Possible save for your transmission

Discussion topics related to the radiator and transmission failures in all Nissan trucks, education of the public on this issue, and attempts to force Nissan to start a recall.

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oldskaterat
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Possible save for your transmission

Postby oldskaterat » Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:52 am

I have a 05 Pathfinder LE, at 115000 I started noticing it shifting harsh in and out of Overdrive. It was due for a service so I drained the fluid, You can only drain about 4 quarts at a time. It looked like strawberry milk brains! So I knew it was the dreaded radiator breach. the LE actually has a remote trailer tow transmission cooler, so I just by-passed the internal radiator cooler and am only using the remote cooler. and then ran a hose from port to port at the bottom of the radiator to prevent coolant from leaking out. then I went and bought 2 cases of Japanese certified fluid "Transmax", and flushed 20 quarts of fluid through it, 4 quarts in, drive around block, drain, fill, around block again. until the fluid was clean. Then I purchased 12 quarts of Mobil 1 transmission fluid. I did the same flush until all 12 quarts were used. Now at 230000 my transmission still shifts perfectly, I have towed trailers over 11000' passes and she just keeps on truck'in!!! M4C


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porksoda
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Postby porksoda » Sun Jan 15, 2017 3:08 pm

Awesome! I am glad you caught it before it got worse. Mine was too late when it happened. I was in Tucumcari,NM when mine went out. Then luckily the dealership I purchased the Pathfinder from helped with the repair cost.

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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Sun Jan 15, 2017 6:46 pm

All North American, R51 Pathfinders have an auxiliary cooler, not just the LE trim. Hopefully, the flushing will work. Often in such circumstances, the shift solenoids will start acting up down the road once they've been contaminated.

trailrunner
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2010 Pathfinder S 4x4 Radiator breach

Postby trailrunner » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:22 am

2010 Pathfinder S 4x4, and I have the same radiator breach at 125,000 miles :cry: . Thing is I had truck serviced at a Nissan dealership right before a trip: radiator drain and flush, trans drain and flush. Put 2000 miles on it, and transmission started shifting hard. Dealership now wants $5000 to replace everything; no offer of assistance, and actually accused me of bringing it to them with a pre-existing problem. Wasn't so as far as I know. They never mentioned while it was in for service, nor can I find in any service manuals I can find, any mileage on these vehicles at which the radiator is supposed to be replaced. Had I known I should I would have put a $300 radiator on while it was at the dealer. Glad to see you may have salvaged yours by doing some flushing of your own; perhaps I'll replace the radiator and hoses and try flushing my trans myself before I shell out for another vehicle. Knowing what I know now, the next ride unfortunately will be a break from Nissan for a while. Loved both my X and Path, but I'm not ever breaking the 150,000 mile mark with these. I've been through two while wife's Highlander is sailing at 200,000 miles.

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smj999smj
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Re: 2010 Pathfinder S 4x4 Radiator breach

Postby smj999smj » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:10 am

trailrunner wrote:2010 Pathfinder S 4x4, and I have the same radiator breach at 125,000 miles :cry: . Thing is I had truck serviced at a Nissan dealership right before a trip: radiator drain and flush, trans drain and flush. Put 2000 miles on it, and transmission started shifting hard. Dealership now wants $5000 to replace everything; no offer of assistance, and actually accused me of bringing it to them with a pre-existing problem. Wasn't so as far as I know. They never mentioned while it was in for service, nor can I find in any service manuals I can find, any mileage on these vehicles at which the radiator is supposed to be replaced. Had I known I should I would have put a $300 radiator on while it was at the dealer. Glad to see you may have salvaged yours by doing some flushing of your own; perhaps I'll replace the radiator and hoses and try flushing my trans myself before I shell out for another vehicle. Knowing what I know now, the next ride unfortunately will be a break from Nissan for a while. Loved both my X and Path, but I'm not ever breaking the 150,000 mile mark with these. I've been through two while wife's Highlander is sailing at 200,000 miles.
You won't find anything in any manual as far as a replacement interval for the radiator, because there is none. It is typically not a part that is replaced as "preventative maintenance," however, because of the number of cooler seal failures that have occured in the original, factory-installed radiators of 05-10 Pathfinders/Frontiers/Xterras, it has become a matter of preventative maintenance to avoid the possibility of have the cooler fail and cross-contamination of coolant/trans fluid. Once the original radiator is replaced with an aftermarket or updated Nissan or Nissan value line radiator, the chances of cooler failure become much less likely an on par with any other vehicle's radiator.
Nissan did extend the warranty of these radiators to 8-years/80,000 miles, covering subsequent damage caused by their failure. Later, they updated the extension with price caps for damage at both 90,000 miles and 100,000 miles. Unfortunately, you are outside of that range as far as mileage. You could try arguing your case to Nissan's customer service hotline @ 1-800-NISSAN-1 or to the general manager of the Nissan dealer where you have your service done; don't hold your breath, but sometimes the squeaky wheel does get some grease!

trailrunner
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Transmission and Coolant Intermix - Follow-Up

Postby trailrunner » Tue May 02, 2017 7:36 am

I by-passed the dealership and reached out to Nissan Customer Care. They state that they took into account that their extended warranty for the affected vehicle class terminated at 100,000 miles. Based on the fact that I'm at 125,000 miles I'm outside the extended warranty period, and due to the nature of the ruling in a class-action lawsuit they're not in a position to assist at all in my repairs. My only argument with Customer Care was that the dealer knew or should have known about the defect in the original radiator and should have recommended replacement even though it was going to be at my expense, but the only recommended service when I picked up my Pathy was new tires. I already had an appointment at Discount Tire for the next day! So, I've got a dead Path with new tires, new battery, and new pads and rotors. Could argue one more time with local dealership. Perhaps I'll replace my radiator and get a shop to rebuild the tranny. Maybe I'll go all-out and drop a rebuilt V8 in there while the thing is in pieces!

TheHawk!
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Postby TheHawk! » Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:02 pm

If any of you were interested in a fix to save the TCM or are interested in a pre programmed OEM NISSAN VB/tcm shoot me a PM a saved quite a few TCM‘s so for doing a bench repair and replacing all the Solenoids as the o rings swell and Make the Sillen Noyd it’s almost impossible to get out without breaking that is three of them the other three have metal nipples and usually survive

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palmerwmd
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Postby palmerwmd » Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:15 pm

TheHawk! wrote:If any of you were interested in a fix to save the TCM or are interested in a pre programmed OEM NISSAN VB/tcm shoot me a PM a saved quite a few TCM‘s so for doing a bench repair and replacing all the Solenoids as the o rings swell and Make the Sillen Noyd it’s almost impossible to get out without breaking that is three of them the other three have metal nipples and usually survive
I would really like it if we as a group developed a path forward to make the fixes less expensive.

TheHawk!
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Postby TheHawk! » Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:19 pm

If any of you were interested in a fix to save the TCM or are interested in a pre programmed OEM NISSAN VB/tcm shoot me a PM a saved quite a few TCM‘s so for doing a bench repair and replacing all the Solenoids as the o rings swell and Make the Sillen Noyd it’s almost impossible to get out without breaking that is three of them the other three have metal nipples and usually survive

TheHawk!
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Postby TheHawk! » Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:28 pm

So long story short I’m in ASE Master tech and I’m also a Japanese car manufacturer master tech that’s certified to work on an electric car and a high performance AWD corvette killer cough cough and I have my own factory scan tool along with a programing kit that I can ship out to do the program but it’s easiest for me to just do it using my pathfinder if a new valve body is installed even if the TCM fuses blowing I can usually save them for about half what the valve body cost. As long as it hasn’t been driven long enough to where the torque converter shattering and the transmission is slipping badly you can put a valve body in blush a couple of cases of fluid through it and Truck On. The path of that I just scored my most recent 08 S for 2500 bucks with a new set of tires old man email with kit DVD player in the – plus a ton more stuff and I ended up saving the TCM and all in all I’ve got lan awesome family rig and have the maintenance records since 20,000 miles so I don’t plan on ever need to do the secondary shoes but if I have to it’s only about a 3 hr jobbb


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