05 Pathfinder Tranny Coolant problem, did I catch it early?

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Jim1590
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05 Pathfinder Tranny Coolant problem, did I catch it early?

Postby Jim1590 » Wed Jan 01, 2014 7:54 pm

My sister (who is a widow with 3 kids so no husband around to fix the car) has the 05 Pathfinder and she complained to me that the heat was not blowing warm let alone hot.

This was a few weeks after I replaced the blower motor card so it was a new issue. Checked it out with the falling light and felt one hot heater core hose and one luke warm. From exp with my wifes Mounty, I figured flush the core. Well after breaking off the nipple for the overflow tank from the 3 way at the core, I gave up for the day and got one at locak Nissan dealership.

Flushed it out and saw brown spots coming out of the core. I started to think head gasket. Put everything back together and told her to get to a shop asap for a pressure test. Went to fill the rad and found the milkshake of tranny fluid contamination on the cap. The fluid when I was pulsing the hose and globs in it. Not sure just how complete the mixture is now. I did end up filling the system in case she needed to drive it to the nearest shop for them to fix.

After doing a lot of reading and searching on it, learning a lot in the process, I am thinking it was found early.

She has not described to me many tranny problems. She has had some hesitation when switching gears going up or down hills. No vibrations, no stalling, yes to no heat.

She missed the class action deadline by 6 months. I see that we can cap the rad and put a Hayden cooler on the transmission.

Is it possible that doing this and a couple flushes of tranny and rad might stave off disaster? Can the tranny really be checked for this damage without blowing through $ just to diagnose it?

She has been advised to park it as much as she can until this is sorted out, but that is hard enough when you are by yourself, let alone a single mom.

Thanks in advance.


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JAHBLESSINGS
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Postby JAHBLESSINGS » Thu Jan 02, 2014 5:18 am

try to flush the bad trans fluid out. do the bypass and cross your fingers. if you are able to tackel a trans filter change you might want to do that also. i did the bypass with only the original trans cooler and had no problems. if i remember correctly i did it over 50k miles ago. the original trans cooler is more than sufficient. hopefilly you are able to save it. good luck

Jim1590
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Postby Jim1590 » Thu Jan 02, 2014 6:35 am

Thanks, we have a snowstorm brewing right now and I want her to have receipts from a garage in case there is another class action.

Going to have her take (or tow, probably tow to be safe) to a garage and have them drain and fill both and do the bypass without the extra cooler. Read a lot of that 35 page thread about it last night and I see it is not needed.

Told her do a drain and fill twice more then maybe go trade it in........ :roll:

Fingers crossed!

DanJetta
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Postby DanJetta » Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:33 am

Agreed. She should have it towed to a garage for a flush and filter change.

Call around first because a lot of places won't do anything out of spec (a radiator bypass) – they'll only replace the radiator. Maybe her big brother should visit and hook a sista up! :)

Then cross your fingers and take note of whether the slipping/shifting is getting worse. In my experience, once transmission valve body damage has started, it's the beginning of the end.

I get excited when things like this happen because it's a great excuse to go car shopping! If it has over 100K miles, take it to Carmax for a guilt-free trade-in - they usually ships older high-mileage cars out for parts no matter how well they run.

Good luck!

Jim1590
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Postby Jim1590 » Thu Jan 02, 2014 2:19 pm

Talked to two shops today, both had no idea about the issues, second shop had an employee that drives a 2005 Path so hopefully this will get her looking at hers. I stressed how big of an issue this is.

One shop can power flush, other can not. Neither seemed opposed to the bypass, just going to cost labor. I can go with her and draw them a picture. Or better still ask them to turn around while it is on the lift with skid plate off!

She has 86k on it and we are looking at new car time now. I told her that right now car is worth 0 with a milkshake in the radiator. No dealer will touch it. Do the flushes and bypass and she may get trade in value on it.

Anyone disagree?

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eieio
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Postby eieio » Thu Jan 02, 2014 4:20 pm

Jim1590 wrote:Talked to two shops today, both had no idea about the issues, second shop had an employee that drives a 2005 Path so hopefully this will get her looking at hers. I stressed how big of an issue this is.

One shop can power flush, other can not. Neither seemed opposed to the bypass, just going to cost labor. I can go with her and draw them a picture. Or better still ask them to turn around while it is on the lift with skid plate off!

She has 86k on it and we are looking at new car time now. I told her that right now car is worth 0 with a milkshake in the radiator. No dealer will touch it. Do the flushes and bypass and she may get trade in value on it.

Anyone disagree?
I don't necessarily disagree, however, I don't think many people have had much success with fluid changes & flushes once the symptoms have appeared.
I'd recommend a fluid exchange (by machine), rather than a power flush.

Jim1590
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Postby Jim1590 » Thu Jan 02, 2014 6:15 pm

Sorry, I was refering to a machine flush when I typed power flush. This would be preferable as to the drain and fill.

Wanting to look at all angles, she believes that she can get it fixed for the 2500 deductible financially wise as opposed to taking on a new car payment. Will Nissan replace the tranny without the tell all symptoms like tranny death? Or will they replace the rad and machine flush the tranny and send her on her way oblivious.

If she decides to get it fixed by Nissan, should she keep quiet until stranded and then tell Nissan "fix it"?

Sorry for being all back and forth on what to do about this, but I am taking it as she gives it to me!

CPLTECH
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Postby CPLTECH » Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:25 pm

I don’t recall the details, but Nissan has the deductable option tor those beyond the 80K. However the deductable increases as the mileage increases. Since this is a very complicated trans with a lot of valve solenoid bodies, the only recommended transmission service is a Nissan replacement (job worth $5-6K). My choice would be to take the $2500 deductable as the best option. It would give you a new radiator & Nissan rebuilt trans.

I have had my PF for 4 yrs, but had the radiator replaced for my growing apprehension after hearing all the horror stories. For following this forum these many yrs, I think it is safe to say that it is extremely rare that anyone “catches the contamination in time”. Once the anti-freeze gets to the $1000 valve body… well, it’s not pretty. If you plan on keeping the PF, the best option is to let the dealer take care of it. They have the experience to do it right the first time.

Jim1590
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Postby Jim1590 » Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:48 pm

Sounds good. I have a Nissan place right by my work, I will swing in and talk to the service guys to see what exactly her 2500 gets her. I want them to put in a rebuilt tranny at the least along with the new radiator.

Thank you everyone for the help. I will post back with an outcome.

Jim1590
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Postby Jim1590 » Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:02 am

Nissan will be putting in a rebuilt tranny and a new radiator.

Should I do the bypass after they are done just in case? The tech said there have not been any problems with the new design. I added a "yet" to his statement. He laughed and agreed.

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JAHBLESSINGS
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Postby JAHBLESSINGS » Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:34 am

i agree with the trading it in. if it happened to me i would do the same thing if my trans took a crap.


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