I HAD MY TRANSMISSION SERVICED REGULARLY BY THE NISSAN DEALER, AS AT MATTER OF FACT IT WAS SERVICE IN OCTOBER OF 2010 AND WENT COMPLETELY OUT ON 1/24/11 AND NISSAN WOULD NOT OFFER ANY ASSISTANCE, BECAUSE I WAS OVER THE 80,000 MILES EXTENDED WARRANTY BY 500 MILES. I FEEL THAT I WAS RIPPED OFF BY NISSAN, BEING THAT THE VEHICLE HAD AROUND 1200 MILES ALREADY WHEN I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE NEW FROM THEM.THE NISSAN CORPORATION OFFERED NO ASSISTANCE AT ALL. I LET NISSAN CORP. KNOW THAT I DID NOT EXPECT THEM TO PAY ALL OF REPAIRS,BECAUSE I HAVE 80000 MILE OF USAGE ON THE VEHICLE AND THEY DENIED THAT THEY WERE HAVING PROBLEM WITH THE TRANSMISSION ON THE FRONTIER PICKUPS. THEY TOLD ME WITHOUT RESERVATION WE HAVE NO COMPLAINTS ON THIS MATTER. IT FLOOR ME WHEN I STARTED CONTACTING TRANSMISSION SHOP IN MY AREA, THEY TOLD ME EXACTLY THE PROBLEM I WAS HAVING WAS A VERY COMMON PROBLEM ON THAT NISSAN PRODUCT. ONE OF THE TRANSMISSION SHOP I TALKED TO HAD JUST COMPLETED A 2006 FRONTIER TRUCK IN DECEMBER OF 2010 WHICH HAD THE SAME PROBLEM AS MY TRUCK. MY TRUCK IS CURRENTLY IN A SHOP GETTING THE TRANSMISSION REBUILT AND WHEN IT IS COMPLETED,IT WILL BE GOING TO BE SOLD. NISSAN CORPORATION WILL NO LONGER SELL THIS OLE BOY ANY OF THEIR PRODUCTS AND AT EVERY CHANCE I WILL BAD MOUTH THEM TO EVERYONE I MEET. I CURRENTLY MANAGE A VEHICLE BODY REPAIR SHOP AND AT EVERY CHANCE I WILL WARN ALL MY CUSTOMERS AND POST THIS LETTER ON HOW NISSAN CORPORATIONS LOYALTY THEIR CUSTOMERS.

Had radiator failure causing coolant to cross mix with transmission fluid. Did everything I could to try & save transmission. Flushed fluids twice & dropped pan to clean out sludge on bottom of pan also went through 2 inline trans filters in hopes of avoiding replacing transmission. My frontier had only 67K when problem first occurred. Now at 78K transmission has error code P0744 indicating torque converter clutch trouble. Contacted Nissan Consumer Affairs for assistance. Was told that I needed to take in to Nissan dealer for diagnostic report. Cost me $125.99 to be told what I already knew. Dealer report states replace transmission & torque converter. Failure caused by radiator failure. One week latter they call me back saying they will not provide any assistance at all not even reimbursement for the diagnostic charges. Even after explaining I own 2 other Nissan vehicles which I purchased from the same dealership & had referred 2 of my co-workers who purchased new Nissan Frontiers. This is the last Nissan I will ever buy. I guess the failure is not life threatening so, they don't care. Well I hope the class action law suit against them for this problem will hurt them as much as it is hurting my wallet.

Update from Jan 11, 2013: Class action law suit in progress. I told them I will never buy another Nissan ever again and they will have their day in court. Well their day in court is coming. Cannot wait to get reimbursed the $5500.00 it cost to have my transmission fixed. The least they could have done at the time was cover the cost of the diagnosis they made me pay $145.00 for what I & the Nissan service advisor already knew was the cause of the transmission failure.

Adding to an existing list of complaints regarding 2005 Nissan Frontier radiator issues, add 103,000 miles I had a total transmission overhaul (a new one would have run 6,000 installed) and a radiator replacement. I was the second Frontier that month in the shop with the same issue, water in the transmission from a leaking transmission cooler in the radiator. Vehicle out of warranty so I grinned and bared it.l Last week got a letter from Nissan informing me there was an issue with these radiators and that most folks would not be impacted but they extended the radiator warranty to 8 years and 80,000 miles which seems like pretty low mileage for a PU truck! They said if you had already made repairs to give them a call. I did and they said thanks but no thanks, you have exceed the extended warranty coverage. Ticks me off because they know they have a defective product. I understand the extended warranty applies to Frontiers, Pathfinders and Xterras from 2005 t0 2011 models. My advice to anyone having one of those vehicles, get rid of it ASAP. Love my truck, hate Nissan! My third and last Nissan product and after my wife's list of recalls on her Toyota Avalon my last Japanese vehicles. American made products and warranties are starting to look much better. Who knows by the time I buy again maybe Hyundai will be making a truck. The Koreans appear to be making the kind of vehicles the Japanese used to make before they went Detroit on us. Good luck!

Here's the info from Nissan:

Subject: 2005-10 Frontier, Pathfinder and Xterra Radiator Assembly Warranty Extension Attention: Dealer Principal, Sales, Service and Parts Managers Warranty Extension Announcement This announcement is to inform you that Nissan has decided, for customer satisfaction purposes, to extend the warranty for the Radiator Assembly on all 2005-10 Frontier, Pathfinder and Xterra vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions. The New Vehicle Limited Warranty coverage on applied vehicles for the Radiator Assembly will be extended from its original duration of 3 years/36,000 miles to 8 years/80,000 miles (whichever occurs first).

This warranty extension applies only to the Radiator Assembly (and its component parts), including damage, repairs, replacement, and related towing resulting from this issue. Customers who may have previously paid for a repair that would have been covered by this extended warranty will be eligible for reimbursement. Coverage of other vehicle components will remain unchanged, and all other terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions of Nissan’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty continue to apply.

Additional details regarding this warranty extension and reimbursement eligibility and procedures will be provided to you no later than October 29, 2010.

Note: SERVICE COMM is not yet updated to reflect this new warranty coverage. Vehicle specific information will be added to the Applicable Warranties screen in SERVICE COMM no later than November 1, 2010. During the interim, the warranty system has been updated to allow claims processing using normal claims coding. Customer questions can be directed to National Consumer Affairs at 1-800-NISSAN1 (1-800-647-7261).

Nissan Parts and Service Operations 10/15/2010

I have a 2005 Nissan Frontier NISMO package with 85k miles, auto-trans. I purchased the truck brand new in 2005 and have treated it like a queen ever since. I only use 93 octane gas and synthetic oil. I get all the recommended service at a Nissan Dealership as well. I drive the truck mainly on paved roads at interstate speeds. The truck is treated much better than the Nissan brochure tells me it can be treated.

I started to have transmission shuttering at approx. 40-45 mph when the overdrive would engage. I assumed it was due to a transmission problem or maybe the rear differential. I went online to a Nissan forum to see if anyone else was having similar problems, and sure enough I found a whole other world. I had no idea that my truck had the potential (as illustrated by so many other instances of the same vehicle) to have such a catastrophic failure. Right there in all the forums are discussions of people with the same "shuttering" problems, then the dealership telling them that the transmission oil and radiator fluids have mixed, causing the radiator and transmission to be damaged. I immediately ran outside and checked my radiator fluid's ... sure enough it was full of what looked like emulsified oil. I called my local Nissan dealership (Haldeman Nissan, in Hamilton Square, NJ) and spoke with Tim Taylor (Service Manager) about scheduling an appointment, and what my concerns were. Tim looked up my service records and assured me that Nissan would "help me out" because my case was obviously not due to vehicle neglect, as can be seen in my service records!

I dropped of my truck the next morning (8/26/2010 8AM) and Tim again assured me that Nissan would be there for assistance given my service records on the truck. I inquired as to what the cost would be today for the work and Tim told me that "they (Haldeman) would take care of it". I spoke with Tim about my concerns for my transmission and the vehicle longevity. Tim told me he too did not understand why Nissan had not issued a recall, or just proposed the installation of an exterior transmission cooler on the vehicles. Tim said that exterior modification would only be about $75, and would have prevented all this damage to the vehicles. About 3 hours later I get a call from an administrator (Charlotte) saying that "my radiator fluid looked like chocolate milk, and they (Haldeman) recommended replacing the radiator and flushing the cooling system and transmission twice each". I asked Charlotte what Tim thought about financial help. She would have to call me back. She did about an hour later, Tim told her that he was referencing "Nissan's support" if my transmission needed work. Charlotte informed me that my bill would be $1527.00 for the work to be done, and they were giving me zero assistance. Since I need a vehicle to get to/from work, I told Nissan to proceed with the work.

I called Nissan North America (8/26/2010 4PM), and spoke with Pauline Reed about my problem and filed a claim number. Pauline took all my information and said the Regional Specialist would call me back the next day. The Regional Specialist, Michelle Mercy left a voicemail on my phone for me to call her back. I left her a message today (8/30/2010) and am still waiting on a response.

I will pick up my truck this afternoon from the dealership. The final cost that I owe them this far was totaled at $1416 for the work done (about $50 is an oil change I requested as well). I plan on talking at great length to the Service Manager about the issue, as well as financial support.

This problem is not the consumer's fault, but is becoming g a huge problem. The repairs are in the thousands of dollars range, not just a few dollars here-and-there. I purchased an expensive truck with the future in mind of buying a vehicle that would be an investment as well. A truck that would last long after the payments were over. However, I now own a truck that I feel is a time-bomb that could go off and cost me over $8000 at any moment. My biggest frustration in this entire debacle is that if Nissan had opened their mouths when Nissan first discovered the issues, all this could have been avoided. With a "patch" to the problem only running about $75 I would have gladly paid that as a precautionary measure would have paid quite a bit more for the protection of my investment. My truck is now out of warranty, and thus I will be burdened with the cost of these repairs.

I will continue to be quite a thorn in Nissan's side until I feel like I have some resolve in this matter. Updates to follow as I hear more from Nissan North America and my dealership (Haldeman Nissan, Hamilton Square, NJ).

I can't believe this is not the only complaint of this issue. I have a 5 year old truck with a BAD transmission caused by a manufacturing defect on their Radiator! This really sucks! Can't we issue a claim to Nissan to replace our transmission? I found out that I am not the only one in El Paso that has this problem. A transmission repair shop has had to fix a lot of Nissan Transmissions due to this problem and I do not think that is good for Nissan. Nissan is supposed to be a HIGH END Auto company, but it now seems they are a FRAUD and rig their vehicles to get more money out of their victims (customers) !!

LIke many others I've seen online, my transmission was completely shot. They said the torque converter was annihilated. Before and after the transmission was replaced I've noticed the same shutter-thud thing happening when the vehicle is at cruising speeds of 45 and 55. Seems like an overdrive issue, but don't know if it's related to the transmission problem. Wondering if the leaking radiator fluid mixing with the transmission fluid is part of my problem, too. Don't know, but unless Nissan happens to step up and do something about these defective transmissions, I'll never buy a Nissan again.

Let me add my complaint to the thousands of similar complaints out there about Nissan's unacceptable warranty and repair policies and behaviors.

I own a 2005 Frontier SE 4x4. For a month, I was noticing that my truck would briefly vibrate at high speeds and then make a thud. It only happened occassionally when I tried accelerating from a cruising speed. It was almost as if it was trying to kick into overdrive.

My 60K mile warranty just expired a month ago and I figured the dealer wasn't going to help me, so I took it to a friend at Aamco. They found out that the transmission cooler had ruptured and the coolant had leaked into the transmission. Before I had them open up the transmission to see what damage had occurred, I called up the dealer to see if there were any limited warranty's for this issue. They reported that there were none. So I had Aamco open it up and see what the damage was. They reported that it would cost over $4,000 to fix!!! So I immediately called Nissan Corporate to file a case to get some assistance. After waiting a week for a response, they finally got back to me and said there was nothing they could do to help.

So now I'm $4,000 poorer and worried that something else is going to go wrong with the truck. I'm tempted to sell it to recoup the money I spent fixing it.

Last time I'll buy a Nissan.