After taking excellent care of my Nissan Frontier Truck, I'm talking oil changes, engines flushes, transmission flush, I am driving on the freeway to work when suddenly my truck seems to loose power, almost as if it shifted to neutral. I panicked but managed to cross THREE busy freeway lanes and pull over. I had to call work , letting them know I'd be late.

After about 2 hours waiting for a tow, I sent the truck to a transmission shop where I find out that this "issue" with the transmission is VERY well known and documented. A crack in the radiator causes the coolant to get into the transmission, causing all sorts of problems. I could not believe that Nissan knew about these issues and has not done a thing to fix it. I am so upset that I am going to have to dish out over $4,000 to repair a vehicle that is supposedly well made. This is a HUGE safety issue.

OK, can anyone tell me if Nissan has responded to all the issues with the transmission and radiator problems? My truck has been sitting in my yard now for 4 weeks. No help from Nissan on warranty or financial help. Nissan customer service calls and is real nice but why do they call if they have no intention of picking up the tab to get this fixed. I put in a complaint to Nissan Consumer Affairs and have had no respond from them. I will keep calling and writing to someone who will hear me and will do something to fix my truck... I am on a fixed income and do not have that kind of money for a rapair that should have been taking care of by Nissan.

Update from Sep 23, 2013: Well I had to give in and put my 2006 nissan frontier in the shop for trany and ratiator repair. Had no choice . Did not get any responds from Nissan ore any other sevice where I send letters ore e-mails to. The bill for repair will be 3000-4000 Dollars. Will take me monthes to pay for but the repair shop will give me 24month ore 24.000 miles warranty. More then the Nissan dealer offerd me. I will make a big sign on the back of my truck that will shame Nissan wenn its done. john

Update from Oct 12, 2013: Transmission replacement and transmission cooler was done on oure truck at a cost of 3783.00 . I send a letter with the bill to Nissan consumer Affairs in California my letter was return with a sticker from the postal service"MOVED,LEFT NO ADDRESS " what kind of bull is that. I will still find a address to send my complain to.

Update from May 20, 2015: Sofar we are good with the Tranny replacement..at our cost. We also had the timming chain replacet at 93.000.. at the time there was no recall of any kind on that issue, 1100. 00 later ...What can be done ???

Our 2006 Nissan Frontier SE4x4 Crew Cab is now on the list with all the others that have issues with Radiator and Transmission problems . We bought it new and hope it would last some years in to our retirement. Wrong :( Over time we had recalls Gas Gauge , Seat Belt locks.Also had Break issuse that the dealer could not find went to a different dealership and it got fixed under warranty, YAYYA.. The next issue was the Timing Chain no warranty again... repair at our cost of 1200.00 great. 143.396 miles later we have a chatter noise in the tranny and went to a Nissan Dealer AND YES WE HAVE RADIATOR AND TRANSMISSION PROBLEM they were so nice to give us the bad news and a bill for repair at there Dealership at 5132.13. We called Nissan North America and we have no chance of getting any help from them, the call was recorded per their rep on the other end on the phone. I don't care I explained to her. Nissan knows of all the issues with the Transmission and Radiator and are not willing to recall ore at least help with the cost. This truck still looks like new and 4mon ago could have gotten 12.000 for a trade in and now it is worth nothing. I will never ever own another NISSAN again .

I only have this truck for four years. My warranty ran out March 2013 and nobody called me to ask if i wanted to extend that coverage they just let it lapse.

Now 3 months later i find out that several hundreds of nissan cars and trucks have the same radiator leaking into the trans . now the radiator and the trans has to be replaced and i have to shell out 2500$of my money for a problem nissan knew was going to happen when they sold me the truck in 2009 the truck only has like 85000miles on it. somebody tell me how do i get my money back?

I will start off my comment with Get a rid of your truck or add the external cooler ASAP!

My transmission didn’t show any signs of failure. I brought the vehicle in because of a high pitched whirling sound that ended up being the timing chain (evidently a common problem with this engine). I mentioned to the service advisor about the radiator transmission cooling issue I was notified about and they advised me to put on the external cooler to eliminate the potential of a transmission failure. I had the timing chain/s replaced and the cooler added. The dealer said the fluid looked good when they checked it during the external cooler installation so I figured I didn’t have any coolant leaking into the transmission and everything was good to go.

The truck ran great for two weeks then the transmission failed on my way into work. While in drive the engine would rev as in neutral. After shutting the vehicle off and restarting it 4 times I was able to drive it a mile to work. I had it towed to the dealership and they told me a line was leaking (bad clamp) and I was about a quart low on transmission fluid…they felt that the low fluid (again about 1qt.) shouldn’t have caused my problems. They replaced the clamp & topped off the fluid. During their test drive the something broke inside the transmission and now it’s finished. No electronic codes showed up so it appears that something internally went on the transmission. Now I have to replace the transmission because they didn’t do anything wrong…..coincidental? I was pro-active and had them add the external cooler & the transmission still failed. Now I am stuck.

ATF fluid line inside radiator failed due to inferior metal line causing cross contamination of coolant and automatic transmission fluid. A $30.00 aftermarket oil cooler mounted in front of radiator can or could have solved the problem by re-routing the 2 small diameter rubber hoses at bottom of radiator, bypassing the bad line altogether. Called the local dealer, because already had seen it reported on the web. They said they see this problem often!!! Why didn't NISSAN warn customers or dealers seeing this problem have THIER customer service reps call their database of customers to bring it in or tell them to install the cooler??? BAD! Really bad on their part. Dealers and Nissan are after the repair money it will bring (heard of cases upwards of $7,000 between new transmission, flushing cooling system several times and new radiator! Great trucks but horrible customer care! Let's look at it closely!!! Nissan makes the trucks with a reported bad line (degrades over time), this causes ATF to leak inside radiator, contaminating the cooling system and then coolant mixes into transmission causing transmission failure!!! Not one knows when it started failing. Could take months or years depending on your miles driven for the problem to surface and then it might be too late.

I had Transmisson failure and was told by mechanic that water had entered transmisson from radiator and that it will need complete rebuild and radiator replaced. Which I was informed it was going to cost $4,764.00 for rebuild. Did not believe how water was able to enter transmisson in this so called Nissan repair shop and yes transmisson line on inside radiator had gotten hole in it and filled transmisson full of water. I was informed that this has been on going problem with this year and model. If this is true why has Nissan not doing anything about it? For this reason I will never buy Nissan again.

I feel Nissan should reiumburse all customers for there cost of repairs and replacement of this transmisson. Nissan are supposed to be one of the best vehicals on the road, I have to say this not true anymore.

I bought a 2006 Nissan Frontier in 2007. This March 2013 the trans was shifting hard from first to second so i took it to a transmission place and he told me it would cost $ 2200 to rebuild it. Later that day he calls back and tells me that radiator has leaked into the transmission and he had to replace all the electrical in there and the radiator too which means price now is 4258.80. I bought the Auto Guard extended service plan with that my cost was $1380 because they do not cover electrical parts and then the transmission place tells me to get a rental like a fool i did thinking they would reimburse me, kept it for a week and 3 days and that cost me another $500 and come to find out the auto guard is only paying me $120 toward the $500. Then i get on here to read all the other complaints and realize i better do more research on the next truck i buy, like everybody else I thought Nissan was a good name brand to buy.Now that i vented i feel a little better but it still hurts in the pocket book.REPLACE MY MONEY NISSAN FOR THIS FACTORY DEFECT and now i see it not just me.

First off, my radiator/transmission has not failed yet. Extended warranty coverage has been offered by Nissan with significant co-pays, $3,000 in my case if the radiator/transmission cooler fails and ruins the transmission due to coolant contaminating transmission fluid destroying the transmission. Nissan will not do anything unless there is a complete failure. Even then, there is no assurance from Nissan that the replacement radiator is free of the same defect. This is exactly what happened with the recall on the gas tank/gauge sending unit. I paid for the repair, then there was a recall of the part, so I was reimbursed. They mandated the sending unit be replaced again if I was to get reimbursed. Consequently two ADDITIONAL SENDING UNITS HAD TO BE REPLACED BECAUSE THEY NEVER FIXED THE DESIGN. Why was prematurely running out of gas deemed a safety issue and warranted recall and a catastrophic transmission failure not considered a safety issue? Meanwhile, my wife refuses to drive the truck because she's afraid the transmission will go out on the freeway, possibly causing an accident and injury. Why would Nissan go through all this grief? Why don't the just fix the design of the radiator and offer the customer a viable solution to the problem, instead of a $3,000 fix if it fails or someone gets killed or injured?

Thanks for listening!!!

I purchased a 06 Nissan Frontier a little over a year ago. I thought Nissan was a good quality car. I was SO wrong. I got a letter in the mail about a Class Action Lawsuit due to a defect in the radiator that causes antifreeze to mix with the transmission fluid. I immediately went out and checked my Frontier. Sure enough there was a frothy substance on the radiator cap. A sure sign of cross contamination. I got it in to the dealership asap hoping that if I replace the radiator and flush the transmission it might fix the problem. The dealership told me that it would stop further damage but it was too late. I asked how much a new transmission cost and was told $6000+ OUCH! I called around to transmission shops and they said the same thing $6000 to rebuild. I guess there is a computer in the transmission that makes it difficult to rebuild. Now I am stuck with a truck I owe $11,000. Its worth $12,000 and I have to put $7000+ in repairs. Nissan knew about this problem and should have recalled it. They do not stand behind their vehicles. I could see maybe if it cost a $2000 but $7000 is outrageous. I can only hope my family doesn't get killed driving it. I am a single mother of two small boys I don't have the money to repair the transmission. Its a ticking time bomb, Nissan is a horrible company. You are better off with a Hyundai.

The sad thing is that this was my dream truck! 06 Nissan Frontier Nismo Off Road package in yellow with black trim! Absolutely my dream truck - the first "me" vehicle I have ever been able to buy after the kids were raised. I flew from Boise to Dallas to buy it, and drove it home. It was everything I wanted: great style - excellent power.

That is until it reached 104,000 miles. Then the coolant line ruptured and ruined the tranny. After searching online I found out that this is a common problem and that Nissan has done nothing about it. The "extended warranty" they have offered isn't a warranty at all - just a co-pay where the customer is held liable for their shoddy workmanship. I have a beautiful truck that is either going to sit in my driveway or cost me $7,000 - $10,000.

I thought I was buying top-of-the-line when I purchased my Nissan. I was sadly mistaken. One thing is for sure: I will never again buy a Nissan product as long as I live.