This is one of the many transmission issues with 2007 xterras where the coolant leaks into the transmission and destroys it. The repair cost is 8500 dollars if the 100000 mile extended warranty has been passed. I contacted nissan and they told me that this is my responsibility despite the hundred of complaints regarding the exact same issue. When driving at any speed, when the xterra changes gears there is a rough vibration that keeps getting worse the longer it goes for. Had I not learned about this on my own accord this could have resulted in a very bad accident.
2007 Nissan Xterra engine complaints
Page 4 of 6: complaints 71 to 100 of 160, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Sitting at light in the left lane, waiting for it to turn green and all of a sudden the car started making a loud racing sound. Not sure if it was transmission or engine making the noise. I looked at my gauges and saw the temperature gauge was on h. I had to wait for the light to turn green, because I was at an intersection, in the left lane, to get on the highway and there were cars on my right and cars going in the other direction. As soon as I could move, I pulled over to a safe spot, but before I could, the car started overheating and smoke started coming out of the hood. It was towed to my garage and after my mechanic looked at it, he said this is a known issue for nissan xterras 2007, because the radiator is defective. The coolant mixes with the transmission and the car stops running! Apparently, nissan knows that the part is defective so they extended warranty to 80,000 mile and anything past that I have to pay. Well, I have 90,400 miles and can't believe that nissan can get away with knowing a part is defective and not recalling all trucks affected. They certainly changed the radiator design for the newer vehicles, admitting that it is a problem. They should recall the cars and replace the defective part. It is all over the internet, because the problem is so widespread and nissan will not take ownership of it!!!!!!. Please look into this and look on the internet to see how common this issue is for xterras and all the people that got screwed by nissan. Thank you.
The radiator fluid leaked into the transmission and ruined the transmission and valve body assembly. The car will not run and stalled out in an intersection.
Radiator cracked leaking coolant into the transmission.
Engine coolant and transmission fluid mixing causing overheating and transmission failures.
Transmission failure due to engine coolant from leaking coiling system.
The first time I noticed something wrong with the transmission, the vehicle would make a large vibrating sound at random times. This would keep getting worse until I had to bring it to a shop, overall just about a week. I was told the transmission and radiator fluids were mixing and that I needed a fluid flush a long with a new radiator. About 6 months later, my car just wouldn't start one morning. I take it to the shop again, hoping it is just a minor fix this time. This time there is something wrong with the transmission and computer system. Luckily I wasn't driving when this happened, otherwise who knows what damage it would have caused to the car or to me.
Nissan sent a warranty notification letter that the radiator could crack and leak into the transmission. The letter stated the warranty ran out at 80k miles. They would not replace the radiator and transmission until there was an actual problem. I didn't start having problems until about 96k miles. When I brought it in to the dealer, I was told it would cost me $3000 my part to fix it and they would cover the rest. I have not been able to afford to make the repair at this time. Nissan knew the part was bad and still did nothing to correct the problem.
From the day 1 I purchased this vehicle water is dropping from AC on a passenger side. Dealer tried to repair, even changed mats. Did not help. There is a bad smell inside the vehicle if I keep it locked after using AC.
A defect caused a crack in the transmission radiator which leaked fluid into the transmission causing unexpected catastrophic transmission failure.
Radiator leaked into the transmission.
My transmission is ruined because both the radiator antifreeze and the transmission fluid have mixed. My wife could have had a serious accident.
I have researched and found many other have had the same issue with the fuel sensor on 2007 xterra. Last gen was recalled and they need to recall this year. I have ran out of gas twice already while driving down the highway. I am also having a loud wining noise coming from the engine due to a failed timing chain tensioner. Both these items need to be recalled before somebody gets killed.
This week my sons 2007 nissan xterra would not start and we had it towed to a nissan dealership near his college in scranton pa. Yesterday we were informed that the transmission and radiator need to be replaced, at a cost of around $5000! This is shocking because my son insists that he noticed nothing amiss with the operation of his truck until it he was unable to start it. After spending 10 minutes on the internet, I learned about the nissan transmission class action lawsuit. We have been religious in terms of scheduled maintenance, and overall care of the vehicle. We were not aware of the cooling/transmissions problems plaguing nissan trucks. In addition, I have had the vehicle serviced at two separate nissan dealerships, one in new york and another now in pa. It is disgraceful that neither nissan dealership mentioned anything! This morning I contacted nissan corporate and was told that since the vehicle is over 100,000, there is nothing they can do for us. I do not have $5000 and do not know what to do with my sons nissan. As others have mentioned in postings, there likely many others with vehicles over the 100,000 marker, now just experiencing the negative effects of the defective manufacturing by nissan. There should be a second class action suit filed against nissan!!!
Radiator leaked into transmission just after 100,000 miles. So why didn't nissan tell us this was going to happen?
First noticed a stuttering when driving and a clunking sound when moving the shifter from park to reverse to drive in february. Also experienced no heat and over heating in march. Upon repair of thermostat, draining the radiator showed an accumulation of thick grey gunk in the coolant. Thermostat seal itself was melted. Had dealer evaluate clunking sound and they diagnosed it as intermix (the problem identified by the coolant) a manufacturing defect in the radiator/transmission cooling components that allows the coolant to contaminate the transmission fluid causing transmission damage. As a result of class action lawsuit, dealership explained that mileage was over the nissan warranty limit of 100,000 even though the problem did not manifest until almost 120,000 miles. Recommended fix was in stages - 1) replace radiator and transmission flush $1200++ 2) if problem is not solved, replace transmission $4000++ have talked with nissan corporate to no avail. Case # is [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
I have a 2007 nissan xterra which started to "stutter" and hesitate when pressing the gas. The car almost felt like it was shutting off while on I-4 highway. The shuts down and wont start. I had the car checking and found out that there was a crack in my radiator and that the fluid had leaked over into the transmission. I had the radiator replaced, a few months later, transmission is still not working. I took the car to nissan, they told me I would have to replace the whole transmission which would run about $5200. I called the nissan headquarters and was told that there was nothing they could do because my truck was at 109,000 miles.
The radiator leaked and the coolant went into the transmission and now has totally screwed up the transmission to the point of having to replace it and the radiator. Nissan knows about this problem and will not make a recall on either parts which is completely wrong.
Failed transmission cooler-engine jerks at speeds 40 MPH and higher.
Radiator and transmission failed while driving on highway, part was settled in class action suite and owner was never made aware of defect and or how it can be fixed until failure on highway with family of four in it on 3/28/2014, the owner is the sole owner of vehicle since 2007, owner never received any information at all from nissan regarding this manufacturer issue until service department at nissan informed owner of issue and also informed owner of $3,000.00 repair charge for the faulty parts.
Radiator cracked causing coolant to mix with transmission fluid.
The radiator fluid and transmission fluid have some how mixed together cause damage to both my radiator and transmission. I purchase my xterra brand new in 2007 and kept up with the maintenance. I have read several articles and even received a letter about a class action lawsuit. But at the time no symptoms were showing on my vehicle. So upset that this is not a recall!!! I am a single mom and this was my only means of transportation. Now it just sits in my yard. Frustrating!!!
The radiator leaked fluid into the transmission and cause a complete and total loss of both. A lawsuit was filed and settled by nissan without them taking any responsibility for their faulty design. I guess this won't get noticed until people start dying from nissan's defective design. When that does happen, nissan will just payoff the families so this whole issue just goes away!
Problem with radiator fluid leaking into the transmission, which has now damaged the transmission. Since nissan won't do the right thing and we're beyond the 80,000 miles, we're stuck paying for a new radiator and transmission. Instead of getting away with doing nothing except for extending the warranty, nissan should have been required to notify all affected people regarding the exact problem and issued a recall and pay for a new radiator. This obviously is still an issue for alot people and probably many, many more in the future, long after the so-called proposed settlement. Too the federal safety agency! Please investigate and require nissan do the right thing!
At 60mph and also 40mph the vehicle vibrates heavily and is slow to react to power inputs with no warning signs prior. This was determined to be caused by the known defect related to the radiator / heat exchanger, where the engine coolant mixes with the transmission fluid and gets into the transmission. This then turns into a "pink milkshake" consistency fluid and completely ruins the entire transmission and valve assembly. This requires a complete rebuild or replacement of the transmission and radiator to correct the issue. There is no warning sign and this affects these vehicles at different rates. This can cause cars to seize up unexpectedly in the middle of driving creating a dangerous situation. Since this is a known issue for nissan trucks model year 2005 - 2010 this should be a safety recall. It is not a matter of if this will happen, it is a matter of when. In my personal situation I had no injury or immediate car shutdown, however I would have no warning if that did occur and has the potential to be dangerous, especially at highway speeds. This has to be investigated and is uncalled for to have a known defect and not disclose this to owners of these vehicles. Additionally, there is a perfectly good way to mitigate this issue by adding a dedicated cooler for the transmission and bypass the radiator, which is a cheap and easy fix to never have this issue.
At varying speeds above 45mph the vehicle will shudder as if you were driving on a rumble strip. This can be startling as there is no indication of when or where it will occur. When the radiator failed our mechanic informed us that the transmission was destroyed because of design of the radiator and transmission cooling lines, which allowed coolant to seep into the transmission fluid thus destroying the transmission..
I was told timing chain of vehicle needed replacement. The car only had 65,000 miles and this repair is an ongoing problem with nissan that they are failing to address to consumers. Repairs costing 1,500 plus dollars for repair of engine chain. If ignored, this could cause an extreme safety hazard while driving at a moderate speed. There should be a recall on this service/part.
Internal leakage of engine coolant in to transmission.
My cars coolant gage jumped straight to h out of nowhere. After pulling into a shell station for antifreeze, it was apparent what had happened. There was something mixed in with the antifreeze. It was the transmission fluid. After being told I would need a new transmission and radiator, I started researching and im not the only one dealing with an otherwise great body you can't do anything with and doubt I will be the last. After further research it appears that no recall has been approved and I believe there are many of us wondering why? This is a consistent problem with hundreds of cars and it's not even one make, it's many. 3 in my category. Does a recall only happen when it has fatality attached? This is a faulty system and nissan approved these coolants in the transmissions and continued to even after complaints of the system. I was lucky to catch mine right away but still need $3000 to fix it! It won't be long until fatality is attached once someone's transmission goes out on a highway or in 5 o'clock traffic! Nissan needs to issue a recall!!!
"check engine" light came on. Diagnostic computer shows error "fuel level sensor circuit high voltage." this is apparently a very, very common problem. Mechanic says this will eventually, if left un-repaired, destroy my main computer on the car. Repair estimate is $700, which includes a complete change-out of the fuel pump assembly.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2007 Nissan Xterra?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history