New member saying hi:) and question.
Moderator: volvite
New member saying hi:) and question.
Just wanted to pop on and introduce myself. I am from NJ and just bought my first Pathfinder. I have always loved the oldsr Pathfinders, so I bought a 2004 black LE Platinum. Actually, it was bought for my son who will be driving this April, but I am growing quite fond of ot and we may be fighting over it, even offered him my 2012 Elantra in it's place. LOL. We were lucky enough to find one in mint condition, with a lot of maintanance items replaced, new struts, new muffler and exhaust, rear shocks, breaks, wheel bearings, and $900 worth of new tires, plus some other things I cannot recall. It had 105,00 miles on it, one owner car with a clean car fax. Owner had juat trades it in on a new Pathy. Love the heated leather seats! Just beautiful and loaded. Not sure, but I think we did alright on the price $8,000? Which includes free oil changes, and the owner threw in new OEM Pathfinder mats. We just had tune up / platinum plugs put in and we had the trans flushed, oil change which was due. Anyway, I posted a question undwr the oldsr pathfinder area. Thw car runs great, but I noticed that it hesitates going into gear when I first start out and it is cold. I do let it warm up idling for a few minutes, but if I put it in Nuetral and let it warm up for five minutes the. Go it is fine, and ot is fine adter I drive ot cold for about five minutes then perfect. Is this normal with an older truck? I could be wrong, but it almost seems to have happened after the trans was flushed and new stuff put in. I brought it back to make sure the transmission fluid level wS not low Nd was to,s it was fine. Mechanic said, that in the cold wearhwr the fluid is thick and takes time to warm up and what is happening is normal, but I would like the opinions of those that have an older Pathy. It appears as if it was well maintained by first owner. Oh also they had a recal on the strut, which was also taken care of. Thanks. Elaine
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JAHBLESSINGS
- Sponsored Member
- Posts: 1400
- Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:36 pm
- Location: 90 DEGREES FLORIDA
cold transmission
Welcome Elaine.
I did not experience such slippage on my Pathfinder as it is almost brand new and I did not test it yet for the real cold starts in Canada, but I had experienced this issue on my old Dodge Caravan 2000 with 250,000km on it. I think it is common when the car is very cold, the transmission fluid is thick and and it would not shift into the forward gear right away, there may be about 2-5 second delay on my dodge at least. I think that your mechanic is right. I find the delay is only happening in between backup from my parking to the street and before shifting in the forward gear for the first 30 seconds. Once I start moving the issue is gone. warming up the engine helps as transmission get warmed as well via radiator fluid and then there is no issue. Hope this helps.
Oleg
I did not experience such slippage on my Pathfinder as it is almost brand new and I did not test it yet for the real cold starts in Canada, but I had experienced this issue on my old Dodge Caravan 2000 with 250,000km on it. I think it is common when the car is very cold, the transmission fluid is thick and and it would not shift into the forward gear right away, there may be about 2-5 second delay on my dodge at least. I think that your mechanic is right. I find the delay is only happening in between backup from my parking to the street and before shifting in the forward gear for the first 30 seconds. Once I start moving the issue is gone. warming up the engine helps as transmission get warmed as well via radiator fluid and then there is no issue. Hope this helps.
Oleg
trans fluid
Forgot to mention that the right trans fluid is most important as I noted that you have changed the trans fluid. I hope that you have made sure that the flush you did with your transmission is with the right fluid for your particular vehicle model as per Nissan requirement. If the transmission fluid is not 100% correct then all sorts of strange stuff may happen in a transmission`s behavior. For example, Dodge requires very specific fluid and I know from dodge caravan forum that transmission shops do fail sometimes to follow vehicle manufacturer requirements.
Hi and Welcome to the forum! My experience with automatic transmissions is limited in the deep cold but I do make it habit to "warm-up" all my vehicles before going. 30 seconds to a minute while you adjust your seat, put on the music, check your mirrors etc. I find it makes a big difference and I feel better knowing that the fluids have all had a chance to get moving around all the working parts of the engine. I would think that the older the vehicle and the colder it gets, the longer warm-up time. Just don't run your car for 10 minutes with a remote starter like some of my neighbours do. 
Thanks. Yes. I do warm it up good. Actually someone metioned it helped their same issue by warming up in neutral w brak up. I do that for about 15 minutes now and notice a difference i. That it takes much less driving time and less flaring when I start out. As far as trans fluid they used dex something, i was told it is what is reccomended by Nissan. thank you again. Elaine
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