R51 Transmission Curse - AARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

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Flanker7
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Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:50 am
Location: Northeast, USA

R51 Transmission Curse - AARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Postby Flanker7 » Thu Jul 14, 2016 8:01 am

Hi!
I have a question...maybe a bit stupid, as I think I know the answer, but I figured I'd try. A few years ago, my wife and I bought a 2006 SE Off-Road with 75k mi. on it. We bought it through a private used car dealer. It was originally a lease turned in at the end and this dealer got it at auction. The car fax was clean. I got home and started going on the forums, where I quickly learned of the Trans cooler issue. I gotta say, had I known, I'd have probably not purchased it...my bad for not knowing. Anyway, I called every Nissan place I could find including corporate and was told my model was not subject to the TSB. Looking at my ride, it had the external cooler...all seemed well. Fast forward to about a week ago....I had a leak. It was the oil cooler seal. My buddy who has mechanic experience helped me with it and we found that we had another problem...shuddering as you accelerate after almost coming to a stop. I also had oil on the cooler reservoir, what looked like trans fluid in the radiator etc. We got a new radiator, and also drained the Trans fluid. We noted no metallic chunks-just a little sludge, but it appears as though what happened to all the pathys that ruined their trains also happened here....coolant in the Trans. We did a flush and fill hoping that we caught it in time. Funny thing is although this had the external cooler, the Trans line was still routed through the external, to the radiator to the transmission...no bypass. Anyway, we got everything back together and fluids filled. This past Saturday, I'm within 2 miles of my home and the transmission crapped the bed (only 90 miles after we did the work). It stopped shifting, wouldn't go above 20mph, etc. I was able to stop and cool it down and limp it home, but it took several attempts. So here is my question (sorry for the long backstory).
Since I'm not the original owner, etc do I have a snowballs chance in hell of getting this covered, or am I S.O.L.? Is there anyone at Nissan I can plead to? From what I've seen, anyone that might have OEM transmissions want $5500 and rebuilds/salvaged are around $2100 & up. Based on what i could tell however, the setup was no different than the one that caused the original major TSB.
A new car for me is not an feasible option at this time, and I don't have the 2k plus immediately available to rebuild. So basically, I'm trying to explore every option possible that might work. I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.


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AZ_Path
Posts: 420
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:03 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Postby AZ_Path » Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:15 pm

Sorry to hear. This issue sure has caused lots of trouble.

I believe the settlement of the class action lawsuit was to extend the warranty. There is a full warranty to 80K miles and prorated warranties to 90K and 100K. Any chance you're still under 100K?

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AZ_Path
Posts: 420
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:03 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Postby AZ_Path » Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:23 pm

I just looked up the details of the settlement and it's not going to offer much help.

http://www.nissanproblems.com/trends/co ... nsmission/
In October 2012 a class-action lawsuit was settled in court, providing a bit of relief to some owners who have had this problem.

As part of the settlement, Nissan agreed to extend the warranty to:

Up to 8 years/80,000 miles, whichever comes first, extended warranty coverage applies with no customer co-pay.
After 8 years/80,000 miles, whichever comes first, up to 9 years/90,000 miles, whichever comes first, extended warranty coverage applies with customer co-pay in the amount of $2,500.
After 9 years/90,000 miles, whichever comes first, up to 10 years/100,000 miles, whichever comes first, extended warranty coverage applies with customer co-pay in the amount of $3,000.
At best your in the 9 to 10 year range and the prorated amount is not very helpful. :(

Flanker7
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:50 am
Location: Northeast, USA

Postby Flanker7 » Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:03 pm

yeah, I'm pretty much screwed. This happened at around 139,390 miles. Even with the proration, quotes I've got so far are in the $4-5K range. At that point (for me) it's not saving me much if I have to pay $3K. Whatever happened to saving the customer money...smh

What a shame that this happened with Nissan. Good products but I will be quite hesitant to buy another one in the future...new or used. On a side note...as I was looking up transmissions on the Nissan part sites, (the ones that are same format as courtesy parts, etc.), I noticed that the Pathy transmission was also listed as the same for one of the infinity sedans and $6 dollars more expensive...

Kestral
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Postby Kestral » Thu Jul 14, 2016 6:11 pm

Strange my friends 2009 R51's trans died from cross contamination at 140,000 miles. I warned him to do the bypass at 60,000 but he insisted it would never happen to him (he often feels he is special).

This issue is something Nissan should have realized and addressed within the first two years of production not 2010! Five years later! Same with the timing chain issue that should have been addressed much sooner it's not like they did not know about it for Pete sake I was just reading about a guy that owned a 2006 Frontier with the 4.0 V6 that had to replace his first timing chain and guides at 22,000 miles!


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