RE4R03A / RL4R01A / 3N71

Jatco's older rear-drive automatics for Nissan — the three-speed 3N71 and the four-speed RE4R03A and RL4R01A — in the Patrol, Pathfinder, Navara, 300ZX and Maxima.

The three-speed's missing gear is the commonest complaint and is not a fault. A 3N71 has no overdrive; the engine is busy at motorway speed because there is nothing above direct drive, and no amount of scanning will find a fourth ratio.

On the four-speeds the recurring failure is the overdrive band and the direct clutch, presenting as a flare only in top gear at a steady speed. A slip that appears solely on the motorway is describing a band, not a tired transmission, and it is a much smaller job.

The RL4R01A is the light version for the smaller engines and the RE4R03A the heavier; they appear in overlapping years and their parts do not interchange.

Fluid is Nissan Matic-D and these predate sealed-for-life entirely, so the interval was specified and is simply often skipped. On vehicles this old the fluid's history is the first thing to establish and usually the cheapest thing to fix.

The 3N71 is a three-speed and the RE4R03A and RL4R01A are fours. The three-speed is the ancestor and survived in light commercials long after the four had replaced it in cars.