2005 Nissan Pathfinder: harsh or hard shifting

Filed May 21, 2015 · Engine, Transmission · 140,000 miles · TN

I had the same issue as many others. Coolant leaked into the transmission causing hard shifts, and shuttering while accelerating.

Filed Sep 15, 2014 · Transmission · 90,467 miles · CA

The car been great until on december 2013. I was driving back home from work and I notice the car at the time of shifting from first to second has having a hard shifting, then later I spend around 450 for the transmission service, the car was shifting better but not perfect, then on july this year. After having a short trip and turning off the engine and then on again to go to the next destination, the car at the time of finishing the starting the transmission kick a bad noise and even the car jumps, today I went to the dealer and explain my problems and show the kicking the service advisor told me I have the choice to pay 3000 to get a new transmission and radiator, they know we have the problems with this transmissions and they didn't call for a recall that's bad. I have only 96350 miles and still 4900 to pay for it. Nissan is not making good business in america, please help us.

Filed Feb 5, 2014 · Engine · 148,000 miles · CT

The vehicle engine timing chain had made a slight "whirring" sound for many months - nothing really loud enough to cause alarm, but noticeable. Then when idling the vehicle in my driveway, the engine began to whine loudly, and then all of a sudden the engine lost power and began to emit a loud slapping/ clunking sound. The problem is that the timing chain has failed and the chain is slapping around inside of the timing cover. I was lucky that the vehicle was idling in my driveway at the time! There are thousands of reported incidents to be found on the internet where nissan owners have reported that timing chains have failed, and some owners in california have filed a class-action lawsuit to force nissan to acknowledge this factory defect. Nissan knows about this problem - there are factory service bulletins to repair this problem, but no recall. This engine defect is dangerous - engine failure on busy ny / nj / ct highways can be life-threatening!! Why is the nissan timing chain defect not deemed a mandatory factory defect recall?? As a former mechanic, I can say with confidence that modern vehicle engine timing chains can be reasonably expected to last the life of the engine! Timing chains are not considered a regular maintenance item! Not only does timing chain failure put the vehicle passengers in extreme danger, but is very expensive to repair. Why should consumers have to bear the financial responsibility to repair a factory defect? At this time the vehicle is sitting "dead" in my driveway - I do not have $2000 required to repair the factory defective timing chain assembly! Please force nissan to recall and repair their defective timing chains!!!

Filed Apr 3, 2013 · Acceleration, Transmission · 137,500 miles · GA

The 2005 nissan pathfinder was going down the road and it began to hard shift. The revs would go high and then the car would shift very hard. Then while going down the road at about 55mph the car shifted into neutral. The car would not engage any gears and I had to pull of the road. Once the vehicle was stopped it would not engage any gears. I tried to reset from park and still nothing. I turned off the car and then back on,then I placed the car into "d" drive at which time it had a long delay before engaging the gear hard. Then I rolled off slowly and again, it reved up high before going into the next gear. As soon as I got to about 20 MPH it shifted into neutral before coasting to a stop. I had to repeat the off/on procedure and keep it under 20 MPH before I got to a safe place. The car continue to go down the road between 15-20 MPH at high revs in order to get it to a mechanic shop. There were no warning signs, no indicators that the car was going to shift into neutral and the worst thing is that I was with my family in the car when this occured with a high volume of cars on the road which made it a dangerous condition for the car to unexpectedly shift into neutral.

Filed Nov 13, 2012 · Transmission · 146,000 miles · GA

My nissan quit due to a failed transmission. I was driving and without warning when I accelerated it would not go forward. It occasionally would do a hard shift when going down hills or increasing speed. I began to smell a foul odor coming from the hood and alot of smoke billowing from the back of the car.

Filed Oct 1, 2012 · Transmission · 157,675 miles · CA

The transmission felt kind of jerky one day, and then the very next day it felt like it was slipping or not wanting to shift before it would slam into gear. It was at this point that the transmission finally let go.

Filed Sep 25, 2012 · Transmission · 122,000 miles · CT

I was coming home from work on main road at rush hour when I heard a loud clunk followed by hesitation and lights on my instrument panel going on. I was having trouble going even 20 MPH and motorists behind me felt I was going unreasonably slow, thinking I was doing this on purpose and even trying to pass me. I limped along to the next street where I could get off safely and called for help. Brought the car to closest dealer the following day and was diagnosed with transmission failure due to coolant contamination. My car which was finally paid off now faced certain doom. Nissan has failed to fix any of this so now the car must sit in my driveway until you issue a recall. Nissan knew of this issue long ago and isn't taking measures to warn any of their customers about this problem. These radiators need to be changed in all affected vehicles and those which suffered catastrophic damage put back on the road at their expense.how many more drivers need to go through this painful and potentially life threatening failure?

Filed Sep 19, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 131,000 miles · NC

We had started to notice some rough shifting at low speeds. This past weekend my wife was trying to drive with our kids in atlanta freeway stop and go traffic. At speeds around 15 MPH the vehicle would start to buck and lurch and it would kill the engine. It is an automatic but was behaving like a manual if someone didn't push in the clutch when coming to a stop. This was very hazardous in stop and go traffic on a 10+ lane freeway. The mechanic said the transmission is failing because radiator fluid was leaking into the transmission and that he had seen a number of nissans with this problem. We are having to replace both the transmission and radiator at $4,000. That is better than having the transmission lock up at highway speeds. If you remember last year, montoya's nascar transmission locked up sending him into one of the jet driers at the track causing a fiery collision. He had no control at that time and he is a professional driver. Nissan knows this is a problem. I now know that I am not alone and that too many nissan owners have made this complaint and nissan will not voluntarily protect their customers.

Filed Sep 9, 2012 · Transmission · 82,000 miles · FL

I took my pathfinder to the dealer complaining of shifting problems to esserman nissan in miami florida. The service manager opened the hood and after waiting over 1/2 hour removed the radiator cap to find water in the form of a cream ( took pictures). He stated that the engine coolant most likely had gone inside the transmission and created damage, but because my car was 82k miles there was nothing the dealer could do I called nissan and filed a case, but it was useless. I took the car to a transmission shop where they charged me $700+tax to flush the transmission, change the torque converter and install an external oil radiator for the transmission. They stated that the damage was done and although the rough shifting will be a constant, that at least I will buy some time because a complete rebuilt was 3500usd. Finally the transmission gave up on the highway when my wife entered the highway but the car did not move pass second gear. She found the next exit and called me. She made it home on second gear and high RPM. I called back nissan, they ask me to take the car to the dealer. The car was at home so before taking it I decided to pass by and talk to the manager. He stated that if nissan did not help me at 82k miles what made me believe that they were going to help me at 120k. I left the car at home until further notice.

Filed Aug 17, 2011 · Engine, Transmission · 99,480 miles · CA

Crack in the radiator assembly occurred leading to internal leakage of the engine coolant. 2005 nissan pathfinder with automatic transmission began hard shifting in the fall of 2010. This was a constant daily occurrence if the driver forgot to take the pathfinder out of overdrive. It sounded like the old 1970s ford universal joint as it shifted into gear. At times the car felt like the back-end was being pulled in the opposite direction. At cruising speed, the back wheels would sound like they were running over the corrugated concrete near a toll booth or lane dividers on a highway and the transmission would cause the car to shudder. It would seem to fall out of gear while the car was moving at speed. Going uphill, the pathfinder would hard shift and hesitate to engage into gear. Accelerating on to the freeway was never an issue, but it would not immediately shift into the appropriate gear at highway speeds. On several occasions, it would stay in neutral when shifted into reverse. The most common symptom was the shuddering noises at 30 MPH. If the overdrive was turned off, all symptoms would diminish or disappear completely. Took it to the dealer in december and they could not duplicate. Took it to the dealer in may and they could duplicate, but not consistently and saw no mixing of coolant and transmission fluid. Towed it in to the dealer in august, the damage is done, the fluids have mixed and the transmission computer has shorted out. Repair recommended is to replace transmission (including computer) and radiator and hoses. Customer cannot afford the $6,000 price tag on the repair. Nissan north america will not assist as pathfinder is out of warranty.

Filed Aug 14, 2010 · Engine, Transmission · 67,000 miles · MN

Noticed rough shifts in transmission, eventually failed to engage 5th gear. Took to dealer, transmission lines inside radiator had ruptured. Replaced transmission, radiator and lines at a cost of over $8000 and 4 weeks time. This occurred at 67k miles. At 87k miles, radiator fluid is milky and shows symptoms of another rupture of coolant lines inside transmission. Dealer and nissan USA do not recognize this as a safety issue or inherent defect in engineering. However, a simple search will show an extremely large number of people with similar issues caused by faulty cooling lines in the radiator rupturing causing transmission abrupt behavior and the danger for loss of vehicle control due to the failure.