The Nissan Path

Hello friends. Well, color me HEARTSICK. My beloved Pathfinder has 147,000+ miles on it, and yesterday my mechanic confirmed what I suspected - the transmission is shot. He has been keeping it on life support for a year now, but it's time to make a decision - do I spend $3800 to have the transmission rebuilt, or do I call it a day and use that money to get a new vehicle? I LOVE my Pathfinder, and there is little else wrong with it at this time. New tires last year, brakes are great, I have been faithful and timely with oil changes and all services. When is it worth it, and when is it throwing good money after bad?

trifioso wrote:Hello friends. Well, color me HEARTSICK. My beloved Pathfinder has 147,000+ miles on it, and yesterday my mechanic confirmed what I suspected - the transmission is shot. He has been keeping it on life support for a year now, but it's time to make a decision - do I spend $3800 to have the transmission rebuilt, or do I call it a day and use that money to get a new vehicle? I LOVE my Pathfinder, and there is little else wrong with it at this time. New tires last year, brakes are great, I have been faithful and timely with oil changes and all services. When is it worth it, and when is it throwing good money after bad?

what's wrong with the transmission? coolant damage? valve body?
what year is the truck? model? trim? 4WD?
what would an equivalent replacement cost?

Hi, and thanks so much for writing back....

what's wrong with the transmission? coolant damage? valve body?
It has been throwing out a list of codes for about a month now. The transmission guy cleared out all the fluid, which he said looked fine, and reset all the codes, but was also honest with me - the transmission was apparently part of a recall and copay situation, but at its current age and mileage that is long past being an option for me. He said to pray the reset held, but I didn't even make it home before the light was on again. The truck is now in fail safe mode, so accelerating from a standing position is like pulling a heavy load through fudge.

what year is the truck? model? trim? 4WD?

it's a 2009, pretty basic, not too many bells and whistles.Yes, it's a 4WD, no idea what else.

what would an equivalent replacement cost?[/quote]

From what I understand, the options are - rebuild the transmission at a cost of around $4k, try to find a replacement out of an old Pathfinder, not knowing the status of the recall/refurb there, or give up and try to find another vehicle.

trifioso wrote:Hi, and thanks so much for writing back....

what's wrong with the transmission? coolant damage? valve body?
It has been throwing out a list of codes for about a month now. The transmission guy cleared out all the fluid, which he said looked fine, and reset all the codes, but was also honest with me - the transmission was apparently part of a recall and copay situation, but at its current age and mileage that is long past being an option for me. He said to pray the reset held, but I didn't even make it home before the light was on again. The truck is now in fail safe mode, so accelerating from a standing position is like pulling a heavy load through fudge.

what year is the truck? model? trim? 4WD?

it's a 2009, pretty basic, not too many bells and whistles.Yes, it's a 4WD, no idea what else.

what would an equivalent replacement cost?

From what I understand, the options are - rebuild the transmission at a cost of around $4k, try to find a replacement out of an old Pathfinder, not knowing the status of the recall/refurb there, or give up and try to find another vehicle.[/quote]

have you had the truck since new?
has it ever suffered coolant contamination due to a defective radiator at any time?
this is important because if so, the trans is probably shot
however, if not, there are things that can go wrong with the trans that don't require an overhaul or replacement, such as solenoid failures in the trans valve body
do you know what the codes are, and have you personally researched them?
I'd try to pin down the options a bit better before assuming anything.

[
have you had the truck since new? I have had it since January of 2009, it had been owned for 8 months prior to that by a company that went banrupt. It was GORGEOUS when I bought it.

has it ever suffered coolant contamination due to a defective radiator at any time?

No.

this is important because if so, the trans is probably shot
however, if not, there are things that can go wrong with the trans that don't require an overhaul or replacement, such as solenoid failures in the trans valve body
do you know what the codes are, and have you personally researched them?

The codes are:
P0744 T.cc Solonoid
P0705 PNP switch/circuit wrong signal to T.CM
P1774 Low coast broken solonoid valve
P0731 First gear function
P0732 Second gear function
Turbine sensor
P0734 4th gear function
P0735 At 5 gear function

Sorry if there are any typos or whatnot, I am trying to decipher what the mechanic scribbled for me. I will look up each of the codes during my next class (I'm a teacher, but luckily giving a test today, so lots of quiet time)

I'd try to pin down the options a bit better before assuming anything.[/quote]

How is the body and frame? Is it a rust bucket?

If it's 4K for a rebuilt trans you need to ask yourself what can I buy used for 4K? ... Not much! ... Some used piece of sh--!

If it's in good shape other than the trans I say keep it.

Kestral wrote:How is the body and frame? Is it a rust bucket?

If it's 4K for a rebuilt trans you need to ask yourself what can I buy used for 4K? ... Not much! ... Some used piece of sh--!

If it's in good shape other than the trans I say keep it.

Bless, you, Kestral, that is EXACTLY what I am struggling with. New tires within the year, brakes are great, all service has been maintained, NO rust, due to mostly indoor garaging during NE winters. But.....how to know? Drop $4k and next week someone takes my front end off....the eternal gamble.

trifioso wrote:

Kestral wrote:How is the body and frame? Is it a rust bucket?

If it's 4K for a rebuilt trans you need to ask yourself what can I buy used for 4K? ... Not much! ... Some used piece of sh--!

If it's in good shape other than the trans I say keep it.

Bless, you, Kestral, that is EXACTLY what I am struggling with. New tires within the year, brakes are great, all service has been maintained, NO rust, due to mostly indoor garaging during NE winters. But.....how to know? Drop $4k and next week someone takes my front end off....the eternal gamble.

I know what you are saying but you could spend 10k on a nice used car and two months later the trans goes! You just never know.

How is the timing chain in your Pathy ever been replaced?

Kestral wrote:

trifioso wrote:

Kestral wrote:How is the body and frame? Is it a rust bucket?

If it's 4K for a rebuilt trans you need to ask yourself what can I buy used for 4K? ... Not much! ... Some used piece of sh--!

If it's in good shape other than the trans I say keep it.

Bless, you, Kestral, that is EXACTLY what I am struggling with. New tires within the year, brakes are great, all service has been maintained, NO rust, due to mostly indoor garaging during NE winters. But.....how to know? Drop $4k and next week someone takes my front end off....the eternal gamble.

I know what you are saying but you could spend 10k on a nice used car and two months later the trans goes! You just never know.

How is the timing chain in your Pathy ever been replaced?

I dont recall that it has been, no

trifioso wrote:[

has it ever suffered coolant contamination due to a defective radiator at any time?

No.

I think this is the key.
I can't remember anyone needing a trans rebuild that wasn't the result of coolant contamination.
I'd look really closely at the possibility of a new valve body or transmission control module or it's related wiring harness/connectors being the problem.
Study the codes and their meanings carefully.
The cost to repair may be far less than you are thinking.
The codes you list smack of valve body issues.

A lot of problems on non-contaminated RE5 transmissions occur because the pins on the valve body break. They can be repaired by removing the valve body, taking off the TCM and re-soldering the pins. There are YouTube vids that show the repair.

I had a valve body ( and only valve body) replaced at the dealer 1 year ago on my Xterra ( same transmission and engine as your gen Pathy).

Was 2200 at dealer.
They thru in the tranny fluid for free ( I was a good customer)

My 2006 Path is stuck in safe mode (3rd gear). O/D off light always on, reverse is full power and there are NO CODES??? Check Engine light is not on, no codes on OBDII scanner, I also took it to a friend at Tires Plus where they hooked it up to a Snap-on computer that was able to communicate with the transmission. They found no codes as well, said it must be a loose wire in the shifter. I removed the shifter & panels, found no issues. I disconnected the battery overnight and did the ECU relearn procedure.
Oh, this first started when I jump started the truck because I thought the battery was dead, but it just turned out to be a loose positive battery clamp. (didn't cross the wires or anything stupid)
Checked all fuses & relays.

Trifl: Do you have an update for us?

Consider taking the truck to a 2nd opinion place.
Even if the tranny is 100% done ( and I am not sure it is) it may still be way more cost effective to keep the vehicle...

Greg B wrote:My 2006 Path is stuck in safe mode (3rd gear). O/D off light always on, reverse is full power and there are NO CODES??? Check Engine light is not on, no codes on OBDII scanner, I also took it to a friend at Tires Plus where they hooked it up to a Snap-on computer that was able to communicate with the transmission. They found no codes as well, said it must be a loose wire in the shifter. I removed the shifter & panels, found no issues. I disconnected the battery overnight and did the ECU relearn procedure.
Oh, this first started when I jump started the truck because I thought the battery was dead, but it just turned out to be a loose positive battery clamp. (didn't cross the wires or anything stupid)
Checked all fuses & relays.

something like this is notoriously hard to diagnose over the internet.
But from what you told me we have no reason to believe it needs a new tranny.
Might have blow a relay or something during the jump..