I am sick to my stomach to see how many people are out there with the exact same problem I am having with my 2005 Nissan P.O.S. Xterra!!!! First I noticed my vehicle making a vibrating noise as if I was driving on a rumble strip. I let it go to see if would happen again. It seemed to make the vibrating noise when I would accelerate and hit about 40-50mph. I thought maybe it was something going on with the rear wheel drive, took it in and they replaced my Ujoint telling me that this was causing the vibration.

One day I pulled out into traffic and my transmission slipped and would not accelerate my gas pedal was almost to the floor and my car would barely moved. I had my 2 year old daughter in the car with me and had to pull into the ditch so I could avoid getting rear ended.

Now the dealership is telling me that the radiator has a defect and caused radiator fluid to leak into my transmission. They suggested that I replace the radiator and have my fluids flushed about a $1500 fix, they stated that there is a 80-85% chance this would correct the problem. But if this does not correct it then I would need to have the transmission rebuilt/replaced, meaning I would have to pay an additional $5,000, OUCH!!! I am a single mother with no clue on what to do. I have $4,000 to pay on this loan for this peace of crap vehicle.

Luckily I have a family member with an extra vehicle for me to drive in the mean time until I figure out what I am going to do. Do I replace the radiator and flush the fluids in hoping that this will cause the service engine light to go or I do nothing and pay the $4,000 left on my loan and go out and purchase a new vehicle??? With being a single mother money is tight and am so upset and depressed with my vehicle problem. It is such a shame that Nissan is aware of the defect with the radiator and causing the transmission problems and is in not willing to do anything about it. I keep thinking about that day my daughter and I was in my car pulling out into traffic, what if we were hit and what if we were seriously injured or even died, would Nissan even care then?

well my story is identical to every single person on here....i thought it was my breaks and no its certainly not. I bought one of those lovely extended warrantys and guess what; they don't cover radiator; so if it caused transmission failure it doesn't cover that either....OMG are you kidding me, and i'm over the warranty milage that Nissan offered....wasn't happening before 80,000 miles. So nissan knew abou this an is offering NO assistance to anyone. Anyone have any advice. I owe DOUBLE what this vehicle is worth and its going to cost me almost 8K to fix it!!!

Update from Nov 12, 2011: anyone have any luck getting this fixed on someone else's dime? please share how you achieved it. I don't have that kind of money...who does?

I had to replace my radiator after finding a crack in the radiator that caused the coolant and transmission fluids to mix. The radiator was flushed three times within a month period, and I still flush the transmission because its shudders, and slipping. I couldn't afford to take my vehicle to the Dealer because the it is too costly. I found a mechanic through a friend who works in a garage and he knows how to fix on Nissan's. The cost of transmission fluid is expensive, 10+ a bottle, and I needed 5. My Transmission has been flushed 5x since this problem occurred. Now I fear that the transmission will soon fail because its slipping and shuddering. This is my main vehicle and I still pay a car note on this POS, $448.11. They are really doing me with no vaseline. Last year my THE INTELLIGENT POWER DISTRIBUTION MODULE (IPDM) replaced which cost +400 bucks. The vehicle stalled in the middle of freeway traffic, thank GOD, there was no wreck. After I had this replaced I found out they did a recall on this. I then called and I was told that my vehicle was manufactured in a different region so it did not pertain to my vehicle. WOW... In other words no refund. hmmmm. If Nissan don't get right and fix the issues many of us are having, which are the same issues, I will never purchase another Nissan in LIFE. This is one Customer they will never have to worry about coming back and I will encourage as many people as possible to never buy Nissan. I hope the Class Action Suit can bring us all relief.......................

Grief in Dallas

Update from Dec 4, 2011: I finally took the Nissan in to shop that specializes in Transmissions. The cost is 2400, the TCM needs to be replaced because it was damaged from the coolant getting in the Transmission so that's an additional 900+ bucks. I tried calling Nissan to see if they would at least eat some of the cost because I already know they're not going to eat all of it. I can't seem to get them on the phone....hmmmm...go figure..... I am trying to contact the media....or someone that will hear the voices of the complaints.......so if you guys are down, I think its time to dip Nissan sells...put them out of business or at least push them to do way better than they are doing to us................

First let me say that I have had not one problem with my 05 xterra until this week. I bought the truck new in 05 and because of no problems I decided not to purchase an extended warranty. Guess that was my first mistake.

I left from work at 11pm to make my 35 mile drive home and made it approx half way when the service engine light came on and the truck on acceleration from a red light would only move at a snails pace until it reach enough speed for 3rd gear to engage. Of course, having mechanical knowledge I knew right away it was the transmission. Well little did I know that the problem was going to be major. I made it home and immediately the next day started researching online for any documented problems. I did not expect to find so many complaints for the same exact problem.

I have had to pay $4800 for repairs, this was discounted by my roadside service company from $5200. I have contacted the law firm handling the class action law suit against Nissan and hope to recoup some of my money. I also have contacted Nissan USA and received an email stating that I would hear from the regional representative by end of next business day, well that was on Weds, Thurs came and went with no phone call, nor did I receive a call on Fri, Sat or Sun. Monday I will call the Nissan dealership I bought the truck from and depending on what they have to say my next call will be to the consumer alert section of my local news.

This is bogus, Nissan needs to step up an report this problem. I am a single female who drives the highway late at night and I expect to have a vehicle that I can feel safe in. If this problem had prevented me from driving my vehicle I would have been stranded on the side of the highway, alone, in the dark.

I hope Nissan will stop playing Toyota and step up to the plate, before someone gets hurt.

SueJ

my 2005 nissan xterra has been diagnosed with the infamous being damaged by leaking radiator. nissan dealer verified cost will be $6526.00 plus tax. was not notified by nissan found out on just answer.com. after chasing this rumbling noise.my vehicle has 87,000 miles but has only been in service jan 2006.i bought it new. after chasing nissan north america customer care for a month i just receivesd my call today 6-13-11 that nissan will not be assisting in my repair cost due to being over the warrant mileage.

i had 5 fords in my drivewaay when i bought this xterra. i tradedin my 2001 ford explorer for this vehicle. if nissan doesn't make good on this, there will never be anotheer nissan in my driveway again. there must be some merrit in ford explorer being the number 1 selling suv in ther industry. nissan just helped ford stay on top. in my opinion.

I've just been told today that I need to replace my radiator for the second time, in less than a year. This is ridiculous. Nissan has never responded to any of my claims about the first time I had to replace my radiator. Now a second time? Apparently the transmission fluid is leaking into the radiator, which means that they might be able to save my transmission, but the radiator is shot, again. Why is this happening and why won't Nissan take any responsibility for this recurring problem? I should not have to replace my radiator annually . . .

While my Xterra had over 100k miles on it when this problem occurred, I cared for it very well in terms of maintenance and I did not driver under any remotely extreme conditions. I did some occasional light off-roading and towing but nothing more extreme. I did not know about the transmission cooler/radiator fluid swapping problem until it was too late. I think the contamination started in April 2011 and the transmission was slipping and failing by mid July 2011. When it got frequent enough for me to think there was a real problem, I found out about the issue and did the hose bypass recommended on Xterra forums and flushed both systems. Unfortunately, it was too late and I had to go for an entire transmission rebuild with an experienced shop in town. However, I encourage any Xterra/Pathfinder/Frontier owner that is outside of the "extended" radiator warranty of 80k mi to look this up and do the bypass and flush before it is too late. The Xterra is paid for and other than this problem, I've always liked it so I went with the repair. That being said, I will never buy another Nissan unless they 'fess up and repair the trust they have violated by offering better compensation than a lame extended warranty on the radiator that they don't really tell anyone about in enough time for them to keep the damage from happening.

Like everyone else with a 2005 Xterra I have the radiator fluid in the transmission problem. I took it to the garage and they flushed out the radiator and transmission but warned me that this would probably happen again and eventually it would destroy the car. My problem is that I just bought the car for from my Credit Union for $9200. Did they know about this before they sold it to me? Certainly the member they reposed it from knew it was shaking violently when it reached the 40 mph and 60 mph levels. Will try to see what I can do locally as well as put in a complaint to Nissan but it doesn't appear that any one is getting to much satisfaction so far.

So I took my vehicle for an oil/filter change on the 5th of August to Maroone Nissan of Kendall in South Florida, and on the 6th I started to hear this noise as if I were driving on a grooved pavement. I took it back on 6th, and they expressed they had no mechanic to ride along with me, and when I got my vehicle back, they said it was a small toy in the back causing the rattle. After playing phone tag with the Service Department, I finally took the vehicle in yesterday (29 August), where a mechanic rode along with me. I thought that noise was a bearing something wrong with one of the tires. It turns out that the mechanic knew exactly what it was once he heard it, water leaking into the transmission. Sure enough they want to charge me close to $6000.00 to get it repaired. I asked them if they would have seen it when they topped off my fluids. Service told me they don't know what the mechanics do; all they do is top off the fluids. Sure enough someone would have seen this? What type of scheme is this? Seriously Nissan needs to do something about this.

had 82800 on the pos when tranny blew. Nissan had a warranty on radiator until 80,000 miles. The hairline cracks had been mixing the fluids for quite some time for tranny to blow but nissan or the xterra gave no warning and now they say there is nothing they can do because we are 2800 miles past warranty. But the radiator had to bust while it was still covered to blow the tranny. I am ready to bust somebody up. Does anyone know a good bail bondsman? I will probably need one before this is over I am afraid.

I seem to be having the same problem as everyone else with my 2005 Nissan Xterra. Started feeling a vibration around 40 to 60 mph. It felt like I was riding on a rumble strip except I was not. It has happened about 20 more times and just lately almost found out the hard way of another problem when I pulled out into traffic. I had my 5 year old girl and 1 year old boy with me only to have the transmission slip and would not get up to speed. I had to put the vehicle almost in a ditch to keep from getting rear ended. After doing some research online and seeing how everyone described the vibration the same I had a mechanic check the tranny fluid to only tell me what I had expected. There was radiator fluid in the transmission causing the problem. Nissan knows of this but will not fix the problem. Maybe after someone gets killed or seriously injured will the problem get fixed . My experience with this nissan's problems will keep me from buying another. Going back to American made.

Same thing has happened to me....I bought my daughter a new xterra in 2005....now, she is a single mom, full time job, and in college and depends on this vehicle and has very little income to fix this issue...problem started about a year ago when she heard rumbling on highway going about 60 mph...we also thought it was a tire issue....had it checked out, couldn't really find anything.....now, in the last month it is "jumping" or slipping out of gear and all the other problems....i researched online and found this problem....i called nissan and was told to take it to the local dealership which charged me $100 to diagnose the problem.......Nissan said it was out of warranty since it has 109000 miles and they told me today it needed a new radiator, new transmission and wants thousands of dollars to fix it...they told me the coolant got into the transmission.....shame on nissan for not recalling and fixing this problem....i will NEVER purchase another nissan and don't have the funds at this time to fix this problem.