2006 Nissan Xterra: sudden loss of power

Filed Nov 14, 2020 · 100,000 miles · FL

There was a safety recall for radiators in nissan xterras in 2019 , I was never informed about this recall or service bulletins even though nissan knows I own the vehicle in their database also there is an electrical problem with the ipdm box which is defective according to the nissan pages on facebook and other sites, where the white ipdm box is defective and causes power loss and lights not working along with car stalling while driving, it is apparently a defect and the cost to replace it is over I was never notified of the xterra transmission cooler defect or recall back in 2019, ive owned this xterra since 2008 and its been to the dealer for another previous recall, also there is a problem with the white ipdm box, (fuse box) which should be investigated, per the nissan owners facebook page, and other blogs the ipdm causes stalling and shutdowns of all functions in the 2005-2014 nissans, consumers are having to pay upwards of $600 to the dealership for these defective ipdm boxes, there is a known defect which was recalled years ago about a relay for that box, I believe my xterra relay was fixed, but I am having a problem with the vdc/ slip light coming on and my headlights go on and off while driving at night. According to the websites it has to do with the white ipdm box underneath where the wires are harnessed, this needs to be adressed it is a safety hazzard while driving on the highway or in town because the vehicle is totally disabled and will cause injury/death ive been reading nissan pages to find out why my lights are going on and off, ive repalced the camshaft and crankshaft pos sensors, nissans previous recall for a diode apparantly this didnt fix it, it just masked the situation, read up on newx.org about this problem

Filed Sep 24, 2018 · Engine · 89,559 miles · CO

I was driving, and stopped for about 5 minutes at a convenent store, and when stated the car, it wont go forward as normal, lost power with no warnings and was told by mechanic that the carburetor was leaking some fluid to the transmission.

Filed Mar 4, 2018 · Engine · 120,000 miles · NY

Was driving in a 55 zone in my xterra and the engine lost power outa no where. Good thing no one was behind me or I woulda been killed. Sounds a lot like the intelligent power distribution module (ipdm) assembly contains an engine control module (ECM) that they had problems with on this model yet my VIN does not come up in the search????

Filed Nov 16, 2015 · Engine · 108,500 miles · WA

No problems in five years of ownership. The following took place in less than 7 days. Truck was fueled up at costco and 30 minutes later was shuddering when stopped, we thought we got a bad tank of gas. Truck had a check engine light. Misfiring cylinder, coil replaced. Two days later, check engine light. Replaced o2 sensor. A day or two later check engine light. Had a loss of power. Truck was in limp mode. Drove to the dealer and they diagnosed replacing the failed catalytic converter (right rear) and the timing chain, tensioners etc. Salesman said that we should have changed the timing chain at 60,000 miles. Which I have never seen listed in the maintenance. The truck was purchased used at 64,000 miles.

Filed Sep 22, 2015 · Transmission · 87,000 miles · LA

I was driving on the interstate at about 70 miles per hour went my car starting losing power and jerking. The cars behind me were getting right behind my car and slowing down,they were yelling at me to speed up and, I was so scared one of them would hit the back of my car and cause a accident and kill me,I tried to get the car to the to the side of the interstate but had a hard time crossing traffic,I was praying to make it across with out getting .nission knew that my xteria was was recalled for this issue but did not send me a recall notice or anything in the mail,now they want me to pay the first $3000 to fix my transmission. But they build the car that way so I think they should fix it. I had a guy who worked on my car before and he said that due to a cracked coolant leak into my transmission, my transmission went out. I sure wish no one else went through the same thing on the interstate, it was bad., I am disabled and cannot afford the $3000 so my car is now useless and I have no way to go to the doctor.

Filed Sep 18, 2015 · Transmission · 129,893 miles · WA

The transmission failed during heavy commute traffic hwy at 60mph creating a near miss multi vehicle collision. No injuries or accident occured because of the malfunction. The vehicle lost power and was pulled safely to the side of the road. The cause of the transmission failure was diagnosed to be transmission failure due to contamination from engine coolant. A common problem with this make and model as thousands of consumer complaints have been filed but ignored by the federal safety agency and nissan. The factory radiator has a known defect which caused the intercooler tubing from the transmission to the radiator to crack and fail thus causing cross contamination of tranmission fluid and engine coolant from the radiator to mix and destroy the transmission. The failure requires replacement of the radiator and replacement or rebuilding of the transmission at a cost of $5,500. In over 45 years of driving all makes,years and models of vehicles both foreign and domestic, I have never had one failure of this type before, even in vehicles with over 300,000 miles of use. In my humble opinion, this is nothing less than an engineering defect either purposefully designed as built in obsolescense, or overlooked and denied by nissan as a materials defect in manufacturing. Anyone can use a search engine on the internet to find that this is a common occurance but no recall has been enacted because there has been no deaths reported yet. Because my vehicle is out of warranty, but of this low milage, it was not a maintenance issue, as it is a 2 wheel drive vehicle not used for off road but standard paved roadway use. Oil changes and inspections were completed as recommended.

Filed Sep 14, 2015 · Transmission · 148,000 miles · UT

We were pulling a light 18 foot trailer up a steep hill, at low speed due to the grade. It was on hwy 89, about 5 miles w of garden city, utah. The RPM of the car raced up to 4,000, it lost power and lugged. We were fortunate that there was a turn off a very short distance ahead. We were also fortunate that the failure did not occur when we were turning left in front of on-coming traffic. The engine was smoking hot, even though the radiator didn't show any heat. It took a while to recognize the issue.

Filed Jul 29, 2015 · Engine · 144,000 miles · KS

I was driving to a local city pool and the car appeared to lose power. I restarted the car and reached the pool. When I went to start the car, it wouldnt start. Thinking it might be the battery, I had someone try to jump start it but nothing happened. Had my car towed to a local mechanic the following morning and learned that the transmission would need to be replaced as the radiator fluid had mixed with the transmission fluid due to a faulty sensor. Now I have a perfectly nice vehicle that wont run unless I pay to have the transmission and radiator replaced. I just bought it in february 2014. It is not covered under the class action suit because it has 144,000 miles on it.

Filed May 28, 2015 · Engine, Transmission · 118,000 miles · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 nissan xterra. While driving approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle lost power and stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to the nissan dealer where it was diagnosed that radiator coolant and transmission fluid mixed together and caused the transmission to fail. The manufacturer was notified and diagnosed the failure as "power transmission cross train". The failure mileage was 118,000.

Filed Mar 2, 2015 · Engine, Transmission · 121,772 miles · TX

Defective radiator leaked engine coolant into automatic transmission fluid (atf), causing cross-contamination of fluids that will ruin the re5r05a transmission. The engine coolant water contamination can short-circuit the low current electronic computer located on the valve body. This transmission was used in xterra; frontier; pathfinder and armada vehicles manufactured between 2005 and 2010. Fixing the radiator and replacing the contaminated fluid with fresh fluid does not alleviate the problem, as the transmission computer has been permanently damaged. The only way to fix a damaged transmission computer is to replace it with a new one, and they are only available from nissan as part of a new valve body assembly. (http://www.toptransmissions.com/nissan-pathfinder-xterra-armada) numerous consumer reports online show that the vehicle can suddenly lose power, or even lock up the driving wheels while driving the vehicle in traffic; therefore, this is a serious safety defect issue. Suburban transmissions of gaithersburg, md 20878 (ph. 301‑362‑4040 or 800‑353‑3477) reports that: "for most trucks and suvs, fixing the radiator problem and replacing the transmission fluid might correct this problem. However, on the nissan pathfinder and xterra and other models that use the re5r05a transmission?(w)e also recommend (along with radiator & transmission replacement) bypassing the radiator with an external transmission cooler to prevent this from happening again as replacing the radiator issue is likely to happen again." [web source: link shown above.]

Filed Feb 20, 2015 · Steering, Transmission · 110,000 miles · UT

The power steering fluid entered into the transmission causing a sudden loss of power of vehicle. Nissan recognized this a problem.

Filed Jun 9, 2014 · Engine, Transmission · 72,000 miles · PA

Transmission cooler ,located in radiator, cracked and allowed mixture of coolant and transmission fluid. This caused internal damage to transmission. Vehicle had power loss during a merge onto a state highway, nearly causing an accident and potential harm to my wife and 4 year old son. Nissan settled a class action lawsuit which clearly acknowledges there is a manufacture defect with the radiator. No safety recall was made which has the potential to injury others who experience this failure. Research has shown this is a large scale issue and settlement is unacceptable, nissan has a responsibility where manufacturer defects can cause harm to their customers.