Brought my 2007 Nissan Pathfinder in for an oil change (107275 miles). Service manager told me I had coolant / ATF intermixing and that my transmission might fail. Told me it would cost around $5500. He never mentioned anything about the number of complaints about this issue nor did he mention anything about this being a problem with this design. After leaving (oil changed but nothing regarding the transmission), I started researching this and discovered that this is a known defect and many complaints have been recorded. This design defect leads to a catastrophic failure of the transmission.

Nissan should have a recall and correct the issue (maybe they don't care about customer loyalty).

Update from Aug 26, 2014: OK - my dealer (Bruce Bennett Nissan, Wilton, CT) told me the first step was to pay for them to diagnose the problem ($250), which simply confirmed the situation that I had fallen to this known defect causing an intermix of coolant and ATF. They told me they contacted Nissan. Nissan told them that due to the mileage they would NOT help me in any way. They said because of the class action lawsuit, their liability limit was set at 100,000 miles.

So this tells me they know of the defect, and are using the lawsuit against me.

I was also surprised at the dealer not offering any assistance!!! I bought the car from them, serviced it with them, and they knew about this defect!!!

Discovered a small pool of purple liquid under front left tire of my 2007 Nissan Pathfinder in the garage yesterday. Thought that must not be good, so I started doing some research online. Behold, discovered it was most likely a radiator leak and most likely leaked into transmission as well. Took the vehicle in today, and my concerns were confirmed. Radiator replacement = $800. Transmission is working normally right now, but from what I can tell the damage may already be done and its only a matter of time before catastrophic transmission failure +$4000.

The issue I have with this whole situation is Nissan is very aware of this defect, yet did not issue a recall. All they did was extend radiator/transmission warranty. This warranty does not apply to my vehicle being over 100k miles. All Nissan had to do was issue a recall, fix the defective radiator (probably a $500 fix for them) instead, they ignored it, and the customer is stuck with a $5000 fix they did not even see coming due to them not notifying us about it.

I am not pleased.

We did not know about the class action lawsuit and this issue with our particular model year of Nissan Pathfinder, until after our transmission failed. Had we known about it, we could have replaced the radiator to prevent this from happening and being such a costly repair. We've been two weeks without our vehicle and the transmission repair shop is now telling us they are having trouble getting the new valve body transmission part from the local Nissan dealership in Springfield, Missouri. Even the class action lawsuit only covered people if their vehicles had not reached 100,000 miles, but my repair shop said that the problem doesn't usually occur until you are over the 100,000 mile mark. Bottom line - we own our one and only Nissan!

i have a 2007 pathfinder with 79, 541 miles. i have the same problem a lot of people on this site have with the radiator leaking into the transmission. i took it to the dealership and they told me i have a radiator leaking into my transmission and its dangerous to drive and they have to replace the radiator and transmission because it has a mix of color like brown. so they told me they're going to order the part. that was on june 28th and on thursday july 3th they called me to pick up my truck because the engine light didn't come on. so they want me to drive it until the engine light goes on. remember a few days ago they told me not to drive it because it was dangerous to drive. i think they want me to drive so it can go over the 8 years / 80.000 mile warranty. i'm scared to drive it. i have a daughter i take with me and scared something its going to happen to us. please help me anyone. thank you.

Will be fixed under warranty. HOWEVER Nissan Consumer affairs so far has been worthless. I need to get from WV to Illinois with 5 people and luggage. Our Pathfinder was replaced with a JUKE! More like Joke! WTF I don't know how to get it home as we are on vacation. The "specialist" FINALLY got back to me today. Her message? Sorry I missed you, hope you have a good holiday! That's it dummy, rub salt in the wound. Right now I will never buy another Nissan. My wife will kill me in my sleep if I mention it. (Just kidding about the last part, too).

Update from Apr 29, 2015: Update:

So my wife had to drive 10 hours from IL back to WV to get the car back. Out of the kindess of their hearts they reimbursed us for less than HALF of the direct out of pocket expenses. And I had to take two days off from work to stay home with the kids.

Update from May 25, 2016: Then I got a call as a follow up. They said why were you dissatisfied. I explained. THey said let me look at your file. OH! I see the regional office already concted you. That is above my pay grade. Can't help! So sorry!

I am a very loyal Nissan/Pathfinder owner. I'm on my second Pathfinder and always have my beloved 2007 serviced regularly at the Puyallup Nissan dealership. Because I rely on my vehicle for work, I make sure to keep it current with all recommended services over the life of the vehicle. Until recently, I've been an extremely satisfied Pathfinder owner.

Now, I am quite upset that a known defective radiator notice I received approximately a year ago, advised to do nothing if experiencing no problems, but now that I'm over the limit of 100K miles (115K), and experiencing the known radiator defect issue, I am now on the hook for the entire repair cost ($5000).

I've researched the issue which can be summarized at http://www.nissanproblems.com/problems/transmission.shtml

What does the miles matter? Does Nissan's obligation to their product and customer disappear after 100K miles? Why didn't Nissan recommend replacing the radiators, as a preventative measure?

Further research of testimonials from other Nissan owners experiencing the same issue, suggests that the radiator problem seemed to typically occur after 100,000 miles anyways. So how is it that Nissan is OK with leaving their customer holding on to the (crud) end of the stick?

I sure hope I am reimbursed for the hefty bill some way some day. (I've not yet pulled the trigger on having the repairs done, as I have been contemplating trading in and giving the problem back to the dealer, but how will this affect the trade in value, and if Nissan's past reputation is diminishing, why do I want to trade in for another Nissan.

My passion for Pathfinders has suddenly dropped considerably...time for a new brand maybe.....:-(((((

Very disgruntled Pathfinder owner,

Jason Q

There were zero warning signs that an issue even existed. My vehicle just completely shut down without warning or any previous issues at all. Nissan should stand behind their product and when good, hard working people pay good money for a vehicle with a name that they think that they can trust, it is an absolute shame that Nissan would choose to spit in our faces.

My whole family has bought Nissans and we could not be more shocked and outraged at the response to an issue that is catastrophic for a single mother trying to make ends meet. Shame on you Nissan for being a cold-hearted, greedy corporation who could care less about it customers!

I bought this 2007 Nissan Pathfinder only 3 months ago from a dealership and noticed my coolant was looking thick and discolored. Took into dealership and they then told me I need a new transmission and radiator. Something tells me that they knew of this problem, patched it up and sold it and of course no warranty as it was an "As Is" buy. I then see these reports about this vehicle and am quite disturbed and sick over it.

I don't have the kind of money it's looking like it's going to cost! Who does have that kind of up front money like that? Not me. so now my truck is gonna go or not run sometime soon I'm assuming and I'll be out a vehicle and maybe a job if i can't get to work. This SUCKS!!

Any words of wisdom out there? Could really use some.