[montgomj]

Hi everyone. I have a 2005 frontier, 6 cylinder, 4x4 king cab with 80.5k miles. I took this baby on a road trip, and on the return drive, about 800 miles into the trip, I became stuck in traffic. Anyways, once it let up and I started accelerating, we felt a large "thump" as if someone rear ended us going like 3 mph but the thump came from under the hood. It literally shook the truck and immediately the check engine light came on. Thank god I was right by an exit. I pulled into a station, checked all the fluids and serpentine belt and everything was okay. Started the engine again, put it in reverse, then put it in drive, and the truck barely accelerated at all. I turned that baby off and got it towed to the dealership. Any ideas? I at first thought it was possibly the distributing cap or timing belt, but the Toyota dealership i bought it from said from what they can tell diagnostically it has something to do with the tranny... Kind of sucks, only had this truck for 2 weeks. Thank god it came with a warranty. Thanks for any feedback!

 

[montgomj]

Actually now that you mention it, I was feeling/hearing an odd "shaking/thumping" especially when turning right even the slightest. Between 70-80 i was feeling a shaking as well. I am not sure if that could be a U joint issue though. But the ECU going out could really have caused the car to jump up like that? Thanks for the reply.

 

[montgomj]

It didn't even cross my mind to check the transmission fluid and I do not remember the color of the radiator fluid... When the dealer calls me back, I will be sure to mention that particular issue to them. If it is cross contamination, should I demand a new transmission?

 

[montgomj]

After the thud, I had to push it a little harder to the station. Once I turned the truck off and back on, put it in reverse, then drive, and accelerated, I REALLY had to push it to even get it to move. It didn't feel like a rear diff, the thud came from the front end of truck.

 

[montgomj]

I am not to sure either about the thud. It shook the cab and made our hearts skip a beat. I guess I will just wait to see what the dealership says and let you all know whats going on.

 

[montgomj]

Very interesting Steve, I will definitely make sure they are aware of that possible issue. Unfortunately, the service department is closed this weekend, so I won't hear diddly until Monday afternoon probably.

 

[montgomj]

Well I got an update from the toyota dealership. Supposedly when it went over to the Nissan dealership, the check engine light was not on, no codes were coming up, and everything is fine... They have been driving it and absolutely nothing is wrong they say. So the thud, check engine light on, and not being able to accelerate just disappeared and all is good now? Seems rather shady to me. Not to sure what else to do rather than to get the truck back and drive it myself for a while.

 

[montgomj]

Ya, I think they are not wanting to dish out the money to fix the real problem... I am just going to suck it up and pay someone I trust to take a very thorough look at it. Why offer a warranty on something but not follow through with it? Heck, then again maybe there's a small chance nothing is wrong....

 

[montgomj]

So, I am picking up the truck tomorrow. They told me, and I quote "There was some trash in the transmission, we drained it, filled it back up, drove 300 miles, drained it again, and filled it back up. It is running just fine. We are going to even extend your warranty for 90 more days." This is all the guy could tell me. Sounds like the infamous radiator/transmission fluid leak to me. What course of action would you recommend here?