CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2005-2007 Xterra appears to have a widespread defect where coolant leaks into the transmission, causing transmission failure around 90,000 miles. Repair costs are typically upwards of $3,500.
The same defect exists in the Pathfinder & Frontier as well. And according to the New York Times & a class action lawsuit, the defect actually extends through 2010 model year. More info here.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
102,852 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Xterra. While driving 40 mph, the vehicle shook and failed to shift gears. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 73,000.
Nissan's defective transmission / transmission cooling system design has ruined another transmission. Nissan knows the issue will occur after their warranty (even an extended warranty) expires. So their defective design costs them nothing. And they know that regulators can't touch them. And Nissan dealers are useless. They could care less about their "customers" after they make a sale.
A few days prior to this vehicle's shut down, I had noticed when driving at either 40 mph or 60 mph, the vehicle would start to 'vibrate'; the feel was as if driving on the highway and the tires are driving over the meridian entering the brake down lane. The alignment wasn't the issue. The day of incident, I was driving on a 50 mph main street, when approaching 40 mph, the vehicle shut down. After about 10 minutes, the vehicle started back up, enough time to drive 5 minutes back home. Once towed to the garage & after inspection I was told there was a crack in the atf line which caused coolant to mix with transmission fluid in result causing my transmission to fail. Of course I just went over my 100,000 ml warranty, my vehicle is just at 126,000 ml! I am the only owner of this vehicle & have done well maintaining it. After doing research on this issue, I am disgusted with Nissan not taking ownership to this situation! this model alone has the most complaints with this specific issue, and to only do an extended recall up to 80,000 ml is ridiculous when this issue appears to happen from 90,000 ml +!!!!!!! I bought this vehicle brand new, with the hopes to have it live for almost 300,000 ml, which I was told by the dealership prior to me buying. This company used to have a great reputation.....let's pray they try to get it back. I hope Nissan owns up to this situation & is just not sitting around until a death happens to recall it!
This is a complaint towards Nissan and there failure to be and act as a professional car company. There should be a recall on there radiators leaking into the transmission, it has costs numerous amounts of people thousands of dollars to replace transmissions and radiators and even when done the problem still occurs. The class action lawsuit that they were so "nice" enough to agree on does not help anyone what so ever especially when hitting the 100K mark. These vehicles were built to last a long time, not crap out after 50,000 miles. It's a problem that needs to be resolved.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Xterra. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, an abnormal noise emitted from the engine. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that there was water in the transmission and oil in the radiator. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 71,000.
- Cranston, RI, USA
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2005 Nissan Xterra. Consumer writes in regards to transmission and radiator issues. The consumer stated after he dropped the vehicle off at the dealer, he received a call from the service advisor, stating transmission fluid was leaking into the radiator and Nissan was aware of the defect and should cover the cost in replacing the radiator and transmission, because they extended the warranty. When the consumer contacted Nissan to confirm, he was informed the vehicle had over 80,000 miles and he would have to pay $3,000 if he wanted the repairs done.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Xterra. The contact stated that while driving 55 mph, the vehicle started shaking and stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. The technician stated a crack in the atf caused a cross contamination of the engine coolant into the transmission. As a result of the failure, the transmission would need to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 93,000.
My truck felt sluggish. Upon diagnosis, there was transmission fluid in the radiator and the radiator was replaced on 5/7/14. Several weeks later, my truck stalled, and I had the intelligent power distribution module replaced. Several weeks later, the service engine light came on. This time, there were three transmission codes. The transmission had coolant in it, and was starting to fail. Nissan corporate only offers an extension over 100,000 on their powertrain warranty with a $3,500 deductible. With the transmission (rebuilt) being $3,500 and the radiator being $500. It was not worth it to go to the dealership to get a new transmission. Nissan failed to notify their customers in 2007 when they became aware of the problem. It would have been a lot less costly for Nissan truck owners to buy a new radiator before it failed, then to have also lost their transmissions. It looks like Nissan wanted to avoid a costly recall, which will cost them more in lost new car sales in the future. One CEO looks good, the next one will not.
Coolant enters into the transmission system from a defective radiator system and destroys transmission. Nissan manufacturer is aware of this, even lost a class action lawsuit, but has not recalled the vehicle. As a result, owners are not aware of the defect until transmission is ruined. Nissan only agreed to help repair vehicles, after the fact and only up to 100,000 miles - with the owner still having to pay $3,000 toward repair. Since we were not aware of the defect, we didn't do anything preemptive so we had to wait until our transmission was ruined. Since we are beyond the 100,000 mile mark, Nissan will not accept any responsibility for repair.
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Xterra. While driving approximately 40 mph, the vehicle shook. The failure occurred multiple times. The dealer stated that the transmission and radiator needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 142,000.
Purchased my '05 Nissan Xterra in the spring of 2012 with about 160,000 miles. For the past 2 months I had minor issues like shuddering/vibrations randomly when I accelerated and the heat not working when I was at a complete stop. It was not until the other day when I was at a complete stop and my car would not accelerate properly that I knew I had a problem with the transmission. I took my Xterra to 3 different mechanics and each one explained to me that I would need a completely new transmission and from there they would see if I in fact needed to change the radiator (which they were positive was the original issue due to similar issues with other Nissan SUV owners). The repairs will cost me well over $4,000 and unfortunately as a college student, there is no way I can afford to repair the transmission and radiator. What was appalling to me was when I researched the issue online. There are hundreds upon hundreds of complaints online on various websites about this issue and Nissan has yet to issue a recall. The extended warranty excluded many people and put many more at an unfair disadvantage. I personally bought my Nissan, because of their reputation, but the fact that they will not come to the aid of their consumers speaks volumes of this company.
While driving vehicle vibrated as if it didn't know whether to shift or not. Found out later that I had water in my trans and trans fluid in my radiator.
2nd owner of 2005 Nissan Xterra. First had issues with heat not working when at a complete stop, then car would begin to vibrate on the hwy, and now car is having issues up shifting. 2 mechanics have told me the same thing, stating defective radiator was leaking fluid into transmission. Now I must replace both at about $4000. After doing some research online, I have found this is a common issue with this model and Nissan has not issued a recall. Jeopardizing the safety of many and being very costly to those who can not afford a major issue like this.
The radiator leaked into the transmission causing the transmission to stop working. I had to have the transmission rebuilt and a whole new radiator system put in my truck. 5300.00.this is a common problem with this model. Tried to send in a claim but was told they are no longer excepting claims because of the problem. If they are aware of the problem then they should help those of us it happened to!!!!!!
I noticed the transmission 'slipping' when I pulled into work, especially in traffic on my commute. When I got back in my car 2 hours later, I could barely make it up a 2% grade in the parking lot. I immediately went to a reputable transmission shop who said I was lucky to make it there and not pay the towing charges (he pointed to another Xterra that came in the day before). My vehicle was past the (wimpy) extended warranty (mileage) for the class action lawsuit and the age was well past it. It cost me $3750 out of pocket with no hope of financial relief from Nissan. The transmission repair store owner said this whole situation (design and lawsuit) was terrible and could have been avoided. Lucky I wasn't on the interstate!
Complete catastrophic engine failure during rush hour traffic. Luckily I was approaching a red light and there were cars slowing ahead of me I was able to brake slowly to a stop while I was not able to be steer. I had to be pushed to the side of the road by the help of others. The vehicle was towed to the pinnacle Nissan dealership where they informed me that the transmission and the radiator has to be fully replaced due to a faulty valve. Nissan said the valve that connects the radiator and transmission broke allowing coolant and anti freeze to mix together and immediately catastrophically destroying both components. I was informed that their was a classaction suit for this very reason that was settled but this is very dangerous if I had been in a freeway situation. Nissan has had numerous complaints for this vehicle for this reason. I have had every recall part for this vehicle needed to be replaced due to faulty manufacturing, this is a very expensive repair and it has been known due to the # of complaints on this particular part being faulty but a recall needs to happen not at the expense of Nissan. I am expected to cover this with a deductible of $2500 at no fault of my own. I am lucky to be alive. I have maintained all necessary/reccomended service outlined by Nissan up till L this failure. Thank you
Luckily I was waiting in a drive thru when the known defect occurred. The radiator is known to crack and leak in to the transmission mixing both the coolant and transmission fluid requiring the replacement of both the radiator and transmission. The failure of the radiator also requires that the engine be flushed multiple times. I received a letter from Nissan a few years ago that this is a rare occurrence. It doesn't appear that they were telling the truth. Nissan settled a class action suit so I will have to pay $2560 to get the problem fixed. Because the parts have to be ordered it takes a week or longer to get the car fixed. This is a known problem that affects multiple Nissan models from 2005 through 2010. Nissan should be required to recall and fix everyone of the affected models.
Transmission failure because of coolant fluid leaking into it. A design flaw which brought a class action suit against Nissan. Nissan lost the suit, but did not recall these vehicles for repair. I was forced to pay $3000 deductible for the repair, but I may be lucky since many with this problem will not be covered at all. Very unfair of Nissan.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Reno, NV, USA