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Old 10-18-2017, 12:02 PM
JareS JareS is offline
 
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Default Lemon Nissan Frontier - What to do

Bought an 06 Frontier at Stadium Nissan a couple years ago with about 175,000km. One owner an old Cochrane rancher always serviced it at the dealership, I thought it would last forever. Now sitting at 225,000km I've had the radiator blow and now its in the shop looking at 3-5000$ in transmission repairs.

Ive taken excellent care of this truck and put a lot of money into non mechanical maintainace like glass, tires and wiring

IS THIS TRUCK A LEMON? Should I get what I can today on kijiji, fix and sell immediately or fix and keep driving?

Thanks guys
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:22 PM
Rockman Rockman is offline
 
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Joking, right? I have a "feeling" a 225,000km truck with blown transmission would never qualify under lemon law.
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:24 PM
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HeavyD111 HeavyD111 is offline
 
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Iirc the xterra uses the same drivetrain? Read a lot about the radiators on some years taking out the trans like you have described. Generally they are thought of as good trucks that *should* last a long time once the redesigned one is installed but who knows. If rest is in good shape just drive it imo.

I bought a Murano for the wife thinking it would last, and one it hit over 200k ( when CVT warraty expired) the trans puked, and it has a seemingly unsolvable wont accelreate when its above 33 degrees out issue. Wanna buy it?

My opinion of Nissan has sure slipped since owning one, but if you like yours the main thing that fails on them has now been fixed.
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:25 PM
raab raab is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JareS View Post
Bought an 06 Frontier at Stadium Nissan a couple years ago with about 175,000km. One owner an old Cochrane rancher always serviced it at the dealership, I thought it would last forever. Now sitting at 225,000km I've had the radiator blow and now its in the shop looking at 3-5000$ in transmission repairs.

Ive taken excellent care of this truck and put a lot of money into non mechanical maintainace like glass, tires and wiring

IS THIS TRUCK A LEMON? Should I get what I can today on kijiji, fix and sell immediately or fix and keep driving?

Thanks guys
Just a heads up if you check out carcomplaints.com before buying a vehicle you'll find out all the issues with it. This is well known with these trucks. A lot of people bypass the transmission cooler off the rad.

As for fixing it, thats the major issue with these trucks. So if your engine is good you could fix it, then by pass. Up to you if its worth it or not.
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Old 10-18-2017, 12:28 PM
jstubbs jstubbs is offline
 
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Just because it was well serviced doesn't mean that rancher wasn't driving the absolute bag off of the thing.

Besides, it's pretty common for gas trucks to have had transmission issues around 220,000 km or before, especially if it was used for hauling. Heck, I had a 2005 GMC Sierra that needed a whole $4000 transmission put in at 155,000 km, because the owner used it for pulling trailers a lot.
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Old 10-18-2017, 01:01 PM
jcrayford jcrayford is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HeavyD111 View Post
Iirc the xterra uses the same drivetrain? Read a lot about the radiators on some years taking out the trans like you have described. Generally they are thought of as good trucks that *should* last a long time once the redesigned one is installed but who knows. If rest is in good shape just drive it imo.

I bought a Murano for the wife thinking it would last, and one it hit over 200k ( when CVT warraty expired) the trans puked, and it has a seemingly unsolvable wont accelreate when its above 33 degrees out issue. Wanna buy it?

My opinion of Nissan has sure slipped since owning one, but if you like yours the main thing that fails on them has now been fixed.
^^ Heavy, I do believe you are correct.

JareS, for what it's worth, my '03 Xterra just rolled into the 370's and the only major issue I've had was a blown timing belt (luckily stopped at a red light) at about the 112K km mark back in 2010. "Small" $750 bill to get that repaired.

Since then, rusting out is my major concern and I'm going to be lucky if the body lasts another 2-3 years. It should be noted however that I don't drive with a heavy foot and the max speed I routinely hit is 100 kph (anything more and I can't afford the fuel). There are a few nagging things with my Xterra, but (and I'm knocking on wood here) hopefully I can hit at least 400,000 with it before anything major happens again. I bought it with 56,000 on the dial....

I truly believe that the way a vehicle lives it's life is directly correlated to how long it lives. Had a '95 Jeep that I beat on - it only went 10 years before I replaced it with the Xterra.

J.
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Old 10-18-2017, 01:14 PM
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3blade 3blade is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JareS View Post
Bought an 06 Frontier at Stadium Nissan a couple years ago with about 175,000km. One owner an old Cochrane rancher always serviced it at the dealership, I thought it would last forever. Now sitting at 225,000km I've had the radiator blow and now its in the shop looking at 3-5000$ in transmission repairs.

Ive taken excellent care of this truck and put a lot of money into non mechanical maintainace like glass, tires and wiring

IS THIS TRUCK A LEMON? Should I get what I can today on kijiji, fix and sell immediately or fix and keep driving?

Thanks guys
Big difference between 3 and 5 g. >3000 = no.

As others have stated, this is a well known design flaw with that vehicle. Fix, bypass, enjoy. But at >200000 and 10 years the maintenance bills start to pile up due to things wearing out, and I wouldn't be dropping a pile of cash into something I can't rely on.
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Old 10-18-2017, 01:51 PM
Sooner Sooner is offline
 
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When my 04 Explorer went in for it's transmission at 200,000 km's, the shop said you did good. Told me they see most mid sized suv/4x4 trannys go before that. A rad is no biggie, and I would guess the transmission may just be something that happend. Old guy rancher could have towed a lot of heavy stuff.

I would not call the truck a lemon yet If you like it, fix it and drive it for a few more years. My Explorer went to 372,000 k before the rear housing finally went and I sold it as is.
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  #9  
Old 10-18-2017, 02:13 PM
Reaver Reaver is offline
 
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The pink milkshake of death is what they call it when the rad fluid leaks into the transmission and destroys it. It happened to me in 2012 and cost $6400 to replace it. Mine failed at 173,000 KM's.

This issue affected the Xterra, Pathfinder and Frontier, all of which share the same drive train.

There was a class action lawsuit in the US against Nissan and they extended the drive line warranty to 100k miles. I don't think it applies to Canada, and you'd be SOL anyway. Guess what the average mileage the transmission usually fails at...?

I'd say it's probably not worth keeping it, but if it's still in good shape otherwise and you don't feel you can get anything more reliable for $6400ish, keeping it might be the best option.
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Old 10-18-2017, 04:05 PM
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bessiedog bessiedog is offline
 
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The '06 Frontier is the worst of the bunch.

Well known for being crap.

Lots of them for sale on kijiji for good reason.
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  #11  
Old 10-19-2017, 02:26 PM
thing thing is offline
 
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As others have mentioned the rad going and leaking into the tranny causing them to go is common. I have an 09 Frontier that I purchased new, now has 95000 km on it. I did the bypass last year. My tranny guy actually said that the transmissions are well built and borderline indestructible but that bypass needs to be done.....new cooler and relocating it.....just a few hundred bucks.

I wouldn't really call a vehicle a lemon when parts start failing at 225000 km.
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  #12  
Old 10-19-2017, 03:01 PM
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lmtada lmtada is offline
 
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I had old camaro many years ago. My girlfriend at time was driving it, and took the transmission out. Guilt takes a long time to pay off.
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  #13  
Old 10-19-2017, 06:05 PM
pikeman06 pikeman06 is offline
 
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6000 bux for a frigging transmission for a rice burner like that? ? ? I woulda hauled it to the dump. You can buy 3 good chevies for that kinda cake.😲
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