranoid. If I remember correctly the owners manual calls for Matic S stuff in there which is transmission fluid. The same stuff used in my Frontiers transmission.
 
I'm just guessing here, but my guess is that it would be a simple, efficient direct-drive planetary arrangement into an open differential. Probably no clutch discs shedding material either.

I couldn't see it hurting anything to change the oil early, but I would trust Nissans judgement.
 
Interesting findings here

http://elbilforum.no/forum/index.php/topic,21271.0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Translated version

https://translate.google.se/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A//elbilforum.no/forum/index.php/topic%2C21271.0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hmm, seems you have to be logged in and on the original site to see the pictures

http://postimg.org/image/j1shi6g8x/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://postimg.org/image/jore7pd4x/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://postimg.org/image/4wmogd77l/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
This thread could use a bump... :) Seems very rare to find info about this necessity here, really the only "wear" part on the Leaf.

I'm at 60K miles on my Leaf now - and between the towing, speeding, and everyday highway miles, they're some rough damn miles. I'm definitely interested in taking care of the reduction gear oil, but also interested in doing it myself.

It sounds like the plugs should be relatively easy to find, though angling to get the new fluid in there may be challenging. In the service manual, it says the plug gasket should be changed any time it's removed.

The gasket is part number 110264N200 (via Nissan parts lookup site). Googling shows a few parts available through Amazon, eBay and other sellers, but not very common (e.g. no Amazon Prime and no free shipping on most places), but still easily available for under $10.
The fluid is "Genuine NISSAN Matic Fluid S". Actually sold by Amazon and available with Prime -> https://amzn.com/B005ETHNFC

Worth it? Maybe I'll even do a video. :)
 
I figured this may help someone out there;

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I just drained and refilled the oil from my reduction gear on my 2011 LEAF 69K miles. The oil was dark black and the magnets were covered with a soft mushy glob. (Similar to the pictures in the earlier postings). The replacement Nissan fluid was bright red.
 
myleaf said:
I just drained and refilled the oil from my reduction gear on my 2011 LEAF 69K miles. The oil was dark black and the magnets were covered with a soft mushy glob. (Similar to the pictures in the earlier postings). The replacement Nissan fluid was bright red.
And??? Are you able to drive 20 miles further than before? :mrgreen:
 
interesting, makes me want to take the fill plug out and pump out a sample in mine... at only 30k though i would hope it's not darkening yet.
 
Do remember to remove the fill plug *first*, that way you don't drain it first and, then find your fill plug is siezed. That saved me once (not a Leaf), the fill plug was siezed and I was able to drive to a shop so they could weld a nut to the plug, so it could be removed with an impact wrench.
 
LeafSwe said:
Interesting findings here

http://elbilforum.no/forum/index.php/topic,21271.0.html
Leafswe, this is going back a few years. In case you see this, do you recall how many kms that Leaf had done to get that sort of result? I've just passed 103,000km (64,000 miles) and I'm wondering if it's time to replace the reduction gear oil for preventative maintenance.

Have any other high mileage LEAF owners had it done yet or am I being too cautious?

Nissan Matic S fluid is hard to come by in Australia. Anyone got an opinion on Castrol Transmax FE? Castrol's website claims it's a suitable replacement for Matic S fluid.
 
Feng said:
LeafSwe said:
Interesting findings here

http://elbilforum.no/forum/index.php/topic,21271.0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Leafswe, this is going back a few years. In case you see this, do you recall how many kms that Leaf had done to get that sort of result? I've just passed 103,000km (64,000 miles) and I'm wondering if it's time to replace the reduction gear oil for preventative maintenance.

It can't hurt. If I were to buy instead of lease I'd change it early on. The majority of the wear metals are produced in the first few thousand miles of driving as the gears polish each other.
 
I had mine don when I had the heater repaired by warranty, it was sludged up with breaking in flakes.

It is the nature of the beast all ways should change it once early. then do it by the book time.
 
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