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Beating a Dead Horse

3K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  HeavyDuty 
#1 ·
I know there has been numerous threads in regards to the Transmission/Radiator Contamination, but I needed some information in regards to the updated radiators.

I bought my 2010 PRO-4X CC auto December of 2010 with 21999 miles on it. My truck currently has 72XXX miles on it. I absolutely LOVE my truck, it has not given me a single problem in the 2 years i've had her. Not a check engine light, NOTHING.

When I purchased the truck I also purchased a Security + Preferred RS warranty 72 months/100,000 miles. My plan is once the truck is out of warranty, either 1. Trade it in for a new 6 speed manual (although I absolutely love the black leather, they don't make the 6 speeds with leather) or replace the radiator even if it hasn't broken yet with another.

My question is on whether I decide to just change out the radiator and keep the truck. I've seen people talk about Griffin radiators, the bypass etc. I don't want to do the bypass at all. What radiator out there IF ANY can I purchase that is designed in a way that WILL NOT contaminate my transmission. I've seen the youtube videos of the guys that say that there design is BETTER, but no where have I seen of a radiator that I can purchase that will not do this AT ALL.

I understand that my transmission could break from other things, such as no tranny fluid or abuse etc and my radiator could break from a crack or no fluid etc, but i have yet to find a radiator that is designed not to contaminate my transmission.

Can someone help me out and point me in a direction where I can purchase a radiator that is designed not to do this so that I may keep my truck instead of trading it in?
 
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#3 ·
there is no such thing as a radiator that will not do this at all.....unless you bypass the radiator and use the transmission cooler only.

the risk of contamination exists in all radiators of this type....it may be very very small....but its never 0%.

personally i would get the newest factory radiator...which is supposed to be fixed and move on.....
 
#5 ·
MAINE, that is the answer I was looking for, I don't know much about radiators so I didn't know that ALL radiators had the chance of doing it unless you do the bypass. Also when you say ALL radiators, does that include trucks with the 6 speed manual or just the auto's.

Lastly, if I decide to keep my truck and do the bypass instead of changing out the radiator, are there any bad side effects of doing this? I only tow a trailer with 2 or 3 fourwheelers a few times a year and thats it.

Thanks for the reply!
 
#6 ·
Any radiator that's designed to accommodate the transmission cooler (heat exchanger) inside the radiator *could* cross-contaminate, but an apparent design flaw of the Frontier's radiator made it more prevalent to failure & has supposedly now been rectified.

Typically speaking, most manual transmission vehicles don't have trans fluid coolers, but there are exceptions. I doubt our M/T trucks have one, if they do, I'm sure someone will come along and correct me.

When someone does a bypass, removing the trans supply and return lines from the radiator and instead run them into and out of a liquid-to-air transmission cooler without a thermostat, it's possible that in certain climates (cold) that the fluid wouldn't reach it's optimal operating temperature, but instead be cooler than designed.
 
#9 ·
You can do the bypass and add a tranny cooler. And as for as wear and year with just the bypass alone, I know of numerous xterras that have done the bypass and wheel the hell out of them with no issues.
 
#11 ·
TXPRO4x, the manual transmission in our trucks does not contain a transmission cooler as the manual transmission does not have pumps like an auto tranny does.

If I were in your position with being paranoid I'd get a solid aftermarket tranny cooler and install it. The warming up issue of an automatic is the only problem you'd encounter and that isn't even really a problem, it'd just take a little longer driving to warm it up instead of letting your truck idle and help warm it up(that's howit works on our stock auto trannys). Heat is the number one killer of transmissions, doing the bypass will in my opinion give you peace of mind on all fronts(especially towing).


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#14 ·
TXPRO4x, the manual transmission in our trucks does not contain a transmission cooler as the manual transmission does not have pumps like an auto tranny does.
FWIW, there are Nissan manual transmission applications that use an external pump and fluid/air coolers and the same could be said for differential coolers. But by and large, I'd agree 99% of M/T's do not have or need such a system & there aren't internal pumps on most if not all M/T's.

The radiator doesn't cool the tranny fluid... it runs through the radiator to warm it to operating temp.
If you're that worried about it, add an electric fan to the trans cooler and call it a day. Should work just fine.
IMHO, it does both. When cold, the radiator serves to warm the fluid, and when the trans fluid temp becomes higher than the coolant, it serves to cool it, albeit not as much as a fluid/air cooler. Setups like this are usually referred to as 'heat exchangers' just like sandwich style oil coolers.

Also, FWIW, for those speaking of the differences between styles of coolers, the first word in the expression is where the heat is coming *from*, and the latter is where it's being transferred *to*.

In this example;

Fluid/fluid would express trans fluid to coolant.

Fluid/air trans fluid to the air, a small radiator style finned cooler that the fluid circulates through.

Lots of people use fluid/air coolers with no problems, but an engineer *might* argue to the contrary if the fluid doesn't reach "optimum designed temp."
 
#16 ·
I'd say its a no brainer about doing the bypass. Not a single person has had a legit complaint just having the factory front trans cooler only. My best friend has a 05 nismo with 185k on it and bypassed the orig cooler well over 100k miles ago and stil has the orig radiator that evidently isn't leaking. He tows in the jersey shore in 100deg summer heat and upstate NY usualy carting a 20ft seadoo twin engine jetboat with NO problems. My old 92 pathfinder had a problem wiht the radiator trans cooler clogging so i added an external trans cooler since it didn't have one and i have 238k on it right now and climbing. I PERSONALLY bought a 06 LE frontier with the cross contamination issue and it was cheap. I flushed 26 quarts of atf through the trans half at first then drove 100 miles and flushed the rest through and the trans is fine. I replaced the radiator and bypassed the cooler but surely didn't have to since the rad was new. I think too many people drive their trucks and feeling the shuddering during the contamination issue and ruin the trans. If cought semi early (say within 500-1000 miles) a good flush and you should be fine. I used a seafoam trans clean during the first flush and lucas shift treatment NOT stop slip the second time around and truck is perfect at 174k miles. Bypass your rad cooler and enjoy your trucks!

Scott
 
#21 ·
Maybe its just me but anytime i own a vehicle i always learn what weakness' a vehicle has (every vehicle has a flaw) and try to remedy it as early as possible. From what i've learned the frontier is an amazing vehicle but not without its flaws. Rear axle vent mod, trans cooler bypass, u joint issues, timing chain guides going bad, and 02 sensors throwing codes which most have done the spark plug non fouler mod to cure the cel's. non will leave you stranded on the side of the road without a warning... I think this is the majority of the issues that are small. The chain is small to a degree since a timing belt isn't much cheaper and has to get done at 100k and a timing chain maybe 150-200k miles price kinda equals out. Toyotas on the other hand have their issues as well and im a toyota guy. Head gaskets popping seem to run in the toyota family, a headache i'd rather not have....

Good luck....

Scott
 
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