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Considering a pathfinder...question about the transmission problem


barnacle
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Hi all,

 

I'm looking at buying a pathfinder and am a little worried about the tranmission coolant issues I've read so much about.

From what I understand the fix is to bypass the cooler or somesuch, but is there any way I can figure out if this has been done? I doubt it'd be wise to just take the seller's word for it if I ask about it.

 

Would a late 90s models be a wiser choice? I can find those for almost half the price of the 2005-2007 models.

 

 

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I'm not sure how much fan shrouding there is on an R51, but if you can see around it, you could look for the fittings on the radiator where the trans lines hook up and see if they're still there. There's a cooler built into one of the radiator tanks (that's the bad one) and IIRC a separate cooler in front of the radiator that ends up doing all the work after the radiator one is bypassed.

 

As far as what would be a wiser choice, it really depends on what you want to do with the rig and how mechanically inclined you are.

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As far as what would be a wiser choice, it really depends on what you want to do with the rig and how mechanically inclined you are.

 

I don't use a car for daily travel at all. Distance-wise I drive like 4K a year max. Those are some small road trips but more mountain excursions. Not so much offroading but generally getting about in rough winter mountain terrain. I like my cars reliable but I don't mind tinkering, as long as it's not leaving me on the side of the road I'm ok.

 

So I'm torn between the R50 and R51. I like them both. The R50 has more classic charm but the R51 is a pretty sexy beast.

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Well, both the WD21 and R51 have the possibility of tranny issues, usually involving the radiator, so the R50 would be the choice for that concern. The common fix is to bypass the stock 'radiator cooler' completely, which should be sufficient as long as it was properly done with a suitable cooler.

The cooler should be visible in front of the radiator and behind the grill, and the lines from underneath will not go to the radiator at all.

It isn't hard to install an inline filter and a temp gauge either, those will help reduce the likelyhood of failure as well.

 

B

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I've had two R50's (98 and 03)both have worked great...in Canadian climates I agree with B about an aux. cooler. I was going to install one I had on my old truck but never found a need to.

Edited by kdj
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The cooler should be visible in front of the radiator and behind the grill, and the lines from underneath will not go to the radiator at all.

 

 

I just purchased a 05 pathfinder. I'm scared so much of this radiator issue. Just to be clear.

When you disconnect the lines from the transmission to the radiator, you go to the new Transmission cooler.

And the old connections on the radiator remain open and disconnected?

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^This.

I plugged my radiator fittings with short pieces of hose, dowel pins and hose clamps, mainly because I found there was a little spatter when I drove. I know it will eventually stop, but that is besides the point to me.

 

Just make sure the cooler is properly sized/rated for your application. You may want to consider and inline filter and/or temperature gauge. Since the lines are being redone anyway, these are cheap and easy to install.

 

B

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Just out of curiosity, has anyone had problems with their auto. trans.?

 

I'd just connect the old inlet and outlets with a short hose and clamp both ends. One hose, 2 clamp. Or you could hook the rad cooler to the aux. cooler and get more capacity.

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I have had no problems on my auto but we only have about two weeks of really hot weather during the summer, my truck has been relatively well maintained and I drive about 70% to 80% on the highway with no towing. I did notice that the truck acts differently after last week's trans flush but that is a refresh of trans oil and it's not the first time it has been done. We are at 170 000kms. Same motor, same transmission.

 

All in all the truck has been rock solid but it has had an easy life despite the rusty spots.

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There have been many vehicles with worse transmissions, by far, but it isn't the most robust part of the Pathfinders and can die early from neglect, abuse and overheating/the radiator cooler clogging. Generally speaking, the rest of the Pathfinder (WD21 and R50 anyway) can generally last 300,000 miles or more (barring rust), so anything that fails before then would be the weak point, right?

My view is this: It is about 25k miles around the Earth, so if your tranny fails @ 150,000 miles, that is driving around the world 6 times. Is that actually an issue then? Really?

150 years ago it took a month of riding in a stage coach, night and day to go from Missouri to California. Today you can do it in 2-3 days and that would be about 1.3% of the tranny's life (@ 150k total).

People don't realize how good they have it...

 

B

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  • 4 weeks later...

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