Nissan Repair: Nissan Altima 1994, nissan altima 1994, oil change shop

Question
Hello! I have an Altima 1994 in very good condition, it has only 102K miles and never gives me any trouble, 100% reliable. I will not change my Altima for any other new fancier car!

I keep a maintenance log with several columns like for example, for oil change:

Date   WorkDone Place Mileage NextDue
------ -------- ----- ------- -------
4/1/04 Oil chg. Jiffy 102K    105K

So I know that the next transmission maint. is not due yet. I went to a place to do an oil chg., and the technician came to me and showed me a glass tube with very dirty transmission fluid and told me that it was from my car and that it needed a transmission job as soon as possible.

I told him that such a maintenance wasn't due yet, that I drive very carefully and it was odd that the liquid was so dark, and I didn't do it. When the car needs a transmission job I take it to a place that specializes in transmissions, if needs breaks, I take it to Midas, etc. I don't do any repair in a quick oil-change shop.

When I came home I took a paper towel, pulled out the transmission liquid stick, and cleaned it up with the paper towel. It barely stained the paper at all, it was like a very light pink! Even the color faded away when it dried so it was almost impossible to tell the paper towell was used!

I believe this guy wanted to trick me into an unnecessary repair. Is there any other place where he could have taken a sample of the transmission fluid besides the stick? Like a kind of transmission-system "carter" where this fluid is deposited, maybe there it can be more polluted? (I didn't see the technician disassemble anything)...

Thanks in advance,

Rick

Answer
Some shops do things that we question and I think you were right to question this one.  Your fluid would have to been drawn out to show you it in a glass tube.  My guess is that it was a sales ploy.  I would stick to your maintenance routine.  Now, you understand that anything over 100K to 150K is good for a transmission.  So, if it gives up in the next few years I would not be surprised.  I have three Nissan cars that I personally own and have had too many to count before these.  And, that is just my opinion on the life of a Nissan automatic.