My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

[SETI20]

Hi there. New guy here from Canada.

So I bought a very nice '07 LE a week or two ago with just under 150.000 KM on it. Leather, navi, DVD, the works. Got a reasonably good deal on it too.
I'm a somewhat car-savvy guy. I did some research. Asked all the questions. Checked all the things. Took a 40 minute test drive. Poked and prodded around the car and didn't find anything worrying.

Or so I thought.

So I've just put my first tank of gas in it, and since I wasn't sure exactly when the fluids were changed, I just went ahead and had everything flushed just in case. I pulled all the caps and sticks in the lot and all looked uneventful. But when the trans fluid came out it was a little milkshake like.

In retrospect, now that I know what to look for, and now that I have found other people with similar problems, I could have been better informed. And thinking back, I felt a little bit of a vibration in the car for a second or two. But that was uneven pavement, and at the time I thought it was a tire vibration of sorts.

So, here we are. The car has been driving just fine, for the not even 1000km that I've owned it. But I'm afraid of grenading it, so it just sits now.

I called my 3 nearest Nissan dealers, and they claim they have never seen this before, and suggest I replace the trans cooler at $600. I have called 6 general mechanics; neither had heard of this before, and one of them claimed this was impossible because the trans is under much higher pressure than the cooling system. He told me they had just put in the wrong oil.
Called 2 transmission shops. One of which had seen something similar on a frontier that had seized up and needed the whole trans replaced at about $5 grand.

With all these conflicting stories I can't really call the dealer I bought it from. And honestly, he got it at auction so I doubt he even knew of any issues with it, and honestly, up until when I felt that vibration, it's been smooth, so there isn't much to tell him, yet anyway.

Regardless, from what I gather, as soon as the fluid starts to mix, I'm borked. But with all these shops being clueless I'm unsure how to proceed.

...so she sits.

[eieio]

That sucks, sorry.
Usually when this contamination issue occurs, the trans will become toast, if not right away, eventually.
I don't know about Canada, but in the US the extended warranty on the radiator issue would still cover a portion of the expense to repair (at your trucks' age & mileage).
You might check to see if the extension might be extended on your truck.
Here is a link to Nissanassist with the whole scoop.........
http://www.nissanassist.com/web/Radiato ... hp?menu=22

[SETI20]

That link is very helpful and I had not seen that before! Thank you!
It has a contact number for Nissan Canada in it as well. I just called them, and it does seem that I am eligible for the extended warranty program.

I have to pay in $3000 into the service. I have about a year and 9000KM left to make a claim.

That's a big chunk of change. But it beats the $7900 that the dealer quoted me, and buys me peace of mind that it won't happen again.

[daytona675]

And, with the updated radiator, and a new transmission...only the timing chain issue is left (if yours is affected) I hope it isn't! You should have a solid SUV after that!

[eieio]

That link is very helpful and I had not seen that before! Thank you!
It has a contact number for Nissan Canada in it as well. I just called them, and it does seem that I am eligible for the extended warranty program.

I have to pay in $3000 into the service. I have about a year and 9000KM left to make a claim.

That's a big chunk of change. But it beats the $7900 that the dealer quoted me, and buys me peace of mind that it won't happen again.

that's excellent SETI20!!!!!!!!!
glad to help
this is what we're all about here

[SETI20]

So, at this point, these are my options, I think. Input welcomed.

The car is at 151.000km, and the warranty is valid for 1 more year or 160.000km whichever comes first.

Option 1: Do the bypass, flush, hope for the best. With the risk of it grenading outside of the 160K, or with the risk of Nissan using the bypass as an excuse to screw me out of the warranty.

Option 2: Listen to dealer1 and have the rad cooler replaced for $600, flush, hope for the best and not end up with issue after issue and a money pit.

Option 3: Shop around for a dealer willing to replace all the offending parts with new ones, swallow the co-pay for $3000 and have it as new.

(Option 4: make SURE the thing grenades terminally before 160K and have it towed to Nissan, swallow the co-pay of $3000 and have new parts)

[skinny2]

This is tricky.

I think I would at least pursue #3 and see if anyone will replace the radiator AND the transmission. If they won't do the transmission, tell them no.

After that I would do a combination of 1 and 4. Bypass/flush and see what happens. If the transmission starts to act shitty before you hit the 160k mark, reverse the bypass (hook the radiator back up), wait for fluid to look like shit again, and then drop it off at the dealer with a milkshake and wrect tranny. Spend $3,000 on radiator/transmission. If the transmission doesn't shit itself in the next 9k miles, you'll probably be ok.

Option 2 is BS and a waste of time/money.

[eieio]

So, at this point, these are my options, I think. Input welcomed.

The car is at 151.000km, and the warranty is valid for 1 more year or 160.000km whichever comes first.

Option 1: Do the bypass, flush, hope for the best. With the risk of it grenading outside of the 160K, or with the risk of Nissan using the bypass as an excuse to screw me out of the warranty.

Option 2: Listen to dealer1 and have the rad cooler replaced for $600, flush, hope for the best and not end up with issue after issue and a money pit.

Option 3: Shop around for a dealer willing to replace all the offending parts with new ones, swallow the co-pay for $3000 and have it as new.

(Option 4: make SURE the thing grenades terminally before 160K and have it towed to Nissan, swallow the co-pay of $3000 and have new parts)

Absolutely Door #3
Now that you've contacted Nissan Canada (and I assume they gave you a case number or equivalent), I'd call them back and ask them to refer you to a dealer who will do a proper job replacing the radiator & transmission.
Keep Nissan Canada involved.
That way, in case the dealer needs some "guidance" should they become "un-cooperative", it will be available.
It's Nissans' responsibility at this point.
I recommend you keep it that way.
That would be my approach.
Oh, and I'd do it right away.

[eieio]

just curious, did you buy it from a Nissan dealer?

[DanJetta]

I vote for #4 because–someone correct me if I'm wrong–warranty language states that, in order to have your transmission replaced under warranty, it must have catastrophically failed (I think that's what they call it). In other words, janky shifting is not considered "failure." I've heard of dealerships replacing the radiator and simply flushing the transmission, delaying the inevitable for months (or even years). Might depend on your dealership, too.

Either way, I vote for #4.

And I agree with the above – you will have fixed one of the two major issues and should have a solid truck for a while.

[SteveFinn]

I had my transmission & radiator replaced at 78,000 miles under the extended warranty on my first Pathfinder (2008).

The transmission did not have a catastrophic failure. I complained of 'rumble-strip' like shifts into 5th gear (OD).

The dealer just verified the cross-contamination of coolant/transmission fluid and set me up to get a rebuilt tranny & new rad

[DanJetta]

I had my transmission & radiator replaced at 78,000 miles under the extended warranty on my first Pathfinder (2008).

The transmission did not have a catastrophic failure. I complained of 'rumble-strip' like shifts into 5th gear (OD).

The dealer just verified the cross-contamination of coolant/transmission fluid and set me up to get a rebuilt tranny & new rad

That's good to know.

[skinny2]

Whether you get both replaced without a transmission "failure" entirely depends on the dealer. My family used to own dealerships and the service manager has a HUGE amount of clout to get warranty repairs performed at ridiculous miles. Assuming he and the regional service manager get along.

I can recall seeing engines/transmissions replaced at 150k miles for very little out of pocket for the customer. This is why it's good to check around to other dealers. OP sounds like he's got some gomer dealers nearby which is unfortunate.

[SETI20]

Thanks for your insight guys.

Now that I've put in more than a single tank of gas, driving it out of town for a bit, and now that I know what issues to look for, I can say with certainty that the transmission is borked.

I have the rumble strip symptoms at specific speed/revs when in OD.
It is hesitant to rev past 2500RPM unless it drops out of OD.
It has trouble getting up steeper hills. Does not always shift out of OD and revs drop.
[P] park indicator on the dash sometimes flickers a few times.
There have been a few instances where it seemed to be unable to decide which gear to choose.
1st to 2nd is harsher than I think it should be.

My planned strategy is to send the wife to the dealer with this list of issues, and hope that they smell money. Have them quote her for the full shebam and every nickel they can potentially take from her, then contact Nissan Canada.

[skinny2]

I think I'd wait until it's shifting really bad (or fails) before taking it in. At this point they can probably argue that it's just shifting bad from the fluid, but there isn't a mechanical failure requiring a replacement of the transmission. So you get a full price radiator exchange and fluid flush into a most likely damaged transmission. A lot depends on the dealer but considering the one's you called had never even heard of this.....