Transmission Problems "clunking" at highway speeds

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HydroPonix
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Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 2:47 am
Location: Denver, CO

Transmission Problems "clunking" at highway speeds

Postby HydroPonix » Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:21 am

Hey guys,

This is an odd problem I recently encountered its done this in 3 seperate occasions only within the last 2 months.

I was driving home from work on the highway doing 77mph @ 3,500rpm, pushing lightly on the gas on a slight uphill slope and i suddenly felt a hard thud, it felt and sounded like a bowling ball rolled from the back to the front of the vehicle followed by a breif deceleration, (the front end dipped down) and within a second the car was driving normal again. It happened 3 or 4 times within an hour. I was in D not between gears, so I was not shifting. Here's where it gets odd, it only did it when i was not in cruise control. I tried turning off the VDC, thinking mabie it was a patch of ice causing a slip, but it did it again when it was off. I turned off my Overdrive for 5 minutes, no clunk. When I put it in cruise control, I had no problems for the remainder of the trip (apx 5 hours). the next day I drove another 8 hours with out cruise control and had no clunking problems. It does not clunk at 0-50mph.

I am going to take the pathy in but I thought id ask if anyone may have had this problem. It has a new transmission with less than 20,000 miles on it, i keep up with regular maintenance. I replaced my driveshaft u-joints 14,000 miles ago, and had my differential fluid checked on my last oil change, basically all of my basics have been covered, new tires, good wheel bearings. No check engine light; I really dont know whats going on.
Vehicle has 172,400 miles.

Anyone else experience anything like this?

Ill follow up once i take it in to Nissan.


Matt
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Location: Iowa

Postby Matt » Thu Dec 25, 2014 3:13 pm

3,500 rpm? That seems really high to me. What vehicle is this? My 08 pathfinder runs somewhere in the low 2,000 range when doing 75 mph.

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HydroPonix
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Location: Denver, CO

Postby HydroPonix » Tue Jan 13, 2015 3:59 pm

So it will do it at under 2000 rpms, and your right. I am at 2400rpm at 75 mph

It does it between 55mph and 76mph so far

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jlwardn
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Location: West Michigan

Postby jlwardn » Sun Feb 01, 2015 2:47 pm

I am having the same exact issue. I live in michigan and it is very bad roads today. I thought it was the vdc and one wheel hitting ice or something. I switched from auto 4x4 to locked 4x4......no change. I then turned off the vdc and still it did same jolt every once in a while. Roads were too bad to try in 4x2 mode. I thought i remembered it did this before last winter a couple times.
I had no issues all summer and towed boat and trailer often without issues.
My wifes says it has never happened to her but she may not be paying attention. It was very bad today.....it happened about 15 times in 25 miles.

Got home and saw similar people describing this with their radiator/trans fluid issue. My coolant is clean proper color and trans fluid cherry red.

117,000 miles.

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HydroPonix
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Location: Denver, CO

Postby HydroPonix » Sun Feb 01, 2015 3:16 pm

It only seems to do it in cold weather, under 32 deg f.

I have been driving it on the highways in 40+ f. Weather. It hasnt done it.

When i called nissan they said they would have to have it happen while they were driving to diagnose it propperly. I got a recording of the tachometer while its doing it. It dropped 100 to 200 rpm when it clunks.

I still dont have any clue.

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jlwardn
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Location: West Michigan

Postby jlwardn » Sun Feb 01, 2015 3:55 pm

This is my 3rd Pathfinder and i have never had it happen.
It is 17 degrees today and horrible roads.
The only thing i have not ruled out......one tire had 25 lbs of air while others at 31 lbs. maybe maybe it is throwing off the 4x4.

mwetzel394
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Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:58 pm
Location: Boston

Postby mwetzel394 » Mon Feb 02, 2015 8:52 am

could be the MAF , I am having that problem now it is cold and snowy , thats when mine acts up , it started last winter, cleaned it but , now it is worse i am ordering a new one today.

JP1548
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Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 6:31 am
Location: Maryland

Postby JP1548 » Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:57 am

I have been having the same problem. It started 2 years ago, while driving in mild snow. Then nothing until last week, again during mild snow. I've had no issues while in 4wd, or during warm weather. All of my fluids are the right color and in the right places. I dropped it off at a mechanic who has worked on it for years. He had it for 2 days, and said hes run a number of tests and cant find the cause. I only have 65k miles. I would love to know what is causing this...

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jlwardn
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Location: West Michigan

Postby jlwardn » Mon Feb 02, 2015 7:52 pm

Today was still nasty roads so i could duplicate driving conditions. One of my tires was at 24lbs and others at 30or 31 lbs. Filled up the tire and drove the vehicle. No issues. Talked to mechanic and tires shop......both told me that in 4x4 a low tire could throw off 4x4 and cause exact same jolt.

pathwhitevk56
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Location: Rivière-du-Loup, Canada

Postby pathwhitevk56 » Fri Dec 23, 2016 9:47 pm

jlwardn wrote:I am having the same exact issue. I live in michigan and it is very bad roads today. I thought it was the vdc and one wheel hitting ice or something. I switched from auto 4x4 to locked 4x4......no change. I then turned off the vdc and still it did same jolt every once in a while. Roads were too bad to try in 4x2 mode. I thought i remembered it did this before last winter a couple times.
I had no issues all summer and towed boat and trailer often without issues.
My wifes says it has never happened to her but she may not be paying attention. It was very bad today.....it happened about 15 times in 25 miles.

Got home and saw similar people describing this with their radiator/trans fluid issue. My coolant is clean proper color and trans fluid cherry red.

117,000 miles.
Same exact issue here. Did it twice last winter, but I thought it was wheel spinning on ice. This year it's even worse. Happens to my wife and me, only in snowy conditions, never when we drive in good conditions.

I checked my tires one was at 28 psi 3 others at 35psi.

Is it worked for you juste the tire pressure, or happened again?
Someone here had success find the cause of this annoying issue?
(Scared to let my wife and kids in the pathfinder now)

RMDecker
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Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:37 am

another one

Postby RMDecker » Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:09 pm

2008 pathy with the same issue. Anyone have any luck? Seems to be snow related?

JONNY
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Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:46 am

Postby JONNY » Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:50 am

hi - new guy here
I am having the exact same issue on the highway - in 2wd
sometimes possibly when hitting a bump or just barely using the gas it will feel like I hit a bump and lose power for just a quick second and then be ok

any solutions?
thanks

08SEPATHV8
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:41 pm

SOLVED- THANKS!!!

Postby 08SEPATHV8 » Sun Jan 20, 2019 4:06 pm

What a huge help this post was. Driving in a snow storm last night in 4-5 inches of snow on the highway doing 30-35...put the pathy from AUTO to 4HI. Shortly after doing this the truck started to randomly surge or clunk, as described above. This carried on for 30miles of driving in these conditions regardless of whether the truck was in AUTO or 4HI. When we got to our destination I did some research on this forum and quickly found this post suggesting one tire being low on air will cause this binding condition in the 4wd aystem. (Ironically, during our trek while it was acting up I checked the air pressure after we left and noticed one tire was at 25 not 35 like the rest and had planned on filling it when we got where we were going). Sure enough, got her up to 35 and not a single issue on the way home! Fantastic resource and thanks all for the help!!!!!

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palmerwmd
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Re: SOLVED- THANKS!!!

Postby palmerwmd » Sun Jan 20, 2019 4:26 pm

08SEPATHV8 wrote:What a huge help this post was. Driving in a snow storm last night in 4-5 inches of snow on the highway doing 30-35...put the pathy from AUTO to 4HI. Shortly after doing this the truck started to randomly surge or clunk, as described above. This carried on for 30miles of driving in these conditions regardless of whether the truck was in AUTO or 4HI. When we got to our destination I did some research on this forum and quickly found this post suggesting one tire being low on air will cause this binding condition in the 4wd aystem. (Ironically, during our trek while it was acting up I checked the air pressure after we left and noticed one tire was at 25 not 35 like the rest and had planned on filling it when we got where we were going). Sure enough, got her up to 35 and not a single issue on the way home! Fantastic resource and thanks all for the help!!!!!
Glad we chased down the cause! :D

08SEPATHV8
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:41 pm

Postby 08SEPATHV8 » Sun Jan 20, 2019 5:01 pm

This forum is fantastic! Huge help on a lot of stuff. I have to learn to post more confirmations of help that works! Haha


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