hello all i'm new to this forum i hope this is the right place to ask this question. i am looking for a chip that will increase the overall performance (mostly for towing) of my pathfinder. i live in California so i would like something that's easy to remove when smog time comes around.

Thank you in advance.

bill

I’m with you when it comes to that question, so also await an answer from others. This is my favorite PathFinder forum. I could find no one that changes the shift points or force a torq converter lock-up for 4th gear either. I had a shop tweak those things on my old 98 Tahoe, but seems this transmission is so highly engineered that no one wants to change settings. I have noticed that it does not fully disengage going down a grade, but throw it into “N” and just watch the MPG’s climb. If you look at the trans section of the manual (found on a sticky here), you will see that the computer commands the TQ converter to do percentages of lock-up at various times. Have heard of some mods that can be done to firm it up, but will wait till it dies the death. Haven’t heard when that occurs on these units (except when the radiator & trans fluid mix). However, the GM Tahoe’s usually give up the ghost at ~100K (like mine did).

I will tell you that I installed a VOLO Performance FS3 at the OBD2 port wires. An email response from the company explains: “The chip reads the ECU and only the ECU's calculated fuel delivery and timing values are altered.” It takes ~120 miles for your computer to accept the new values. It does increase my mileage by an actual 8-10%.

Hey, I don't have this yet, but I've heard great reviews.

http://www.bullydog.com/search_vehicle. ... hicle.y=10

CPLTECH wrote:I’m with you when it comes to that question, so also await an answer from others. This is my favorite PathFinder forum. I could find no one that changes the shift points or force a torq converter lock-up for 4th gear either. I had a shop tweak those things on my old 98 Tahoe, but seems this transmission is so highly engineered that no one wants to change settings. I have noticed that it does not fully disengage going down a grade, but throw it into “N” and just watch the MPG’s climb. .

This is the same trans that goes into the Armada/Titan as well. From what I understand, these models provide a tow mode that does lock up the T/C in 4th.

What would happen if we swapped a TCU from an Armada/Titan into the V6 path? Would need to run a wire and switch for the tow mode, but other than that? Its a little out there, and may not work at all, but I wonder....

so to be clear. The Transmission in my 4.0 L Pathfinder is the same one that is used in the titan ? could someone confirm this?

Definitely the samem. Model # RE505A. Used on Xterra, Path, Frontier, Armada, and Titan.

I would imagine the tcm (if it is indeed separate from the pcm in this model) is the same unit used in the armada and titan. so, you just have to find the pin out diagram for the tcm and hook up a wire and momentary switch.

just sayin I will look for diagrams

07' pathfinder




07' titan



need to find the unified meter control unit and see if it has extra pin outs.

Before someone puts in a switch, I am going out on a limb and say the following are just my assumptions until we here from a trans tech, but some info I have come across is that these valves work by the amount of voltage sent by the computer(?) and are never full 12v ON like the old days. The valve bodies run ~$900-1K so don’t fry it. Because the valves can give percentages of “open” it must be that the voltages (or current loop) fluctuate. I had a taste of proportional valves used in plastic injection machines and the voltage in (or was it a 4-20ma current loop instead?) determined the flow output. And then you have switches shown in the diagram that provide a path to grand for various integrated circuits. Hopefully that would present no complications.

As for the Bully Dog Tuner, it does not adjust the following for the Nissan products:
Transmission Tuning and/or Adjust Transmission Shift Points (auto transmission).

Here again, I just figure that it takes a Nissan engineer to explain this. Could it be that it is so complicated that it is not worth someone’s time nor interest to hack into its innermost secrets?

When I had my 98 Tahoe, a shop I used had a computer to access engine & trans info & could & did change the values. Why have we not heard something similar from Nissan techs? Could it be these are so finely tuned already that any adjustments may cause a self-destruction? That is the general feeling I get. It is what it is, expect no more.

End of rant…

See: http://www.gearsmagazine.com/view.ashx? ... 63e3342e7b

While i can see your point, I disagree. Assuming the unified meter control box is the same from the pathfinder to the armada the switch will only be telling the meter box to send the correct signal to the transmission. I would hope that no one would just hook up a 12v switch to a random wire on a computer controlled trans.

next, the program that the GM guys use is called LS1 edit. which was originally made for the corvette guys, but someone down the line realized that GM was using the same PCM's in ALL of their vehicles. so all of a sudden they could tune anything.

anyway, there are a few factors as to why there is no current tuning for the Nissan trans. the first thing is if Nissan is making changes from one year to the next on the TCM it does not make it worth it for a tuning company to release a chip that works on 1 model year TCM. the other factor is how large of a market will there really be for a new program. I would venture to say that there is not a huge amount of people that customize the pathfinder when compared to the people who just drive it for a few years and trade it in. to back that up look around, how many bolt on exhaust systems are out there for the pathfinder? Headers? there is about 3 intake kits and the R51 has been out for what 6 years?

I digress, I personally dont have any motivation to try to mess with the transmission. I simply posted the diagrams that i have easy access to at work and if someone can make something of it then great until then i will just sit back and watch.

Digging up an old thread here as food for thought on a future project. Has anybody come up with anything new on this subject? I'm thinking that I might be able to switch out the Unified Meter Control Unit with one from an Armada or Titan. If that works, then it should give me a viable tow mode and way to lock up the T/C for better MPG on highway. Any thoughts on the matter?

The PF trans is a highly engineered unit that few if any aftermarket tuners dare to touch. I often wondered since the 4th gear clutch used is the slightly smaller of this dual clutch system that they preferred to let it slip. Not sure. Is this why other mfg’s went to a 6sp trans? For 2013 the PF uses a CVT.

From my files:
For detailed info start at Page 94, http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/xterra/2009_Xterra/TM.pdf

Quote from ? ? ? “When dealing with the RE5R05A automatic transmissions, it's important to know that they are all not the same. There are several different part numbers and several different valve bodies depending on year, model, and trim level of vehicle. For example, in 2006 there are three different part numbers for the automatic transmission in the Pathfinder 4WD: one for the SE Off-road, one for the non off-road SE and XE and another number for the LE. It's not an easy transmission to rebuild and best left to an experienced transmission rebuilder.”

Hm, then it probably won't like getting commands that a Titan transmission would get. Well, it was worth a shot, but I don't feel like taking that kind of risk.