I noticed the same slip in the transmission for awhile. A few times it made my car a little out of control when on the interstate. Finally, I am driving on a cold Texas morning ;) and needed to put the heater on. For a couple day I noticed my heat was blowing cold air. Again, being Texas, I didnt mind, until by Transmission quit on me. I got it into the shop and the word was my radiator leaked into my transmission, be ready for a major repair!

I then had 3 and 1/2 weeks of no car and shipping issues for the part. I got the work done and the bill hit me hard. I was upset with the local repair shop, but after reading all of this news of others, I see that it wasnt them, it was Nissan! I just payed off the car in August, I only have 85,000 miles on the car now. I used to love my Xterra and still do, I just hate Nissan for not taking care of this issue!

Seems there are many with the same problem. You noticed a problem when you are driving your car in the winter and the heater is blowing cold air into your car. You stop by and drop it off at the dealer for a minor repair.... Not so much! Sorry we have bad news for you, your radiator is leaking into your transmission. The cost to replace your radiator, transmission and fix the problem will be $6900. Funny that the service department didn't let me know that this has been a problem with other Nissans. Instead they tell you we will take your trade (minimal) and you can buy a new car today. Thanks but no Thanks.

So about a week ago my 2006 xterra starts making an intermittent rattling noise around 40 mph or at that point where the computer is deciding to shift up or down on an automatic transmission. Turns out to be the transmission, my brother in law is a Nissan tech at a dealership and was able to diagnose the problem quickly.

I took it in today and had the radiator changed and transmission flushed. He drove it and says it all appears to be fine now, we caught it early and saved the transmission, though I need to drive it a bit to feel confident.

I researched this online and am pissed and dismayed at nissans poor service on this issue. If not caught early and corrected quickly, your transmission is fried. What does this mean? Well, as an example my reapair will cost me around $900 with tax. If the transmission needs to be replaced, it would be an additional $5400!!

This is Bullshit Nissan! Would you not be better off to at least notify ALL owners of the potential issue and advise them to have both transmission fluid and coolant inspected at oil changes at the minimum? Or better yet correct the radiator flaw and replace all of them under a recall or even only for those under warranty and an advisory to those of us out of warranty with maybe a discount on the radiator swap? It seems that those people who had to shell out $5000 or more would have been happy to shell out under $1000 to prevent this problem.

I will be contacting Nissan and ranting on every possible place I can online.

I purchased my vehicle brand new in 2007 and have had it regularly maintained since this time. I was driving down the highway at about 60 mph, when the vehicle began to shake violently. I was in fairly heavy traffic and had difficulty maintaining control of the vehicle as I struggled to pull it to the side of the road. I had it towed into my local dealership who informed me that the radiator had cracked and coolant had worked it's way into the transmission. I am being told that I need to replace the radiator and transmission which will cost me $5500 in parts and labor. In addition to this, transmissions for this vehicle are on back order and I must wait even longer for the repairs. Of course, I have 95,000 miles on the vehicle and that means I am outside of the warranty coverage.

My biggest complaint is that this problem is likely a manufacturer defect and seriously puts owners at risk of injury or even death. I wish Nissan would be more accommodating in reimbursing the repairs and warning owners about this problem in the future.

I guess there should be a Club of Pissed Off Xterra owners who have been through the same radiator/transmission disaster as I have. Same story as others posting here with same results. Nissan knew about this problem and refuses to do anything or pay for any repairs. The dealership that I went to made the diagnosis and charged me $105. They told me to call Nissan North American like a good boy and see if I could beg them into paying for the $6000 repair. They took my information and I am still waiting to hear back from a Nissan Rep about my problem. For a plan B I have checked into repairs at local transmission shops and one had just done the EXACT SAME REPAIR on an 2006 Xterra. The repairs with that shop would be about $4000. The repair tech stated that a way to avoid this problem if you have a Xterra/Pathfinder is to loop the transmission lines on the radiator and install an external trans cooler. Just FYI.

I guess Nissan is training a new sales force around the country. A sales force that will be extremely good at getting people NOT TO BUY THEIR CARS BECAUSE THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE SUX!!!!!!!!!!! I'm out.....

Update from Oct 12, 2011: After I was told by the Nissan Dealership that I needed a new Trans and Radiator I was told to call Nissan Consumer Rep and see if they would pay for the repair. My Xterra has 85000 miles and Nissan did call me about 5 days later and said they would pay 1/2 or about $2800 for the repair. This is slightly less than a rebuild and I get a "new" Nissan trans and radiator with factory warranty. Problem is: Transmissions are back ordered from Japan and no one can give me a date for the delivery and repair!! Its been several weeks now and I will be waiting 2-3 more weeks at a minimum. I need my car and I am thinking of just having it rebuilt, paying for it and calling it good! I have owned a lot of Datsun/Nissans in the past but never had trouble like this!!

I have an '06 Xterra that I bought new on 6/30/06. On 5/9/11 I noticed a slight "stutter" or bump when I would let off the gas then start to accelerate again. I took my truck to Modern Nissan in Concord, NC on 5/13/11 to have them check the transmission fluid level. (No, I'm not much of a mechanic). After approx an hour, the service guy called me to his desk. He told me that my truck has an internal stutter caused by the radiator leakiing into the transmission. His solution was a new transmission ($5500), rebuild it- which they don't do there, or trade my truck.

I bought a Nissan because I wanted an SUV that would give me good, dependable service. Don't get me wrong, I know when you get higher miles you can expect some issues to arise, but in my opinion, this is a major problem. My truck shouldn't even be paid off yet (luckily it is) and the transmission didn't even last the term of my loan. In researching on the internet, I've found that Nissan had a "silent" recall for this problem. Apparently this was only sent to people who had this problem before 80,000 miles. Why didn't they send something to every Xterra owner (and Pathfinder, I think) so we could take our trucks in to get it checked and possibly avoid this problem. Has anyone had any luck getting Nissan to "help" with this problem?

I own a 2006 Nissan Xterra and am a huge Nissan lover. A few weeks ago the car started making a loud rumbling sound (just as all of the other complaints mention). When I read online that there was a "silent" extended warranty I called the Nissan dealership I usually go to only to be told if I could not re-create the problem they would not be able to help me. Because it wasn't happening constantly I didn't bother wasting time test driving with the dealership service department. Today the problem got worse in an instant and left me stranded on the highway when the car stopped shifting all together. Luckily I am not over 80,000 miles so it is covered under the "silent" extended warranty. What a pain in the @$% !

I own a 2006 Nissan Xterra, with AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS, the RADIATOR leaked COOLANT INTO THE TRANSMISSION. my transmission now needs to be fixed, radiator to..Nissan has known about this problem and secretly gave a 80,000 mile warranty for it but never notified customers that this problem could occur, I have 1000 miles over the warranty ..thanks to Nissan I am stuck with a very large bill!I found out there is a class action suit being brought against Nissan for this problem..I advice anybody with this problem to join it!if you don't have the problem yet you will when you hit the 80.000 mile mark

i know im not the only one who has this problem...to bad nissan forgot about customer service...i've bought two cars from puyallop nissan (in wash. state) and have been a loyal customer of nissan for quite some time...i was "ALL IN". then a start having problems at 100,000 mles!! after a lengthy internet session i find out nissan is ignoring this problem (expensive fix). there is a class action lawsuit against nissan at this time!! its really to bad nissan forgot who really pays the bills..the average joes out there are gonna be forking out 2000 to 5000 for your transmission repair or in some cases replaced!!!! be informed about nissan and there shady customer service practices...and get your transmissions looked at immediately!! they really let me down

Just barely over 100,000 miles - no warning except for the overheating. I am told that the transmission fluid is in the radiator and even after flushing and replacing all fluids it does it again immediately. I was not prepared to fork out 5k in repairs nor to buy a new car. Then! I learn that Nissan knew about the problem, they even put some protection and partial financial support for those that have issues prior to 100,000 miles. But they never told any of us.

I could have traded my car in before it became completely worthless. This is not the first time Nissan has known of car issues and not helped the customer. I was also caught by a 2002 Nissan Altima fiasco, similar to this. Although my dealer was very kind and helpful in minimizing my costs. I am so angry that Nissan chooses not to let the customers know more about what to watch for - I cannot afford a new car or 5k in repairs.

I am a VERY aggravated customer.