Nissan Armada & Infiniti QX56 Forums banner

MAJOR 100,000 miles maintenance; Amsoil fluids, spark plugs, belt

47K views 66 replies 15 participants last post by  fordperf 
#1 · (Edited)
I have been wanting to do some maintenance on my Armada for some time now. So, I decided to take a few months to purchase what I need for the job. And here is my list of the maintenance I would like to do and the list of what I have already bought.

- change spark plugs with oem
- change belt with oem
- change PCV valves. Buying from autozone
- transmission drain and fill with amsoil. Drop pan and clean magnets.
- transfer case drain and fill with amsoil
- front differential drain and fill with amsoil
- rear differential drain and fill with amsoil
- power steering fluid change with amsoil.
- brake fluid drain and fill with amsoil. Bleed brakes.
- coolant flush. Buying Prestone coolant from autozone or walmart

Bought oem spark plugs

Bought oem belt

7 qts of AMSOIL Signature Series Low Viscosity Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATL) for Transmission

4 qts of AMSOIL Signature Series Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) for Transfer Case

4 qts of AMSOIL Severe Gear 75w-110 (SVT) for front and rear diffs

3 bottles of AMSOIL DOT-3 Synthetic Brake Fluid (BF3SN)

1 Hand Pump (G2039)

I think I have everything I need, but if I missed anything, please, feel free to suggest it to me.

Well, I have bought everything but now need help to do everything.

Is there anybody local here in Houston, TX who can do this for me? Or if there is anybody within about 240 miles away (dallas, San antonio, austin, lake charles, Corpus etc), I could make a trip to meet you for the help. That is how serious I am about doing this right.

I am not wanting to attempt all of this alone. Would like the help of someone who can do it, knows how to do it and already has all their tools. I am willing to help 100% to do everything.

If you know anybody who is local and or not local who can do this for me, kindly post here or PM me a phone number so I can text or call them.

And yes, I would appreciate the help a lot and would pay you something for your time.

I will upload some pictures of everything I bought later.
 
See less See more
#3 ·
I sure can go to Katy. I have 2 friends who live off I-10/Fry Road.

If this is something you can do, then great. I am willing to definitely help in doing the whole job. Even if we decided to do a few things a day or so.

I will be buying my turkey baster and start doing my power steering bit by bit. Drain and fill. Drive a few days, drain and fill again until I feel the fluid has improved in color.

I am sending you a PM with my number.

My ultimate goal is to find someone who may have time and we tackle all of this in one day. I plan to probably buy extra materials which I will return to the dealership if I don't use it,. I just don't want to run out of anything once we start working on the car.
 
#4 ·
Still hoping to find someone who will help me to do all this...
 
#5 · (Edited)
I finally got my last supply of things. So, these are all the things I have bought for this job. It will be all done someday soon. I just wanted to share pics of everything I bought.

Here are the pics...







 
#7 ·
Looks like a few hours of fun with your armada. Only draining the transmission pan and not the torque converter. Normal transmission service for me is 20 quarts.
 
#8 ·
Including the torque convertor the Armada transmission holds a total 11.25 quarts not 20.
 
#9 ·
Correct, but I flush the fluid through the cooler till it's nice and red, in doing so, it takes more than 11.25. I use the 5-gallon bucket method to keep track of how many quarts have been removed and added.
 
#10 ·
I just change mine every 12-15k and it looks new/bright red coming out. This is just a drain and fill measuring exactly what comes out. I can drain more then 6 quarts out by lifting up the passenger side while draining. This is more than half the fluid. IMO if you wait until it is oxidized and dirty/discolored you waited to long. You will use less fluid and fluid will be much cleaner between changes if done more often. Also less time consuming then removing trans lines. I use to use your method but still did it every 15k but fluid looked just as good/bright red with just draining. Something to consider.
 
#11 ·
+1 to this sentiment. I have a PML oversize pan and do a drain/fill every year. Clean magnet on the drain (I dont need to remove pan). Fluid looks new with this method. About 110k and have done it ever since 30k miles. I've used MaxLife since then as well and no trans issue.

An item that I dont recall on your list, power steering system drain/fill. Again, I use MaxLife for my Mada.
 
#12 ·
PetitFrere

The only thing I'd caution you on is your coolant selection. Personally it's best to stay with the oem coolant but if you MUST, make absolutely sure the after market coolant you use is 100% silica free. The oem coolant is a "long life" coolant and doesn't require changing at 35K or so. Something to consider FWIW.
 
#13 ·
Ok, Roger that. Thanks for the tip.

I will look into that. I think the gallon of OEM is about $25, while Prestone Antifreeze from walmart is about $10 a gallon.

I still haven't done this yet. Still looking for someone. I am slowly looking into trying to buy tools and starting some of these soon.
 
#14 ·
One more thing, I see you also mentioned changing the serpentine belt. I would strongly recomend also changing the belt tensioner as well. I would also change the idler pully, may not seem necessary but it too has a lot of miles on it and it woud be terrible after all of that work to have that fail while everything else is new. Just something else to consider.
 
#16 ·
How much is the belt tensioner? That is not something I have seen people talk about a lot. But I don't mind looking into it. BUt it would suck if it costs a lot for I have spent some money buying everything and still buying things. But I feel ok as it is maintenance and I am trying to buy my own set of tools now, since I don't have many tools.
 
#17 ·
Thanks. I went ahead and bought Prestone before getting back home today. I had guessed it should be free of that too. But I am happy for any tips.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Since I haven't haven't gotten someone to help me with everything, I decided to start off with what I can do. I went and bought some of these from home depot and cut enough length for me to suck the brake fluid from my Armada and Nissan.

Then replaced it with new fluid. So, I drove my Armada around today and I could feel the brake braking a bit better. I will probably do this same thing in a month or so. I wish I could have someone help me bleed it. That would be ideal to me.

Next, I did the power steering fluid. Sucked it out and refilled it. I couldn't tell the difference when I did this, but it sure has new fluids right now.



New brake fluid next to dirty fluid from my Armada.

New power steering fluid next to dirty power steering fluid from Armada and Nissan combined.
 
#19 · (Edited)
And currently doing my transmission. Well, it has been draining and I just left it for the last hour. Will go check on it in a few.

I put my weathertech mat under and put my bucket on it, just in case I have a spill on the floor.


The color of my fluid looks different. I thought it would be dark red or red, but this looks like engine oil.


 
#20 ·
I got 4 and a half quart after an hour of draining.

This is how it looks. Pretty nasty, if you ask me.

Time for new transmission fluid. Amsoil all the way.


Then I decided to do the coolant for my Armada and Maxima. Suck on the tube and let it drain all out.

Then fill radiator back up with new antifreeze. Not a full flush as I was hoping, but this is all I can do and is ok so far.
 
#23 ·
I choosed my fluids based on recommendation on Amsoil website. Too late for me to change anything now. So, I will go ahead and use them.

This is what I will use. No way I can change any right now.

 
#27 ·
Coppied and pasted from Rock auto



NISSAN 2008 ARMADA 5.6L V8 Belt Drive Belt Drive Component Kit


GATES Part # ACK070971
$79.79



DAYCO Part # KIT851BCK
$82.79



ACDELCO Part # ACK070971
$103.79



If you go to their website they'll have the pics of the parts as well. These listed are for kits, belt, tensioner and idler pully.
 
#28 ·
@ E&J
That is some interesting story. Very scary to be stranded with family at such a place in such unbearable heat.

I will look a bit more into what you said.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Today, I decided to try and see if I could tackle front and rear differential. The rear was quite easy. The front was a PITA.

First, I needed tools and I went and made a huge purchase for tools and a tool set. I think this investment means I will be doing my own oil changes from here on.

First, I went to advance auto parts and dumped my old oils that I had drained.

Then I went on and bought the tools needed for the job.

This is a must have to do the rear differential: 10mm socket

The tools I ended up buying
 
#30 · (Edited)
Use the 10 mm hex to open the filler plug first. Then the drain plug.


The fluid was dirty, but not super dirty.

When it was all drained, this is what I got. 1 and 3/4 quart.

Now to put in the new fluid. I will say there is no way you can do this without buying something like this: amsoil bottle hand pump. This screws on the amsoil bottle as a lid and works well as you pump the fluid into the filler holes.

All screwed in and ready to go into the truck.

Pumping new fluid in. I think I ended up filling a little more than 1 3/4, but less than 2 quarts, before fluid started coming out of the filler hole and then I stopped and screwed the lid back on.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Doing the front differential was very tough. You need to unscrew and remove a small skid plate to have access to the front differential's filler plug. Then drain it and repeat like the rear above.

This looked dirtier to me than the rear was.


My measure ment in the pic shows I drained about 1 and a 1/2 quart. But i did spill quite some and decided I musty have drained about 1 3/4 quart. So, I put in that much. But it didn't fill full until I was almost at 2 quarts. That is when it started coming out the filler hole. I stopped and screwed everything back on and then cleaned up my mess.
 
#32 ·
Trans fluid looks really bad. Good thing you are changing it. After you refill with new fluid I would drive it for a couple of hundred miles and drain/refill again.
 
#33 ·
Talking about my transmission...

This reminds me. I must mention this.

The weirdest thing happened this morning. I cranked up my Armada, put it in R, I did not feel reverse engage. I thought that weird, I put it in D, light touch on the gas, NOTHING. I put it in N, then all the way down to 1. Stepped lightly on gas, NOTHING. 2, NOTHING. 3, NOTHING. 4, NOTHING. D, NOTHING. Back to N and R, NOTHING. Back to P and turned the Armada off.

OK, turned Armada off and let off a big sign of disappointed that my transmission is messed up or something. Took a minute break out of the Armada just pondering.

Got back into my Armada, cranked it up, R and it responded. Tried all gears and it responded. Took it for a spin. Stopped the car and cranked it again multiple times and it all worked great.

Too much for the scare, but I would hate for this to repeat itself again. I have never experienced anything like this before.

This is all before I decided to do my rear and front differential. I think my Maxima will take a break for a bit as I use my Armada as my daily driver for a couple of days to make sure I circulate the new fluids well enough.
 
#34 ·
Your fluid is low. Did you run through the gears the first time? How are you reading the dip stick? You need to put the armada on a flat surface , run it until it's warm up, run the gears. Turn it off check your level. You need to turn the dip stick 180* to measure correctly.
 
#35 ·
I think you are right. Same reason someone gave on the titan website.

Well, I drove the car today to work. Didn't have any problems. And I forgot to check the level. May remember to check tomorrow.
 
#36 · (Edited)
I have searched the forum and did not see any pic of the transfer case. So, after work today, got home and went under the Armada and took these pics. This is the transfer case and when next I am off work, I may go ahead and do this. I am posting pics but will like if anybody can confirm these pics.

This is the drain plug. It faces the front of the vehicle.

This is the filler plug. It faces the rear of the vehicle


I hope I am right. I think I am, though. But would like any confirmations from anyone who knows.
 
#37 · (Edited)
Getting under the Armada on stock height to do the transfer case will be tough. I wish this Armada was raised up. Because of this, I went on the internet looking for possible safe solutions and this is what I saw. I wish I can have something like this or fabricate it. Well, I do have ramps, but I think these would be awesome to have and use. I may try to fabricate something like this with wood.

I think I will feel safer under the car with these than with jacks or the ramps.

I just took random pictures from the internet to post. These are called wheel cribs. They are very expensive. But I think one can try to fabricate theirs with wood or laying bricks after raising the car one side at a time.

It would make changing all fluids really easy. Something to look into. I will look into this and see if I can come up with something like this.



 
#39 ·
See attachment of transfer case.
 

Attachments

#40 ·
If I am understanding this right, it seems both the drain plug and the filler plug are on the back and both facing the back of the car. Can you please let me know if they are both facing the rear?

If they are both facing the rear, then that is not how my transfer case looks. I can look more into this tomorrow.

I know I looked well enough and the 2 plugs I saw that looked like a filler and a drain plug were on opposite sides: the drain faces the front of the car. The filler faces the rear of the car.

I just found this link online and it is from a Nissan website and this is how my transfer case is. Just as I described above. But this is my first time trying to do this, so I will research more to make sure before I start draining things.

http://parts.nissanusa.com/nissanpa...id=F&sectionid=331&jointvehid=17751&siteid=14
 
#41 ·
I see nothing wrong with drain & fill plugs on the transfer case.
Looks good and you're doing a great job with the maintenance. Feels great DIY'ing and at the same time, saves $$ from having to pay a shop to do it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top