PC05 wrote:THis is what made me call foul. Rep said that there is two kinds of tranny cooler on the pathfinders, one is internal to the rad and one is external, wifes has the external one and they have not seen any of those go bad up to this point as it is all of the internal ones. HE said he did not know why that was the case and why certain pathys got either one over the other when they were built. HE did say that fluid did need changing.

What do you guys think?

all 2005+ Pathfinders have two transmission coolers
one is external, and is situated in front of the radiator
the external coolers have not (to my knowledge) had any problems at all
the other cooler is the internal cooler, which is part of the radiator (bottom of the radiator - inside of it)
the internal radiator coolers are the ones, which, when they fail, allow coolant/transmission fluid cross contamination, resulting in transmission damage
this problem is most common, but not necessarily limited to the early production units
none of the Pathys got one or the other, they all got both.............

Sounds to me like they spoke too soon the first time before they actually diagnosed the problem and now they are trying to back pedal to try and "re-assure" you that you don't really need a new tranny. They don't think that you'll know that the vehicle actually does have 2 coolers.

How many miles are on your trany fluid now? I changed mine at 50k and it was pretty dirty.

Well, after finding nail in one tiere the total after I haggled was 359 OTD,

They performed tranny flush and put in BG stuff and some other thing. Tested the fluid and no coolant was found.

replaced battery terminal and some other grounding point parts that were loose and corroded.


The problem is resolved, no more slipping and rumble strip feeling and it is not throwing codes anymore so I guess its all ok at this point. I guess I better learn to do the bypass. I spoke to a mechanic about this and he said it would probably be a good idea once I hit the 80k mark which is when warranty runs out.

Oh they did give me 4 free factory oil filters also.

eieio wrote:

PC05 wrote:THis is what made me call foul. Rep said that there is two kinds of tranny cooler on the pathfinders, one is internal to the rad and one is external, wifes has the external one and they have not seen any of those go bad up to this point as it is all of the internal ones. HE said he did not know why that was the case and why certain pathys got either one over the other when they were built. HE did say that fluid did need changing.

What do you guys think?

all 2005+ Pathfinders have two transmission coolers
one is external, and is situated in front of the radiator
the external coolers have not (to my knowledge) had any problems at all
the other cooler is the internal cooler, which is part of the radiator (bottom of the radiator - inside of it)
the internal radiator coolers are the ones, which, when they fail, allow coolant/transmission fluid cross contamination, resulting in transmission damage
this problem is most common, but not necessarily limited to the early production units
none of the Pathys got one or the other, they all got both.............

Thanks I did not know that or if I did I forgot. so basically their idiots.

pawjr74 wrote:Sounds to me like they spoke too soon the first time before they actually diagnosed the problem and now they are trying to back pedal to try and "re-assure" you that you don't really need a new tranny. They don't think that you'll know that the vehicle actually does have 2 coolers.

How many miles are on your trany fluid now? I changed mine at 50k and it was pretty dirty.

Just changed today for the first time at 65k, it was nasty but no contamination.

I knew better than to let it go this long, wife has had two maximas prior to this one and I flushed those every 30k.

PC05 wrote: so basically their idiots.

unfortunately, yes............
and this is a textbook example of why people have no trust or confidence in many dealerships

I'm definitely going to do another trans fluid replacement right at the 80K mark (when the radiator warranty expires) and I'm still undecided on the bypass. I live in Phoenix where the temps are extreme. I haven't seen enough data yet to convince me that there is proper cooling without the radiator in the loop. I may just do a radiator replacement at 80k.

pawjr74 wrote:I'm definitely going to do another trans fluid replacement right at the 80K mark (when the radiator warranty expires) and I'm still undecided on the bypass. I live in Phoenix where the temps are extreme. I haven't seen enough data yet to convince me that there is proper cooling without the radiator in the loop. I may just do a radiator replacement at 80k.

either that or I am seriously considering buying an ext. warranty for this thing. Wife loves the car but apparently they are flawed in lots of areas.

I bought my 07 with 52k on it. I have an extended warranty till 100k. I debated on doing the bypass but i do tow a decent amount and also use 4wd year round on the beach, off roading etc... so needless to say with the info i have seen im going to hold off till the warranty expires and then replace the rad then. Once the weather warms up ill be doing a trans flush.

mar1 wrote:

i-man wrote:2008

i have the 2008. reroute not needed.

i live in a country with summers reaching 130F, and i offroad to the extent the engine cries.. no issues at all with tranny.

Well, as far as I know you the pathfinders in the middle east come straight from Japan, with no known atf radiator coolant problems!

nope. gcc specs, american built.

check your VIN,

first 3 characters tell which country its made in.

JN1,3,6,8 means japan
1N4,6 means USA
3N1 means Mexico

mar1 wrote:nope. gcc specs, american built.

check your VIN,

first 3 characters tell which country its made in.

JN1,3,6,8 means japan
1N4,6 means USA
3N1 means Mexico

Ok. Thanks. I bought mine here in MI. But I was referring to the ones in the middle east in general. I know some relatives of mine their pathys are Japanese-built, and to be frank with you I haven't heard of this coolant leak problem in the middle east, only here in North America! I guess Nissan uses a different radiator supplier here in the US!

I am shipping mine with me (which voids the warranty) and will be doing the bypass soon even though I have less than 15k miles on the truck!

mar1 wrote:nope. gcc specs, american built.

check your VIN,

first 3 characters tell which country its made in.

JN1,3,6,8 means japan
1N4,6 means USA
3N1 means Mexico

Nissan builds the PFs only in Smyrna, TN and in Spain.

Well I finally decided to bypass the radiator trans cooler. I just bypassed the radiator and left the auxilary cooler in place. I was hesitant to do this but I have an 05 with over 83k miles so I am out of warranty, even the extended warranty on the radiator/trans cooler. I was hesitant to do the bypass but I didn't want to take the chance of having the replace the trans. I think the engineer in me will get a transmission temp guage to see how well the auxillary cooler is working and get an additional cooler if needed. I rarely tow and when I do its a light utility trailer. This forum is a great resource and seeing the amount of people having success with the bypass gave me the confidence to do it to.

I took a sample of AFT fluid that drained from the radiator. It seemed to be in good condition and free of coolant, indicating my radiator is not leaking.

NYPathfinder wrote:I bought my 07 with 52k on it. I have an extended warranty till 100k. I debated on doing the bypass but i do tow a decent amount and also use 4wd year round on the beach, off roading etc... so needless to say with the info i have seen im going to hold off till the warranty expires and then replace the rad then. Once the weather warms up ill be doing a trans flush.

is this pretty common? wait until the 80k extension runs out then do the bypass or radiator swap?