5523Pathfinder Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 (edited) If you haven't heard, the 05-06 pathfinders have a warranty extension on the radiator because some will crack and leak into the transmission cooler. This in turn will pump coolant into your transmission and burn it up! You would need to replace both the transmission and radiator, which can be very expensive. So, what if you bought one that didn't get the radiator replaced? You are gonna bypass it! For free! Now, I'm not sure all of the pathfinders came with them, but there is a auxiliary transmission cooler in from of the radiator, just behind the grille. You can check if you have one by opening the hood and inspecting for one, just on the passenger side. It should look something like this... If you do have it, remove the front lower bumper trim and the front splash shield. After those are removed, you should see something like this... So, what you are going to do is remove the long cooler hose that runs from the hard lines to the left side of the radiator. Which is the upper hose in this picture.. Just squeeze the clamp and pull it forward and remove the hose(you can see I already have the clamp slid forward). Next you are going to remove the other hose from the cooler and install the long hose back onto the cooler, so it's basicly looped... Then pull the second hose loose from the plastic fan shroud and reroute to the cooler hard lines. This picture is looking straight up and you can see where it's connected to the shroud.. And how it looks connected to the hard line.. That's it. Only a few hand tools needed and will keep the transmission from burning up. There may be a slight loss of fluid, but if you do it quick, it won't be a big deal. I have driven several rigs like this and could not tell a difference in shift quality at all. At more extreme temps, that could change. Our frozen friends to the north in Canada may need the fluid to warm up some in the winter, so you may have to block it off or replace that radiator. Hotter climates may want to look into a larger cooler. Hope this helps someone! Edited April 21, 2014 by 5523Pathfinder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 I've told the whole 1 person I know with a r51 to make sure he does something about his to keep it together last summer. This will serve as a reminder to make sure he listened (and if not I'll just do something myself. I don't want to put a transmission in it). Thanks brother brother! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 I have been posting this a lot lately on our FB Page, maybe it should be pinned to find easier. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siciliano88 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 (edited) Is this an issue with the 2012 Pathfinders? Have you noticed any negative effects? Edited November 5, 2019 by siciliano88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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