The cooler is separate. My bypass is currently just a close loop, no cooler. It runs fine, but I’m not towing anything, and live in Canada. In a warmer clima…
Nissan Xterra Major issue, contamination with Radiator/Tranny. Simple FIX.
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contamination, fix., Issue, Major, Nissan, Radiator/Tranny., simple, Xterra
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it happens when the radiator cracks and coolant end up in the tranny well
thats part of the radiator.
Once you make the bypass, you never have to worry about it again.
If your tranny fluid is pink, its too late. If not, you DO NOT have to
replace the tranny fluid like the video guy says.
you do not need to use the hose to close the loop to the radiator. Buy 5
cent rubber end caps.
Its matic J fluid you see. good color.
Happened to me. $6000 repair, of which I recouped about 1/2 in a class
action law suit against Nissan. This can become a legitimate hazard if not
fixed.
Such a shame. The Xterra is hands down my favorite car of all time. I
looked at 2005-Up Xterras and actually test drove both a 2004 and a 2010
model. I loved the way the 2010 drove, it didn’t feel as heavy and sluggish
as the 04, granted it’s 6 years older, but in the 2010, I felt like the
weight was more evenly distributed. When I found out about this
catastrophic problem, I had to look elsewhere because I felt the risk was
too high. I purchased a Jeep Liberty, 2007, the runner-up to my 1st love
LOL. The salesman even told me that he sold a 2008 Xterra to a customer and
her transmission died on the highway while she was on her way to Florida.
He said it was a real mess. I’m really bummed out about this issue because
from the very 1st time I saw one back in 2000 when my aunt bought hers, I
hoped to one day own one myself. But so far I’m happy with my Liberty.
sad to say that this problem is also on Hondas and Acuras… wife’s MDX
almost had that fatal mixing of trans oil & coolant… i did the simple
bypass of the radiator & just loop the 2 hoses together until i can get a
stand-alone aftermarket auto trans cooler. the proximity of the engine to
the trans will keep it warm for now
Hi well darnit today I checked the radiator fluid and I found the brown
milky stuff floating to the top. All oil levels are good, trans and motor.
So do you think if I do this now I can save the trans? ( the hose switch)
It is shifting hard sometimes..I thought we had a good one but now I think
we are screwed.
The one thing is I contacted the Nissan dealership in Clovis Cal and had
them check the radiator and conduct a transmision fluid chnage in July of
2013 year and they said everything was good. I think I have enough grounds
for a lawsuit. I know the service manager so I am going to try that route
first.
I own an 07 Pathfinder. I experienced this problem in Dec. of 2012. I had
136k. I put out $6,000+. My mechanic had 3 other cars in the same condition
sitting in front of his shop. I kept all my receipts he told me something
was gonna happen. We sent all our paperwork to Nissan with their approiate
forms. This was in Feb. of 2013. I received a rejection letter from them
Thanxgiving week of 2013. My mechanic told me to be persistant and keep
calling til someone helps me. Today, after 7 calls and waited for return
calls, finally got my call and they told me I was SOL!!! Looking for a
class action suit. THIS SUCKS!!! NISSAN SUCKS!!!!
I had that problem. Water in my tranny. I have a 05 xterra. I just had the
tranny rebuilt and the valve body and also added a new inter cooler. Miles
on my xterra 130000. Cost 2900.00. Insane right? But the xterra was still
in great condition so what the hell, I went with it. It seems to be a
problem with high miles nissan SUV. I don’t tow so that wasn’t a problem.
It’s just a weak part in the tranny that comes from the radiator. It breaks
and leaks into your tranny. What a mess . Good luck guys with your nissans!
Hope it doesn’t happen to you. Cuz it really sucks!
Say walpersky, I’m only going to try and communicate with you one more
time. I saw you tore down the front of your nissa. You have a air cooler on
passenger side on front of radiator. My mechanic says it cools down
different parts of your engine, tranny, steering etc. He unhooked my tranny
line and bypassed them to this air cooler. YOu can do the same because I
saw your pics and you have one too. Hope this helps, thanks for the video.
I just had my 06 NIssan Frontier CrewCab Se bypassed lines from radiator to
the tranny air cooler. My backyard mechanic said I did not need the one I
bought from Auto Zone. He said the one in front of the radiator was
sufficient enough. He said, that one cools alot of different parts and he
bypassed it to cool the tranny too. YOur vehicle should have one too. No
tranny line is connected directly to the radiator now, and it gives me
piece of mind. Hope you fix your problem and thanks for the vid.
I am aware of this. Its not a big concern to me at the moment. I later
found out its not so much to cool as it is to warm as well. It regulates a
constant operating temperature. I have a command start, I’m fine. Thanks
though.
great info, i wish i knew about when i bought mine… 05 pathfinder…
found a transmisson on ebay and have to buy a radiator at the dealership…
I will be saving money doing the work myself… $2000.00 later… better
then , $7600.00 the dealer quoted..
This is not necessarily a “fix” but a quick get you by fix. Early death to
an automatic Transmission is heat! If you take away the best method of
reducing heat, you are not “fixing” it, just prolonging the inevitable, a
broken transmission. Fix it right if you are going to do it especially if
you haul heavy loads. It is not that hard to replace a radiator and use the
correct fluids. You’ll find many more years of enjoyment out of your
vehicle if you don’t cheap out every time.
I got info from a source ( mechanic) that works at a nissan dealer and i
found out that nissan found out that its the nissan matic J fluid that is
causing the failure, your supposed to use Nissan matic S fluid…. But
nissan wont admit to it
Basically some engineer thought it would make sense to go through the
bottom of the radiator to a cooler. The radiator bottom would be a separate
section ment only for ATF. Unfortunately, due to cheap parts, corrosion
happens, causing pin holes between the two, letting coolant mix with ATF,
cooking the transmission. The reason behind this technology is to help get
the Tranny up to temp with the engine coolant by passing in a reservoir
beside it (the dual purpose rad). milky ATF=Bad.
Replacing your radiator is NOT a solution to this problem. Do the bypass
and save yourself a 5k dollar repair down the road.
Its the same issue as I stated above. Sorry to hear. Some guys are looking
for a class action lawsuit, search google for it. I’m just glad I caught it
myself. Always, when you buy a new car, find the car club on the internet,
and research research research. Nissan isn’t a bad company, all companies
have issues every so often.
It is a solution unless you put a used oem radiator back in the vehicle! I
would just do the bypass and put in a tranny cooler and you are good to go.
The cooler may not even be necessary unless you tow.
That’s Nissan’s ridiculous solution to this problem, change the radiator
every few years before they have a chance to fail. If you aren’t
mechanically inclined, your best best is to bring it to a reputable shop
and have them bypass the radiator and run straight to the trans cooler.
$900 to replace a radiator is 500-600 more than you should be paying, DON’T
take it to the dealer. You’ll still be able to tow just fine with the the
radiator bypassed while still running the trans cooler.
Oh and it was $700 for radiator and x2 tranny flushes
Tank? Tranny fluid shares the radiator. The Radiator is split into two
parts, coolant for engine, and tranny fluid for automatic transmission. The
transmission pumps fluid around to warm it (and cool it). The only problem
is you can’t get cross-contamination between tranny fluid and engine
coolant antifreeze. …and that is the problem. The radiator is known for
corrosion inside, causing the two compartments to become one, and sending
antifreeze to the tranny, cooking it eventually.
Renaults been owning Nissan for years too. Nissans reliability has
certainly declined since the unreliable Renault company partnered/owned
them.
Nissans are not just Nissans anymore. Renault now owns Nissan. Renault has
a long history of TERRIBLE reliability. The more the public knows this, the
more the public can avoid their cars. Unfortunately this xterra also has
New Radiators will work pending they were built after 2010ish. …I say
this because the new xterra’s have no problem, and it was fixed, however,
the date of when exactly the factory corrected the problem is kinda
unknown. They are trying to sweep this under the rug. Either way, its not
hard to buy an aftermarket good rad and separate tranny cooler and install
them yourself using my video and a FSM for reference. Will cost about $600
DIY.
You are not a hands on car guy are you? Timing chain guides whining have
happened for years now in many nissans. Its not a $2000 fix unless you are
a little old lady with a huge bank account asking to be taken advantage of.
Let me get this right, you wish for me, someone that fixes issues to
speculate on why a an auto manufacture is not doing a recall? Barking up
the wrong tree. Go on any Xterra owners club forums and you will find more
information if you really do care about this.
Just replaced my radiator because of this issue in my 06 pathfinder. Had to
flush the transmission 2 times to get coolant out of it. There is a class
action lawsuit but really it’s only good if your transmission fails. Unless
your under 80k miles than its covered under their extended warranty. I
think I wanna do this bypass
1 nissan dealer told me i need a new trans, masda nissans wherei got my
pathfinder,said nothing was wrong, it cant be possible, they dont mix,
(morristown nj) my radiator cap had a pink oily stuff, it was mixing
already, i did a bypass, put a extra cooler, year and a half later, so far
so good, no problem…120.000 miles..
And I’ve heard otherwise. Just replace the radiator with the updated one
and flush the tranny fluid. Be sure about what is going on, don’t trust
other people.
I can’t tell you what your future 07 will be like, or that perhaps yours
might have no problem at all with the tranny fluid. However, If I were you,
before buying, see if the tranny fluid is pink/milky. If it is, damage is
already done, and walk away. DONT BUY. I believe it was 08 where Nissan
fixed the problem, but I can’t be certain. When you do buy one, just
upgrade the Radiator to the newer one, or aftermarket Koyo brand, and flush
all fluids. Protect your investment.
I just hope the transmission don’t go out now since it got contaminated.
I got a 2006 frontier by the way v6. 4.0 …..same set up
I also have a 06 Nissan Frontier CrewCab SE with 4.0 engine. I still have
not experienced the tranny fluid in radiator. I only have 62,243 miles on
mine. If I was to change out the radiator with an american made one, would
that cure the problem? Thanks for the video, and any feedback appreciated.
My tranny Blew up in my 07 xterra all the fluids mixed some how,heater core
says nissan.
I don’t think that addresses what I was asking. Basically, I know the stock
configuration is tranny –> radiator –> transmission cooler –> tranny.
Doing the fix you point out during the first part of the video should make
it tranny –> transmission cooler –> tranny and the radiator portion is
now a closed loop? I’m not understanding why you added that last section
(at 4:40 ) talking about hooking up the transmission cooler when
technically, after bypass, it should still be in the ATF circuit.
…but to answer your question, I’ve driven it well over a year now, long
distances with no issues. I did flush the tranny fluid once again just to
make sure. Seems to be in good shape.
(cont) these Nissan/Renault xterras are known for timing chaine guides
whining ($2000) fix, motor mount issues, catalytic converters failing and
oil consumption. These types of problems would have been unheard of before
Renault bought Nissan. BUYER BEWARE!
Any way you can post a link with pictures for the last part?
I would agree with you and I believe in the video the reason I say I’m not
too concerned is because I’m not Towing anything, and I live in Canada. We
really don’t need the system for our daily application. (actually, looking
up it says in the video description). You are right though, and in the
event nobody got that from my video already, hopefully they will read your
comment.
The cooler is separate. My bypass is currently just a close loop, no
cooler. It runs fine, but I’m not towing anything, and live in Canada. In a
warmer climate, I would watch the end of this video, and it explains how
you can route the hoses from the tranny directly to the cooler without
having to go thru the radiator.
If you have the new replacement radiator, it should be fine. I don’t know
of the serial numbers, but I have heard newer ones after 2008 are good. In
Xterras anyway.