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A/T transmission removal 2001

49K views 40 replies 13 participants last post by  QuinE 
#1 ·
Been working on an 01 for 2 days trying to get the transmission out. I've had my fair share of time under a car so I don't consider myself incapable. However, this is becoming a major challenge. Almost 2 hours to get one bolt out between the engine/trans up above the hammer head oil pan and behind the trans cooling lines etc. etc. Just trying to get the cover plate off the front of the trans so I can separate the torque convertor/drive plate. I have the service manual but that thing is horrible. No specifics or diagrams. Any help would be appreciated.

Trans is coming out for rear main seal and also doing the front cats.
 
#28 ·
After doing it on my back in the driveway, twice, if still rather do the xterra than most fwd cars.
 
#30 ·
Hi,

I'm doing this for my RMS right now. Any tips or tricks to help get this off would help. Thanks!!
If you read the thread all the tips and tricks are in here.

If someone were ambitious they could compile this into a DIY.


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#33 ·
Now into day #2 removing my auto transmission from my 2002. Don't think it will be as hard as my RX-8 6 speed removal last summer but im only just getting started. Thanks for the pointers here any other advice would be appreciated. Thanks, talk soon.
What??? Rx8 trans is stupid easy to take out. That car was made to have a trans changed in the pits in 30 minutes. Which is good cuz its a fragile trans.
 
#35 ·
When I did my 4wd conversion it only took me 5 hours to get my old tranny out and the new one in BUT my best advise for anyone tackling a heavily involved task such as a tranny drop is too do a thorough looking over before you even start. look at everything in the way or could possibly be in the way. Doing this has never steered me wrong on first time projects like this. the only thing that through me for a loop was that damn Crank sensor which i didnt see before removing and i ripped the wiring off the sensor. I had to rewire and solder it back together.
 
#36 ·
When I did my 4wd conversion it only took me 5 hours to get my old tranny out and the new one in BUT my best advise for anyone tackling a heavily involved task such as a tranny drop is too do a thorough looking over before you even start. look at everything in the way or could possibly be in the way. Doing this has never steered me wrong on first time projects like this. the only thing that through me for a loop was that damn Crank sensor which i didnt see before removing and i ripped the wiring off the sensor. I had to rewire and solder it back together.
Unfortunately I thought I had all the sensors and ripped the wires out of the same sensor as you. Was there enough room to solder the existing wires back on and still get the sensor back in? Or did you have to run new wires or extend them in some way?
 
#37 ·
Unfortunately I thought I had all the sensors and ripped the wires out of the same sensor as you. Was there enough room to solder the existing wires back on and still get the sensor back in? Or did you have to run new wires or extend them in some way?

Mine ripped completely out of the harness and I had to completely take apart the wiring harness and basically rebuild it. I cut the wire and extended it with new wire by a couple inches to get some new and good wire to go into the harness. I then resoldered the new wires on the little metal clips that are inside the harness then put everything back together so it still looks stock. I also wrapped up the new wiring with electrical tape and lumen. It was a big pain in the ass. It took me an hour just to do that.
 
#38 ·
Mine ripped completely out of the harness and I had to completely take apart the wiring harness and basically rebuild it. I cut the wire and extended it with new wire by a couple inches to get some new and good wire to go into the harness. I then resoldered the new wires on the little metal clips that are inside the harness then put everything back together so it still looks stock. I also wrapped up the new wiring with electrical tape and lumen. It was a big pain in the ass. It took me an hour just to do that.

Oh ok, ya that's a bit worse than mine. Mine ripped out right at the connector pretty much so I think (hope) there is enough extra wire slack to just re attach the connector pins with solder and be done with it. I would think they leave a little extra slack in the wire.
 
#41 ·
Some notes from my (incomplete) experience. Working alone, I spent 5 long evenings removing the transmission (2004, SC, 4x4); I'm not particularly fast but as OP suggested, it is a lot of complex work.

OP asked early on about removing the "sheet metal" which is also called an inspection plate, my FSM calls it the "rear plate cover". To remove this, as it says in the FSM, you have to remove the 2 gussets connecting the AT to the engine on each side; 2 bolts on the transmission, 2 on the engine for each gusset. I don't believe you can remove the bolts "through the starter hole" as was suggested; you have to remove this plate.

More recently, posters mentioned pulling the wires out of the crankshaft position sensor. I read these posts before pulling the AT and still ripped the wires out of the sensor. I thought they were talking about the "turbine revolution sensor" which I now realize you don't have to pull out; you disconnect the wire harness from under the hood and the wires come out with the AT. The CPS is hidden behind a metal plate (looking from aft); another plate on the same bolt holds the driver post cat O2 sensor (which I almost ripped out because I didn't know it was connected here, might have damaged the wires). The FSM doesn't mention the CPS in the transmission chapter. My Chilton manual mentioned it but I just thought it was also talking about the TRS.


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You don't have to remove the TRS (or the revolution sensor) like I did. The wire for the CPS is so short, I'm not sure I could have avoided pulling them anyway. You may be able to crawl on the engine and unbolt it from above. I'll snoop around to see if I can gain some length in the wire by removing plastic mounts, if not, I'll solder more wire. Or better, I should just put a connector there.

I avoided removing any exhaust components by removing the transfer case first; the FSM said to pull the AT and transfer all together, Chilton said separate them. The passenger cat did get in the way a lot; I couldn't get the cooling lines out and the dipstick tube was difficult to remove because of this. I was able to rotate the longer cooling line out of the way like Scott shows in his video above. If you want to minimize exhaust work, maybe just remove the passenger cat. The driver cat and the y-tube rarely got in my way.

Sitting on a transmission jack, it took some manipulating to get the transmission from under the vehicle. The front of the vehicle was on jack stands at the highest setting; I put the floor jack on the rear axle and lifted about 19 inches.

I played a long game of Tetris to remove the starter. It ultimately came straight down. I wanted to leave it up there but it kept interfering with me trying to Jenga the cooling lines out which I never accomplished.

Over the next few days I'll rebuild the transmission, resolve an oil leak (I hope it is the rear main seal), maybe change the post cat O2 sensors, paint the oil pan (rust caused by a head gasket leak under the manifold which I just found while toying with the starter), repair the sensor connector, etc.
 
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