Water in Tranny... How Long Do I Have?

[dwoodard170]

So I had the radiator fail and soak the transmission. Surprise right?!?!

Anyway, I had the radiator fixed (mostly because I could pay for that) and we flushed and filled the tranny with clean fluid. The car is back on the road and it runs pretty good-- nice strong starts and clean shifts with the exception of light throttle near overdive it seems to get a little confused and shudder a little before getting the gear right.

Also, I notice that now when I shift to a lower gear (going down a hill for example) the transmission does not shift to the gear I am requesting. Going up the same hill, it seems to obey my gear selection.

So clearly the tranny is not 100%. However it is running and my question is:

Am I going to do any further damage to the parts that may not currently need to be replaced? And based on what I have reported, am I begging to get stuck on the side of the road soon or am I probably OK to keep driving until I can save up for the repairs... (or until someone sues the ugly Nissan corporation into paying for their junk fixes-- but I digress!)

Thanks guys

Dan

2005 Pathfinder LE 4.0 4WD 105000 miles

[smj999smj]

It is possible that you could do greater damage the longer you drive it, but to say you definitely will do more damage or how long you can continue to drive it without total failure, or when it will occur, is really impossible to say. There are already a number of class action lawsuits for this problem. The most promising thing is that the NHTSA is investigating the issue and there's a chance that they "may" force Nissan to do a recall at some point; just when, if it happens, is anybody's guess at this time.

[ericbrooks]

My rad failed on my 05 LE too. It was caught right after it happened and replaced, the tranny was flushed and refilled. This was 6,500 miles ago. I have a slight over rev when shifting into OD as well. I have found that if i turn OD off and shift into it manually it doesnt over rev. That seems to be the only problem. Who knows how long it will last. Can someone tell me if this slight over rev when shifting into OD is normal??

[Seanw1]

So I had the radiator fail and soak the transmission. Surprise right?!?!

Anyway, I had the radiator fixed (mostly because I could pay for that) and we flushed and filled the tranny with clean fluid. The car is back on the road and it runs pretty good-- nice strong starts and clean shifts with the exception of light throttle near overdive it seems to get a little confused and shudder a little before getting the gear right.

Also, I notice that now when I shift to a lower gear (going down a hill for example) the transmission does not shift to the gear I am requesting. Going up the same hill, it seems to obey my gear selection.

So clearly the tranny is not 100%. However it is running and my question is:

Am I going to do any further damage to the parts that may not currently need to be replaced? And based on what I have reported, am I begging to get stuck on the side of the road soon or am I probably OK to keep driving until I can save up for the repairs... (or until someone sues the ugly Nissan corporation into paying for their junk fixes-- but I digress!)

Thanks guys

Dan

2005 Pathfinder LE 4.0 4WD 105000 miles

I did the bypass in March, and started getting the shudder at light throttle. About two months later I lost 3rd gear completely. It cost me $4300 for a complete rebuild. My '06 had 158K miles on it when it happened. Should have listened to my wife and traded it in last year, but didn't want a car payment. At this point I have a new trans, new shocks, new brakes, and new cats(need to get them installed). I'm going to drive this thing into the ground.

[dawgn86]

this is the 2nd or 3rd post I have seen on here lately that folks have trouble with the tranny right after the bypass.

Is there a way to do the by pass wrong? I took the bottom 2 lines off the bottom of my 06 and connected them wtih a barbed connector. And capped the inlets on the radiator with rubber vaccuum caps.

This has been 10k miles ago with no problems. I changed my ATF about 2 months ago at 100k miles. Runs and shifts good.

[deermjd]

I don't see how doing the bypass would damage the transmission in any way, unless of course the connections are bad and cause transmission fluid to leak out. Apparantly this radiator/transmission cooler leak causes a slow death to the transmission and may take a while to notice any symptoms. So it's likely that those who have done the bypass and soon after had transmission problems already had a leak before the bypass was done. The best way to make sure the radiator is still intact is to check the transmission fluid while doing the bypass and make sure it's still good. Also, after doing the bypass you can leave the now unused transmission cooler in the radiator unplugged and make sure no coolant is leaking out when the engine is running and coolant is at operating pressure.

[ericbrooks]

I changed the tranny fluid in mine last night. I'm glad I did cause the old fluid still had very slight contamination. They must not have got it all out when they flushed it.

[disallow]

You really can't get it all. Even if you flush, unless you actually take the torque converter off and drain it, it will always have some of the old fluid in it.

[ericbrooks]

I might just do it once a month for a few months. Its sure not gonna hurt anything.