That's IT, Nissan's R51 Radiator/Transmissions SUCK

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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disallow
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Postby disallow » Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:57 pm

smj999smj wrote:I just ordered a new, aftermarket radiator with a lifetime warranty and free shipping from E-bay for $90. For me, it's cheap insurance.
What's their policy for consequential damages? IE It leaks and takes out your transmission?


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Postby smj999smj » Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:22 am

disallow wrote:
smj999smj wrote:I just ordered a new, aftermarket radiator with a lifetime warranty and free shipping from E-bay for $90. For me, it's cheap insurance.
What's their policy for consequential damages? IE It leaks and takes out your transmission?
It's limited to the radiator, as far as I can tell. I'll post the warranty conditions below. That said, the only automatic transmission coolers that are failing are the ones in the Nissan radiators. You don't ever hear anybody complaining about the coolers failing in aftermarket radiators, do you? And if I bought a new "updated" radiator from Nissan for four times the price and then some of the one I purchased, it wouldn't cover consequental damage to the trans if that one failed, either!

WARRANTY:

Limited Lifetime Warranty:
PartsExpress warrants our radiators and condensers, under normal use and service, for as long as the original purchaser owns the vehicle in which the radiator was originally installed. PartsExpress’s warranty of its products to be free of all defects in material and workmanship, as limited herein, shall be in lieu of, and exclusive of, all other warranties, except warranties implied by law. This warranty covers any parts furnished by PartsExpress, but does not include labor and materials of any kind not furnished by PartsExpress. This warranty is extended to and enforceable only by the first purchaser at retail.

This warranty limits the remedy of repair or replacement of any defective radiators at the discretion of PartsExpress. Purchasers remedy does not include any unauthorized labor, material, or transportation charges.

This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may have other rights that vary from state to state. Some states do not allow limitations on implied warranties and/or limitations or incidental or consequential damages, so some of the limitations above may not apply to you.

Purchaser must first arbitrate any dispute or claim arising out of the breach of this warranty agreement, under the arbitration laws of the State of California and the rules of the American Arbitration Association, prior to commencing any lawsuit against the company.

Please email us with the digital photo for warranty claims.

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disallow
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Postby disallow » Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:39 am

smj999smj wrote:
disallow wrote: What's their policy for consequential damages? IE It leaks and takes out your transmission?
It's limited to the radiator, as far as I can tell. I'll post the warranty conditions below.


Yep, I agree. No consequential damages, just the replacement radiator.
That said, the only automatic transmission coolers that are failing are the ones in the Nissan radiators. You don't ever hear anybody complaining about the coolers failing in aftermarket radiators, do you?


I don't think we have enough data to draw this conclusion. In fact, a quick google search would show you are mistaken. This is a very common failure mode, and it is not limited to Nissan vehicles.

That being said, it may prove fruitful to ask the company you are buying the radiator from if they take any special measures to ensure this failure mode does not occur.
And if I bought a new "updated" radiator from Nissan for four times the price and then some of the one I purchased, it wouldn't cover consequental damage to the trans if that one failed, either!
The only way I could see this (and I'm not recommending this route), would be if the dealer installed it. However, I don't think they usually warranty workmanship or parts for more than 12 months, so not that helpful I guess.

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Postby smj999smj » Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:12 pm

Yeah, Nissan warranties parts and labor for 12 months/12000 miles. If I had them do it using genuine Nissan parts, I'd be looking at paying over $700 by the time they got done and hope the person working on the vehicle was a good technician and not some idiot (I'm a former Nissan master tech and after 16 years working for Nissan, I can tell you they hire all kinds! "Dealer service" like any shop is only as good as the technician that works on your car.). I can do it myself and know that it's done right, which cost me nothing out of pocket. The radiator cost me $90, plus I'll spend another $45 on parts, which include the genuine Nissan foam seals for the radiator, Nissan antifreeze and a genuine Nissan thermostat. So, I'm looking at $135 compared to over $700 ($800 if I included the 'stat) and I'm getting a radiator with a limited lifetime warranty compared to the dealer part (made by Calsonic, the ones who made the problem-prone radiators we're dealing with) which has a 12 month warranty. While there's always a chance that the cooler could fail in the aftermarket unit, as anything can happen, I feel pretty confident about the odds. In 30 years of being an auto technician, I've seen more than a couple of aftermarket rads not fit as good as OEM and have to be modified slightly, but I never had one return for a cooler line failure. Also, most of the aftermarket radiators I've gotten for Nissans have been descent in quality and have "appeared" to be every good as their OEM counterpart. I've never had only problems with them that I can remember, anyway. I think I'm making the right choice.

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Postby smj999smj » Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:21 pm

Got my new radiator, today. Took three days from when I ordered it, shipped to VA from CA via FedEx. Nothing special to report....it's a radiator, made in China, but not much isn't made in China, these days! Appears well constructed, but I guess time will tell. Still waiting for the rest of my stuff from Nissan. Hopefully I can find some time in early May to install it!

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Postby disallow » Thu May 03, 2012 6:15 am

have you had a chance to install it yet? How'd it go?

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Postby smj999smj » Fri May 04, 2012 6:46 pm

No, I was going to do it this weekend. I had ordered the foam seals for the radiator, Nissan antifreeze and thermostat and I'm still waiting for them to deliver the parts to the shop.

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Postby smj999smj » Tue May 29, 2012 11:17 pm

UPDATE: Had the tensioner bolt break for the primary timing chain (I think the person who put the updated upper tensioner shoes on before I purchased it may have overtightened it), so while I had it apart, I installed my new radiator. The radiator, itself, was fine, but it is a real pain to remove and install. There are brackets that bolt onto the sides of the radiator which have the mounting pegs and also contain the mounting peg holes for the AC condenser. The difficult part is getting the radiator out while trying to maneuver the brackets around the high pressure lines going to the condenser AND not damaging the condenser and radiator cores in the process. Installing it, I attached only the right side bracket to the radiator and installed the left bracket into the vehicle prior to dropping in the radiator, so I could more easily maneuver the radiator between the condenser line, then install it to the mounting bracket after I got past said lines. It worked a bit better, but was still a pain. I also noticed the aftermarket radiator petcock had a different thread pitch than the OEM. This didn't create a problem, but something to remember if sometime down the road it breaks and needs to be replaced. Otherwise it was physically identical to the OEM in terms of fitment. As far as the foam seals, two of them are attached to the side brackets and the top and bottom are attached to the radiator. I don't think I could have transferred the old ones over to the new radiator and those on the brackets were pretty tore up by the time I got the radiator out. How much of a difference they make in the cooling performance is questionable, but it did make for a much more professional looking job, not that man would notice. I'm a bit picky when it comes to my own vehicle. Another thing, the Nissan dealer I got the parts from, for whatever reason, had a difficult time getting genuine Nissan antifreeze to me. I ended up using Walmart's "works in all vehicles" coolant mixed with distilled water. I'm sure it'll be fine. When I get the Nissan stuff, I'll shelf it until the next time I service the coolant.

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Postby disallow » Wed May 30, 2012 2:37 am

For coolant, I use Honda Premix. Many Nissan tuners use this product in their altimas, maximas and 350s. Its colored blue, and is borate and silicate free, which is usually something that the 'works in all vehicles' stuff cannot claim.

Whether being borate and silicate free is important on the VQ40, I have no idea. But I have been running this coolant for 3yrs with no issues now in the path, and 10 yrs+ in my hondas. Honda enthusiasts call the green stuff 'hondacide', really hard on water pumps.

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count me in

Postby mwetzel394 » Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:43 pm

Count me in Carl,

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Postby cruzstyle » Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:21 am

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