That's IT, Nissan's R51 Radiator/Transmissions SUCK

Discussion topics related to the radiator and transmission failures in all Nissan trucks, education of the public on this issue, and attempts to force Nissan to start a recall.

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RacerZX
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That's IT, Nissan's R51 Radiator/Transmissions SUCK

Postby RacerZX » Tue Mar 06, 2012 11:12 pm

After yet another new forum member (alyoung) posted an "I love my new R51, but darn it, I didn't order a Strawberry Shake with that" story I have absolutely had it. :evil:

What Nissan is doing is WRONG. There is a serious design flaw with the radiators which means ALL 2005-2007 Pathfinders, and auto-tranny Frontiers and XTerras WILL have their radiator fail and WILL destroy their transmissions. This is NOT an "oh well only some very few will have issues" thing, NO, *ALL* of them will die, it is purely a matter of time.

The ONLY right thing for Nissan to do is create a NEW fixed part number radiator, recall all the bad radiators, and inspect transmissions. However so far all they've done is a totally chickenshit minor warranty extension and downright evil part-number-change'less fix to radiator to keep everything under wraps.

A little googling turned up some attempts to get a class action lawsuit going, some attempts to get safety reports into NHTSA, but I don't see much traction. I think the problem is that all of us here on the Internet are in an echo chamber. Yet another post/FAQ/Blog about this problem isn't going to help much. We need to get the information OUT there to the masses to have any hope of helping people and getting Nissan to come clean with their customers.

So, here we are, the biggest Pathfinder forum on the Net, and it's past time we took action. Here's what I propose:

1: I order up a new simple easy to remember domain name, like nissantransmissionfail.com or whatever, and aim it at 2.

2: Set up a new targeted forum thread specifically for this issue. Have some concise FAQ information on the problem and how to deal with and report it. Have a Poll to collect information on how many people have problems. And ask people to post their personal fact based rant-free experiences with this problem and how Nissan did or did not resolve it for them.

3: Find a good online business card printing firm, create a business card template we can all use with the new URL and brief info on the problem.

4: Print batches of cards and start leaving them on the windshield of every single R51 Pathfinder/Frontier/XTerra you see in a parking lot, used car lot, etc. Hell, leave 3 so they can pass the word...

5: The Nissan Path does bring in a few dollars from the Google adds, so I'll sew that back into this cause by donating $100/month to reimburse people via Paypal for their business card orders.

6: Spread the word to other XTerra and Frontier forums to get more Nissan user communities involved.

7: If we start getting some serious traction, start trying to get some main-stream media coverage of the campaign.

This CAN work. When I had my old Murano the forum members finally created enough ruckus about failing alternators that Nissan had a full-on recall. Thoughts folks? What do you say?
Last edited by RacerZX on Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:35 am, edited 1 time in total.


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volvite
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Postby volvite » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:14 am

RacerZX,

Count me in. I have an 08 V8 and still unsure if this will ever happen to my tranny/radiator but I'm all for helping out those that have had the problem. Let me know what you need help for and I'll do my part.

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Postby disallow » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:28 am

I'm on board. I think its ridiculous that I have to have my rad bypassed to prevent this issue.

Working in the business I work in, we do see this type of failure on occasion, but its pretty few and far between. When we do have a failure, the manufacturer of the cooler actually comes to the table and contributes to 'consequential damages', which usually entails a replacement of the failed cooler, and a contribution (usually 20-30%) to the cost of a transmission overhaul.

Calsonic/Kansei (supplier of said crappy radiator) says it is a consolidated subsidiary of Nissan on their website:

http://calsonic.com/en/about/history-timeline/

(Scroll down to the bottom, under the year 2005. Kind of odd, no?)

As such, they are the master of their own fate on this part, and also hold the bag when it comes to manufacturing defects, warranty, and recalls. If this part was from a non-owned vendor, I'm sure they would have done a recall by now as it would have been no skin off of their teeth.

Just to understand, the scope of this shouldn't be limited to Pathfinders, but also:

05 - 07 Pathfinders
05(?) - 07 Frontiers
04(?) - 07 Armadas
04(?) - 07 Titans
05(?) - 07 Xterras

Can we confirm the start years for the other models?

t

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Postby FLiPMaRC » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:13 am

LET'S DO THIS!!!

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RacerZX
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Postby RacerZX » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:28 am

I confirmed the model year starts for the Path/Frontier/XTerra, however I didn't find any indications that the Titan & Armada are effected, can anybody confirm this?

HAHAHAHA, that Caution sign is awesome :-P

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Postby aadadams » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:58 am

Might I also suggest a parallel campaign on http://www.change.org/. This has been used to get a number of big corporations to right wrongs. It pounds them on social media networks, and it gets their attention. The effort is not too laborious to get it set up either. Just an suggestion...

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Postby volvite » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:59 am

Are the radiators for the Titan and Armada the same part number for the Pathfinder? I could see they might be for the V8 pathfinders, but I don't see the V6 pathfinder radiator and the Titan/Armada radiators being the same.

Edit: I did a quick parts search and the Titan/Armada share the same radiator. However it's not the same radiator as the Pathfinder.
Also like others have said on this forum, the radiator part number for the V6 and V8 pathfinders are the same.

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Postby NVSteve » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:27 am

Count me in. We still need more people to report this to the NHTSA. It boggles the mind that they don't seem to think a transmission failure would be harsh (threat to life) enough to push for a recall, unless there simply haven't been enough complaints filed.

I haven't checked my fluid in a while, but now I'm scared to. Twice now, including today, my transmission has done a clunk while doing about 75mph. No gears were being changed, so I'm thinking I might be joining the strawberry milkshake club myself.

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Postby RacerZX » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:44 am

Oh dude, Steve, you didn't do the bypass already?

However I must say I'm a bit worried by the bypass...I'm sure what it does it warm the transmission fluid up in cold weather. Not an issue for us California folks, but for people who live in colder climates that could be bad.

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Postby deermjd » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:00 am

RacerZC,

I think all ideas you mentioned are great. I've also had the idea of having some sort of business card or flyer to hand out to pathfinders that I see around. I can't remember how I found this forum, I think I just stumbled upon it during a google search.

I think if the Nissan Path could join forces with Xterra and Frontier forums to fight against this obvious radiator defect we've have the best chance to get Nissan to properly fix this and reimburse Nissan owners.

Count me in!!

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Postby RacerZX » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:08 am

Aw hell....

A: The Titan has the problem too, and they go back to 2004.

B: An '08 Titan had a failure.

C: An '08 XTerra had a failure.

D: A guy posted that his wife's 2010 Pathfinder just got a warranty extension letter from Nissan...

http://www.titantalk.com/forums/titan-p ... uit-2.html

I would presume Armada & QX56s have the same problem as well, though I'm having trouble finding firm postings online that direction, maybe the sample of vehicles is too small (far fewer of those on the road).

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Postby wilto » Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:39 pm

This is a great idea!
I bought my 06 PF SE 2 weeks ago with 60k on the clock and thank God the ATF is not strawberry milkshake and bypass has been completed.

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Postby NVSteve » Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:57 pm

RacerZX wrote:However I must say I'm a bit worried by the bypass...I'm sure what it does it warm the transmission fluid up in cold weather. Not an issue for us California folks, but for people who live in colder climates that could be bad.
That has been the #1 item that has held me back from doing so. My transmission hasn't liked cold weather since day 1, which means it would really not be too pleased with a bypass. Hell, I even bought hose clamps & have a clean container all ready for the bypass-just can't get past that one point.

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Postby NVSteve » Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:44 pm

Another collection of links from thenewX site: http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36132

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Postby Tzvier » Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:18 am

NVSteve wrote:
RacerZX wrote:However I must say I'm a bit worried by the bypass...I'm sure what it does it warm the transmission fluid up in cold weather. Not an issue for us California folks, but for people who live in colder climates that could be bad.
That has been the #1 item that has held me back from doing so. My transmission hasn't liked cold weather since day 1, which means it would really not be too pleased with a bypass. Hell, I even bought hose clamps & have a clean container all ready for the bypass-just can't get past that one point.
I'm just north of you Steve. Did mine a few weeks back and haven't had a single problem with it.


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