[Garrin]

Ok, well I was out doing a little wheeling and had my '05 Frontier in some mud and water. It wasn't really that deep, maybe up to the bottom of the doors but I've had it in a lot deeper with no problems. When I was finished for the day and driving home it started acting up. Between 40 and 50 MPH it starts to "shimmy" a little and won't shift into overdrive, if I take my foot off the gas then press it again, it shifts fine. I went ahead and changed the fluid and that fixed it for about 2 weeks then it slowly started doing it again. Should I change it again and add some Lucas transmission fix or would that be a waste of money. Also do I really HAVE to use Nissan tranny fluid?? Any help would be great.
Thanks!

 

[colin123]

your radiator built in tranny cooler has failed most likely from the sound of your symptoms and coolant is contaminating your tranny causing it to fail. it starts generally with shimmies or vibrations when it tries shifting into od and gets worse from there. the price tag for a fix is not pretty, i believe the tranny is about 3500 and whatever the rad costs plus labor.

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/rumble-strip-vibration-52294/ does any of this sound like your truck?

 

[Jordo]

:hi:

your radiator built in tranny cooler has failed most likely from the sound of your symptoms and coolant is contaminating your tranny causing it to fail. it starts generally with shimmies or vibrations when it tries shifting into od and gets worse from there. the price tag for a fix is not pretty, i believe the tranny is about 3500 and whatever the rad costs plus labor.

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/rumble-strip-vibration-52294/ does any of this sound like your truck?

My trany was replaced under warrenty. It was $6200. (parts and labor)

 

[colin123]

being an 05 i'm guessing he's out of warranty which would really suck if he's over the mileage cause thats a hefty price tag.

 

[RBOWWOW]

Do the Tranny cooler bypass, Flush and fill the tranny again then head for the dealer to trade in...

 

[Garrin]

That's not exactly what I was wanting to hear. But I am headed to the dealer tomorrow to try and get a new one. Nobody buy a used white frontier any time soon. Jk

 

[HarshReality001]

ok, number one lets try and do some self-diagnosis. no sense dropping it off at the dealer and losing it for a day or 3 if you dont have to.

#1 - you said you drained/filled the trans fluid. how did it look? burnt? clean and red? some frothy mess?

#2- wait until the engine cools and pop the cap off the radiator. is there anything in there that doesnt look clean and green? if all is clear here, there is little chance of radiator/trans cross-contamination.

#3- are we sure its a trans problem? you were knee-deep in mud; check out your MAF sensor just past your airbox and make sure its clean inside and out. a mess of mud/water on it could cause your engine to not get the right mix of air/fuel ocassionally, which could cause i shudder (among other things)

thats it for the easy stuff. let us know your findings.

 

[colin123]

you can rule out the maf just by his description. if it was a maf reading problem then it would most likely be an idle issue or a problem consistent at the same rpm in every gear and generally come with a CEL. the coolant isn't really a tell tale sign either since some with the problem noticed a change in coolant color (pink milk shake) but for others this was never seen. his tranny fluid when he did the flush would have looked like complete crap no matter what if he had put 40k or more on it with no full flushes. a shimmy and wont shift into overdrive around 40-50, sounds like the exact symptoms of the contamination failure everyone else has had. even if the source of contamination isn't the rad (from the sounds of it he's had it pretty deep a few times in water and mud and water could have found many ways to get in it) the symptoms point to contamination none the less. sorry to say.

 

[HarshReality001]

so what you are saying is that, if the trans fluid doesnt have coolant in it and the coolant doesnt have trans fluid in it, he could still be experiencing cross-contamination to the point of failure?

please direct me to the threads/posts where owners describe nissan-diagnosed trans contamination with no evidence of fluid xfer. not once here or on any other nissan forum have i read that anyone has had trans shimmies/poor shifting due to cross contamination while having no evidence of one fluid or the other where it didnt belong. 3 oz of coolant in the trans aint gonna do it. you would see contamination during the drain/fill, which he has done.

so again (and im asking the OP) what did the trans fluid look like when you drained it?

 

[colin123]

so what you are saying is that, if the trans fluid doesnt have coolant in it and the coolant doesnt have trans fluid in it, he could still be experiencing cross-contamination to the point of failure?

please direct me to the threads/posts where owners describe nissan-diagnosed trans contamination with no evidence of fluid xfer. not once here or on any other nissan forum have i read that anyone has had trans shimmies/poor shifting due to cross contamination while having no evidence of one fluid or the other where it didnt belong. 3 oz of coolant in the trans aint gonna do it. you would see contamination during the drain/fill, which he has done.

so again (and im asking the OP) what did the trans fluid look like when you drained it?

he said the last time he had mud water up to the bottom of the doors but times before he has had it way deeper than that which would probably mean he has had his tranny mostly under water and if water gets it there you have a contaminated tranny. and weather you choose to believe it or not it is very possible to have oils in your coolant system and never be able to tell with the naked eye which is why have make a testing kit where you take a sample of your coolant, add the test chemical and if it changes to a certain color there is oil present. where are your threads that show someone having a maf problem that manifested as a shimmy at 40-50 and the trans not shifting into OD?

 

[Garrin]

When I changed it the fluid was black! Had a few hairs of white (water I guess) but not much. Like I say, it looked like a couple of hairs k&n the pan.

 

[colin123]

When I changed it the fluid was black! Had a few hairs of white (water I guess) but not much. Like I say, it looked like a couple of hairs k&n the pan.

i'm guessing by hairs your referring to thin white streaks in the fluid or were they actual solid mass?

thin liquid streaks of white would suggest a contaminant, the black coloration is normal of a tranny that hasn't been fully flushed in over 40k miles. on a side note if you plan to fix and keep it then you should also drain the front/rear diffs and the transfer case. with the vent and seal problems that our rear diffs are known for there is a possibility that with dunking it under water a few times that you could have contaminated it as well but in general the fluids are probably overdue for a change.

 

[Garrin]

Yes, thin white streaks. No solids except around the magnets. I was told that is normal. I drained the rear diff fluid and replaced it with royal purple. The front and transfer case are next. When I changed the tranny fluid, everything was driving perfect for about 2 weeks. I'm thinking I should do a total flush and refill, torque converter and all.

 

[colin123]

since its still at the stage that it has gone away with a drain and fill a full flush and the radiator bypass would be a good idea. weather it was an outside source of contamination or that radiator failure it would be good to cover your bases to prevent any farther contamination so that it does not progress. if you do the bypass it would be a good idea to invest in an external cooler.

 

[tb226]

back from the dead!

I just experienced this problem on my 06 Frontier XE, I'm most likely going to trade the truck in because of the heafty price that will follow getting it repaired.

A temporary fix would just be flushing the trans fluid right? I just need it to last till I get it to the dealership lol.

 

[steve500]

Might just be the valve body. There is an overdrive solenoid that can be replaced on the valve body as well instead of the whole entire valve body.

Is your overdrive light not flashing/solid after a startup? Then it might NOT be valvebody issue but who knows. The transmissions build into the valve body transmission controller should throw a code if any of the solenoid valves are malfunctioning.

A re-manned transmission is $2400-$3000ish.

Watch your invoices close and be damn sure the dealer doesnt install a re-manned transmission for the price of a brand new.

Might be a good idea to get a transmission rebuild kit+valve body for the hell of it and restore it to new yourself.

my .02

Good luck, man.