Reduction Gear Oil

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There's either a problem with the gearbox that no amount of oil changing will fix, or the dealer is pulling a classic scam.

Here is what the fluid looks like:



imagejpg44.jpg
 
Went in for the 60,000 Mile service today and they changed the Reduction Gear Oil. They didn't call me to check if that was OK or not so I had them eat the cost. It was $12 and change for the oil itself. Its an inspection item anyway so I'm sure it costs them very little in additional labor to replace it.

They did just fine financially with the service anyway, I opted for an interior detail the cost of which has increased in price from $99 to $139 which was agreed up front. I do the detail each 15,000 to try and keep that light interior in decent shape, its worked so far.
 
JPWhite said:
They did just fine financially with the service anyway, I opted for an interior detail the cost of which has increased in price from $99 to $139 which was agreed up front. I do the detail each 15,000 to try and keep that light interior in decent shape, its worked so far.


I do it myself with Folex and a little elbow grease. I also ban all food and drink but water from my cars. I'll put my 4 year old seat covers up against anybody's, even newer ones.

http://www.folexcompany.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
mwalsh said:
I do it myself with Folex and a little elbow grease. I also ban all food and drink but water from my cars. I'll put my 4 year old seat covers up against anybody's, even newer ones.

http://www.folexcompany.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the link.

I used to do pretty much everything myself when younger, head gaskets, main bearings, whatever. My back doesn't allow me much out of the ordinary anymore. I prefer to have the choice to pay the detailer rather than have to pay the physiotherapist :)
 
Can anyone locate where the drain and fill/ check level plugs are?? I have not looked under my car, but have about 30k miles on it..

Generally, I change transmission fluids at that mileage..
 
powersurge said:
Can anyone locate where the drain and fill/ check level plugs are?? I have not looked under my car, but have about 30k miles on it..

Generally, I change transmission fluids at that mileage..
This isn't a transmission, the are no clutches or much heat, it is more like a differential, very low "stress". I don't plan on changing sooner than recommended
 
Yes, but isn't there a set of transmission or differential gears that powers the wheels? I would imagine that there is a fluid to change with a differential in the front?
 
powersurge said:
Yes, but isn't there a set of transmission or differential gears that powers the wheels? I would imagine that there is a fluid to change with a differential in the front?
Not to my understanding. The reduction gear is basically like a traditional transaxle minus the transmission. A traditional fwd car, has only a transaxle, which integrates transmission and differential. In the Leaf, it has a reduction gear instead of transmission.
 
Kristis said:
Just changed mine at 30 000km and oil was totally black. New oil was red and nice ;) deffinetly recommend the change ti everyone ;)

Was it really that bad at 30 000km? How much was on the magnets?
Did you get oil from the dealer?
Was the car driven in Lithuania all the time?
Do you have some nice pictures to motivate Americans? :lol:
 
I just changed mine at 44,000 miles. Both the drain plug and fill plug had about 2mm of material on them. The fluid was black. I'd recommend changing it about every 50,000 miles. It's new to me, but it lived in southern California from 2013-2017.
 
does anyone have the part number for the oil ? i feel like i should replace mine too i am at 45k almost.

Marko
 
do you know the weight recommendation? in my other cars (this is my first auto) i have used redline mt-90 usually, and i wouldn't mind paying for synthetic, but with a single gear and no serious heat (?) being generated i am not sure if that would be too thick. or would i even use GL5 differential oil here since there are no syncros lol.

quick google says nissan matic s... will have to look more into that.
 
As long as the oil is the right viscosity (which I don't know, sorry) the synthetic will be fine, hot cool or cold. And you should never have to change it again.
 
yeah it is ATF, doesn't look like synthetic. Matic S datasheet here:
http://www.shopautozip.ru/images/masla/files/418fda0c4da4ee1af442a99a45f5dabf.pdf

i will probably just use the same stuff, i don't see amsoil and redline say they are matic s compatible (i see matic J which is the predecessor but this is my daily driver, i don't need to experiment with trans oil here, even though i kinda want to).

Marko
 
LeftieBiker said:
As long as the oil is the right viscosity (which I don't know, sorry) the synthetic will be fine, hot cool or cold. And you should never have to change it again.

There are more features oil might have to do. Not just flow according to manufacturer specifications.
There might be things we do not know. Conductivity, anti-foaming, hydrophobic, anti algae - endless list.

"Lifetime" oil is a confusing. Word "Lifetime" usually means warranty period and not from new to end of life.
BMW had first "lifetime" gearbox oils in around 1997. Oil is actually the same old "non-lifetime oil". And gearbox is also the same.
The only way to have a lifetime oil is when mechanism is irreversibly deteriorating, faster than oil.
Then there is no need to change oil as mechanism needs replacement, not just the oil.
My BMW ran manual transmission oil for 350 000km until I replaced it. It was not clean though it handled situation well. Gearbox is fine. Ran 70 000km on new oil. Now, it actually is lifetime oil. As this vehicle will not survive another 300 000km :lol:

Nissan specifies which oil exactly MUST be used in Leaf reduction gear.
Right now, there are no proven oils that are better than OEM oil. Therefore any other choice is worse than OEM.
Where I live, AFAIK, I can get that oil from Nissan dealer. Not expensive.
 
There are more features oil might have to do. Not just flow according to manufacturer specifications.
There might be things we do not know. Conductivity, anti-foaming, hydrophobic, anti algae - endless list.

Yes, both ATF and hypoid gear oil have other additives for things like shear resistance. I was referring to synthetic gear oil or ATF, not to synthetic motor oil.
 
well i followed up with redline and their D6 ATF is matic S compatible, so i am going to try it out!

https://www.redlineoil.com/d6-atf

look over at OEM compatibility tab on bottom.
 
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