Do you have a 1st gen or 2nd gen?

 

gen2, he states "I have an 05 Nismo"

 

This just happened to my 05 Nismo. Currently it sits in broken transmission waiting for a valve body. Although, I got no engine code for it. Odd eh?

But I did the transmission self diagnostics test and got a code for "torque converter lockup solenoid circuit failure". O/D light is stuck and and starts in 4th.

Crazy.

 

No real warning.

I didn't really get any warning when mine died. My girlfriend had complained for a while that she felt like the truck was lightly surging. I could never feel it. The only thing I noticed was if I was in 4th or 5th and I put the pedal down it seemed to take forever for the tranny to downshift.

That seems much better with the new valve body.

 

nice write up. thanks for the great info.
did you take any pics of the solenoid swap?

 

Nice write up, this gives me some insight to what the wife's ben complaining about.. That might be us soon. Now i know what to look for.

 

remow do you by chance remember the part number for the valve body and the person you talked to at courtesy? thanks

 

Okay, I have a scan gauge and a code together with the SES came on last night. I checked the code and it said something like TCM, IDK what it means at all but anyway I checked the possibility of the contamination thing and no traces of oil in either my reservoir or radiator. Went to the dealer and they found same code and mechanic said it was the valve body for the transmission. My truck has 72,000 miles on it hauls anywhere from 2500lbs to 3000lbs irregularly, I dont know how hauling a hitch affects the transmission knowing that I dont even get to 50 percent capacity on the maximum. There was no logical explanation on the wear of the part-and my truck ran out of warranty 6 months ago. Quoted price for the repair is 1600 dollars. I thought Id pass the word around for the members to know whats coming their way. I wish I had the money to buy an extended warranty!

 

I got a call from the dealership-cause of the transmission problem was a ruptured line from radiator.....all repairs covered including transmission and radiator and a loaner...I guess my research on this forum turned out well.
Thanks for all contributors on the "contaminated" transmission fluids

 

Just replaced mine, I picked up the valve assembly for $777 from the dealership.
put it in took it around the block it did shift but it seemed hesitant, does this new valve body have to program itself or something?

 

Just replaced mine, I picked up the valve assembly for $777 from the dealership.
put it in took it around the block it did shift but it seemed hesitant, does this new valve body have to program itself or something?

No It Dont You need to take it in to the dealership and get a reflashed program the ECM back up to the transmission you see him route to stay stuck in 3rd gear when you try to take off and goes.

 

While towing a trailer with my 240Z race car I got a SES light and tranny acting strange. Pulled code P1757. After a bit of research I was pretty sure it was Valve Body.

I overpaid and had the dealer swap the valve body. They had it done the next day. Valve body itself is about $950 now. Just wasn't interested in doing it myself. And the tranny is now good as new.

In fact... I think it is better than new. It pulls away from a stop in a more controllable manner, and it shifts gears a little smarter. The new Valve Body is a revised part with improvements. Tows better too, holds gears a little longer prior to making a big change.

120,000 miles on a 2006 Frontier.
This is my first "breakdown" of any kind.

 

i am having the same issue with my 07. same code + another solenoid code, same issue with transmission occasionally staying in 4th, but my truck also will not shift into overdrive, instead it downshifts back into 3rd, has anyone else had this happen? i have the valve body on the way, just hope it fixes both issues.

 

Looking for a new valve body for my frontier that has just been sitting. Stuck in 4th gear safe-mode with the code for the "open circuit on torque converter lockup solenoid."

Even if I can just find one salvage, I'd be happy with that but they are so hard to find.

Those who have installed their own valve body, was there any special tricks/tools that I may need? I just have basic sockets and extensions etc. Just would like to be prepared.

 

I had the same thing happen to me late last year. Noticed that it was starting in a higher gear and took awhile to gain speed. Sure enough, it was stuck in 4th. Took it to the shop and had to get the valve body fixed. It was pricey! But hey, she shifts gears better now and has the radiator bypass!::smile::

 

10mm socket is the only tool you need and a big pan, i had to refill with nearly 12 quarts of fluid

 

2 weeks ago I got home from running errands and my SES light came on and the truck didn't want to move till I hit about 40ish. This was my tranny going into limp mode. When the TCM gets an error it locks the tranny in 4th for all forward driving to protect the tranny.

I ran codes and came up with a P1757. Which is Front Brake Control Solenoid error. Did a ton of research and searched on here extensively. What I found was a couple of posts for 05 Xterras and Frontiers. (I have an 05 Nismo) I was not worried about the radiator contamination. I did the bypass at 40k miles. (thanks Clubfrontier) The posts and info I did find everyone had replaced the valve body. Nissan, much like the power relay that they had to recall, does not sell the solenoids themselves, the FSM also list the fix as replacing the valve body.

Not happy with that answer I found a tranny company Makco transmissions online and talked to nice guy named Roger. He found the solenoid I needed and shipped it my way for about $70.

Drained the tranny dropped the pan and the valve body. There are ton of bolts but only about 10 that need to be pulled to drop the valve body.

When I got it out I ran an ohm test on the bad solenoid. (The front brake control solenoid is the one right in the middle. There are 3 other solenoids on either side of the front brake control solenoid.) The one on the valve body tested 6.5 ohms, unfortunately so did the brand new one. I swapped it out, w but had a sinking feeling that it would not be fixed.

So I bolted it all back together and sure enough the minute I put it in drive the SES light came on and the error code came back.

So I broke down and bought a new valve body from CoutesyNissan and had it overnight shipped. Drained the tranny and dropped the pan and valve body again and bolted in the new valve body. Filled it up with 8 quarts of Valvoline maxlife atf and fired it up.

All is well. About 800 miles since I put in the new valve body.

So here is what I have concluded from this issue.

1. if your get the P1757 error drop the valve body and ohm test the solenoid. If you get 6.5 ohms. It is most likely fine.
2. Unless you have the water contamination issue. More then likely a tranny code means the TCM (tranny computer) has died.
3. Every thing I located on this code seemed to be on 05 models vehicles and in all case but 1 the valve body got replaced. A dealership sold 1 poor guy a whole new tranny. (Ouch!)
4. Courtesynissan did a great job and had the best price I could find for the valve body. ($791.00)
5. When you drop the valve body there is one small 3 prong connector to disconnect on the bottom of the valve body and 1 connector above the valve body. Pull those 2 and unbolt and the valve body will fall out.
6. There is only 1 physical item to worry about. The shifter arm is a triangle piece of metal with a big metal button on it passenger side of tranny. That button drops into the round metal selector on the valve body.

Just for the record, Tranny was flushed by Nissan at 30k. I did 2 drain and fills at 65K. This happened at 73K miles.

Has anyone else had to have the valve body replaced? I did not find any real references on here about it? Just curious.



HI There,

I recently experienced this exact feeling a few days ago taking the usual route to visit my horse. The truck didn't want to move until you got around 40 as you stated. I have a 2005 Frontier SE with about 193k on her. Super worried because it felt like a tranny issue ran to the local Autozone and got a P1759 error and after extensive research we found your post and possible causes to be a front brake solenoid function valve problem, short circuit condition or poor electrical connection. Although it wasn't the same code you got all these things are also controlled by the valve body. After more research we decided it was best to just replace the valve body. As you stated my Courtesy Nissan also had the best price at $858 for mine. We proceeded to drain the tranny fluid, took down the pan and unplugged and unbolted the valve body (which has a small pin that has to be pulled out on the side first) When we opened the new part that was ordered by VIN number we noticed it didn't look the same, just slightly different.

Concerned we called Nissan to verify and turns out this part had been upgraded and replaced to a new version. So a few things were different like the spring piece on top and a black cover over one of the soleniods

We had to take 12 screws out to drop the valve body and it was definitely a messy job.

Probably most of you know this but the Matic J tranny fluid is now replaced by the Matic S fluid. That was news to me since we had done a drain and fill at about 100k.

So to sum it up it's a messy but pretty straight forward job. Laying under the car and dropping the valve body gets tranny fluid everywhere. So we took our time dropping the pan with making sure we had some ample cardboard underneath the catch pan. All in all Tonka is running smooth as can be and about as powerful as it was when I first bought it. I honestly haven't had a single problem with this truck and was a bit shocked that this went wrong because of the pricey sticker. The only thing we did change was the fix for Nissan's faulty radiator, so that was never an issue. This is my 2nd Frontier and my first one a 1998 is still going strong sporting 426k.

Thanks for your write up it helped us a lot

 

I am glad it helped. Tranny stuff is always daunting. But when it comes to a valve body almost anyone comfortable with a wrench can do it.

 

Im having same issue but dealership saying it has to be programmed after..is this true or are they just trying to make a buck?

 

It's throwing the p1757 code and is a 2005.

 

Hi,
how can I solve the problem of not shifting into overdrive ? I already repaired the broken wire on the main unit...
shifting up to 4th gear is ok, but it does not shift into 5th gear - it downshifts to 3rd!
thanks a lot abd greetings from germany

 

Not necessarily. I had the coolant contamination problem and had to replace the valve body and TCM. I bought both rebuilt online and the TCM came with instructions on how to go through a learning process. It worked perfectly. This was back in 2018 so I am not really clear on what the process was but I did have a thread about my adventure here somewhere. I have had no issues since with the transmission.

EDIT: See below for my situation resolved, I bought a paired, rebuilt valve body/TCM online:

Just an update for anyone interested... transmission was fine, for a while, then began banging into 2nd again every once in a while, and then more frequently as time went on. I bought a used TCM on ebay with the intention of replacing the original. Got a call from my wife telling me she was stranded near home, engine stalled and turning the key to attempt restart resulted in... nothing. Towed the truck home,eventually found the TCM fuse had blown causing a CAN Bus trouble code and rendering the truck inoperable. Replaced the fuse and the engine started but soon enough the TCM fuse blew again. SIGH Now forced to replace the TCM with the used ebay part. Go through the replacement routine I can almost do in my sleep now, go to start the engine, lo & behold I am greeted with a blasting cooling fan & full-time high beams, no-start of course. BIGGER SIGH Send the ECM out for testing only to find out it is perfectly normal. UGH! I contact a company that specializes in rebuilding/coding TCM's to the vehicle's VIN ($699.00), attaches it to a rebuilt valve body along with instructions for the re-learn procedure. These people are GREAT btw. I go through the R&R of the valve body AGAIN with the new parts, go through the relearn procedure, turn the key to start... it lives again! The transmission is working fine so far, no hard shifts or the dreaded forced downshift into 2nd gear/limp home mode. Fingers crossed I am not jinxing myself here by posting this!

Is seems the other ebay TCM (removed from a known-to-be-working wrecked Frontier, so they say) was quite defective, even to the point of taking the ECM out of the CAN bus. The company that sold it to me was really very good abut the situation, even after 90 days, and sent a full refund for the part, told me to trash the defective part. This has been a bit of an ordeal but seems to have finally ended well. We shall see. Moral here seems to be if you have a coolant contaminated transmission issue, if you catch it soon enough it can be resolved. DO replace the TCM and valve body when flushing the transmission. It seems the TCM is almost always damaged in this scenario.

 

Do you have the relearn instructions still?

 

I'm having same issue with my tranny first gear was only affected kept driving it now when I start to go its stuck in 3rd and shakes violently..if I replace the valve body plate that should do the trick??? It's also throwing the p 1757code and is a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder.