I by-passed my in radiator tranny cooler

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slavabon
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Location: Northern New England

Postby slavabon » Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:06 pm

Any of you guys doing this mod while still under factory warranty?
Being this easy, Im really tempted to do this mod for preventive purposes but I have extended warranty until 100K and messing with this tranny cooler may result in a dealer denying warranty repairs if I ever take it in for other cooling system or transmission related problems. I figure if it goes before my warranty is up - it is their problem. Once the warranty is up, I will do it ASAP. I wonder if there are any signs of this starting to happen - does the antefreeze get dark in color? Is tranny shifting any different? It would be nice if Nissan did a recall on this and either swapped the rads for beefier units or added an external cooler of some sort.


kramer
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Postby kramer » Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:25 pm

The tell-tale sign will be a strawberry milky looking transmission fluid.

Check it every once in a while and you'll be okay. If you notice discoloration or loss of clarity in the fluid, it's mixing with coolant.

IMO by the time you notice symptoms while driving, it's far too late.

Cooper993
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Postby Cooper993 » Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:25 pm

kramer wrote:The tell-tale sign will be a strawberry milky looking transmission fluid.

Check it every once in a while and you'll be okay. If you notice discoloration or loss of clarity in the fluid, it's mixing with coolant.

IMO by the time you notice symptoms while driving, it's far too late.
and how can you check the fluid without draining it?

kramer
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Postby kramer » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:10 pm

There's a dipstick under the hood, its locked down by a 10mm bolt. It's on the passenger side.

Cooper993
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Postby Cooper993 » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:32 pm

kramer wrote:There's a dipstick under the hood, its locked down by a 10mm bolt. It's on the passenger side.
I don't think that's enough to tell if the fluid is contaminated or not.

I believe the fluid is lighter than the water so the water will sink lower in the pan than the dipstick goes even with the engine running

kramer
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Postby kramer » Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:32 pm

No, it would be quite evident that the two had mixed. You might not catch it if only a few drops get in, but when enough coolant has been in there the fluid will definitely show it on the dipstick. The fluid is always circulating and would always be mixing.

Unless you check the dipstick when the car hasn't been running for a week, you'd notice coolant.

slavabon
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Location: Northern New England

Postby slavabon » Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:11 pm

What is the normal color of transmission fluid again? Is it yellow/light brown or red? Also, how to properly check the tranny fluid level - with the car warmed up and running with the gear selector in N?

kramer
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Postby kramer » Tue Oct 20, 2009 2:24 pm

Reddish light brown, and it should be nice and opaque. If its milky or not really see-through then you might be on your way to problems. And no car doesn't need to be running.

If the fluid looks to be off, drain it all entirely and have a closer look.

slavabon
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Location: Northern New England

Postby slavabon » Tue Oct 20, 2009 2:50 pm

Thanks for your help guys! I checked everytjing and all looks good. By the way, I just realized that to check the tranny fluid level correctly you got to turn the dipstick cap the opposite directiionn from its mounting plate and push it in all the way. I was measuring on the plate and could not figure out why it was showingn just a tad low. I will wait until I'm at 50K and put fresh fluid in there and in the meanwhile I hope that my 5/06 production date model will be less sensitive to these failing radiator issues.

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disallow
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Postby disallow » Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:56 pm

did the by-pass on my truck last night. Didn't cut any hose, but not super happy how it ended up looking. Will probably redo soon, cut to the appropriate length, or adding another air/oil cooler.

kev1n
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Postby kev1n » Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:38 pm

can someone tell me what part numbers are needed for the new coupler and the clamps ? Also anyone have a pic of the trans dipstick ? I am looking at a truck tommorow.

kev1n
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Postby kev1n » Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:51 am

where is a good place to pick up a 5/16 barbed brass coupler ? Autozone ? Home Depot ? Also what is the size of the vacuum caps to use that cover the radiator holes ?

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GOTGOO
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Postby GOTGOO » Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:55 pm

I used a 3/8 hose to hose from autozone 5/16 is a bit to tiny. They were like 5 bucks for a pack of two and worked fine for me no problems after 600 or so miles!

amr40509
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Postby amr40509 » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:44 am

I used 3/8 from Lowe's about 5K miles ago.

kev1n
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Postby kev1n » Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:36 pm

was that 3/8 for the caps ? or the barbed connector ?


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