Hello everyone:

I just purchased a used 2008 Pathfinder SE V8 last week (120700 mi). I came from owning a 1998 Jeep GrandCherokee (198800 mi) for over 9 years and this is my first Nissan purchase. The Pathfinder came nicely loaded (18' wheels, SE Premium Package, DVD Entertainment system) but I am little worried about the relative high mileage (have never previously bought a car with more than 60k or owned a V8 ). I have also learned about the dreaded transmission issues in this forum so I am looking into doing a by-pass soon (even if it appears that 2008 do not suffer from it as often, at least not showing up yet).

Located in Southeastern PA.

Cheers,

IK

nice to meet you. I am new as well, and a new Nissan owner! I bought mine with 142,000 I am nervous about the trans thing as well. I have a scheduled flush for Friday and I hoping for a good report.

IntenseKarst wrote:Hello everyone:

I just purchased a used 2008 Pathfinder SE V8 last week (120700 mi). I came from owning a 1998 Jeep GrandCherokee (198800 mi) for over 9 years and this is my first Nissan purchase. The Pathfinder came nicely loaded (18' wheels, SE Premium Package, DVD Entertainment system) but I am little worried about the relative high mileage (have never previously bought a car with more than 60k or owned a V8 ). I have also learned about the dreaded transmission issues in this forum so I am looking into doing a by-pass soon (even if it appears that 2008 do not suffer from it as often, at least not showing up yet).

Located in Southeastern PA.

Cheers,

IK

If you read a little deeper, there are some 08's and IIRC 09's that have shown the problem.

Definitely do the by-pass. As far as the V8, that thing is literally bullet proof, seen more than 1 titan with 300,000+ mi. It doesn't get the best mileage but that's probably not why you bought it. One thing I've noticed is that even after adding lift/tires and a lot more accessories/weight, the MPG's didn't go down as much as I thought. I still manage 13.7 or so.

Here's a great how-to on the by-pass for an 08 V8.

http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... f4dd7a00bd

@cleekmomma: Good to meet a fellow new owner as well!

@NmexMAX:
Thanks for the advice, I had a chance to dig into the forum and found the reports of a few 08's, 09's and even '10 Pathfinder with the milkshake issue.

The only thing at this point that is keeping me from pulling the trigger for the bypass is that I think my Pathfinder may already have a "revised" rad model. The part number of the rad that came with my used Pathfinder is 21460-9CA2E which appears to be the successor to the problematic original rads in the 05-06 range (21460-EA215 and 21460-EA265; thanks to user smj999smj for posting that info). So, if the revised rad model was fixed of their manufacturing defect, then maybe I am in the clear and do not need to do the by-pass?

The other related thing is that, according to Carfax, the previous owner was VERY conscientious about taking care of this vehicle and it appears that he/she took this vehicle for normal service to the same Nissan dealership every 3-6 months! (I am assuming of course that the previous owner was NOT visiting the dealership so consistently due to repeated problems). Man, what I would love to get a copy of the service records from the dealer! In that way I could see if they replaced the radiator (and transmission) already with the new parts.... It would save me money and give me some peace of mind.

IK

You can probably get the service records from the dealer. Its worth a try.