Nissan Xterra slipping problems

Filed Jan 25, 2024 · Transmission · VA

Clutch burnt out with 5 min between 1st incidence of barely slipping and total failure leaving me stranded on roadside with little notice and nowhere safe to pull off.

Filed Aug 14, 2018 · Transmission · 165,000 miles · NC

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 nissan xterra. While driving 25 MPH, the transmission slipped and prevented the vehicle from going into gear. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who stated that coolant leaked into the transmission, which caused the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 165,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Jun 2, 2018 · Transmission · 171,000 miles · SC

I was driving in an intersection when my gears slipped almost causing a multi-car collision because my car was shifting correctly. I wasn't sure what happened until it happened a couple of more times the same day. I knew immediately that something was wrong with the transmission on my automatic 2007 nissan xterra. I've had no issues with the transmission or car at all until then. The engine is strong and sound. Everything works except now the transmission has failed. I use this vehicle simply to drive to work and state to state highway traveling. I took it to my mechanic after the incidents and noticing a milky brown substance leaking from the radiator. Opened it up and the radiator was completely mixed with transmission fluid. Apparently, the hoses from radiator and transmission are intertwined from the factory manufacture build. This mistake is now going to cost me thousands of dollars and could have potentially costs human lives in a horrific accident! After researching online this seems to have happened to thousands of xterra and frontier owners. These cars need to be recalled or else several highway/safety issues will occur. Imagine driving and suddenly you have no powertrain to redirect your vehicle from oncoming cars on a street or highway. Or in my case when yielding and turning in an intersection where vehicles are traveling towards you and you cannot move. Luckily some cars swerved out of the way. Also, the financial cost of the vehicle is absurd for something that could have been avoided from the manufacturing build altogether.

Filed Mar 7, 2018 · Transmission · NH

Vehicle started showing signs of clutch slipping at 50,000 miles: engine would rev up while clutch pedal was fully out, then you would feel it re-engage completely after a few seconds of whining and spinning. I'm a lifetime clutch driver (nearly 20 years), and every vehicle got in excess of 150,000 miles before needing a new clutch. The second generation xterra manual transmission clutch is utterly junk. Don't ever buy this vehicle in manual, or any nissan. After owning 3 xterras in my time I will never own another nissan again. This premature fail is a manufacturing/oem defect. Please recall!!!

Filed Feb 28, 2018 · Transmission · 20 miles · CT

Vehicle transmission started to slip and now, the transmission does not engage at random times causing power loss while in motion whether driving on highways or city streets. This problem is not worsen or aliviated by turning or breaking. The transmission will eventualy engage after slowing the vehicle down and later accelerating. The vehicle was brought to a trained mechanic who found that the coolant fluid was entering the transmission and oil was mixing with the coolant fluid. A second opinion from another trained mechanic verified the same problem.

Filed Oct 24, 2017 · Engine · 155,534 miles · ME

Transmission slipping, contamination in radiator. Vehicle is now rendered useless until transmission/radiator replacement.

Filed Jun 26, 2017 · Transmission · 104,000 miles · KY

External transmission cooler/radiator assembly leak has caused the transmission on my vehicle to become inoperable. The mixing of the vehicle coolant and the transmission fluid caused the transmission control module/transmission body assembly to malfunction. Thus the vehicle refuses to start as the transmission will not operate. I am now required to replace the radiator and transmission control module at more than $2k out of pocketpin addition to towing and rental vehicle expenses. The vehicle ran fine and no slipping was detected prior to the malfunction even after multiple transmission fluid changes. The vehicle was parked in my garage requiring a tow to a mechanic after running without any issues the previous day. Apparently this is a widespread issue that nissan has known about for years in the xterra, pathfinder, titan, and armada models. Nissan failed to notify vehicle owners of steps to avoid costly repairs by simply using a different noncorrsive automatic transmission fluid and to replace the faulty radiator and external transmission cooler assembly. I am now left in a greater undue hardship thnks to nissan's gross negligence regarding an all too common issue that nissan failed to address with thousands of complaints and documented examples. The extension of the warranty does adequately cover vehicle owners who all seem to fall victim outside of the warranty coverage period that nissan specifically increased due to the faulty equipment and fluids that nissan recommended and even required.

Filed Feb 25, 2017 · Engine, Transmission · 148,000 miles · WA

Radiator leaked into the transmission rendering both defective and in need of replacement. No heat when car not moving, transmission slipping and skipping while driving.

Filed Jan 20, 2017 · Transmission · 105,000 miles · MD

I purchased my xterra back in october of 2008. It hasn't given me any significant problems until now. I have taken it to the same certified nissan dealer/service center for just about all of the scheduled maintenance and so on. Even though this issue was known by nissan, not once in all of my many visits to this service provider, was I warned or notified of this condition or the class action lawsuit that was in progress which has since been closed (october 2016). Also, being that my vehicle is just over the lawsuits agreed upon mileage allowed for any compensation from nissan, I wouldn't qualify to receive anything at this point. So now, here I am with a vehicle, that I planned to keep for many more years, either having to basically junk it, or pay upwards of $7000 in repairs (according to the nissan service center) to replace the transmission and radiator. I am between a rock and a hard place. I feel that I should be compensated in some way for this. If I were notified of this problem around the time that it first came to light, I would have at least had the chance to trade the vehicle in, instead of being stuck here with a vehicle that is essentially worthless. Not only could they have been considerate enough to notify me as 1 of many purchasers of a nissan vehicle with this issue, but you would think that during service visits they would keep an eye out for an impending issue such as this. After research of this problem, I found that my vehicle was displaying symptoms of this condition arising months ago (ie: the heat not remaining warm when in idol position). Also, I just had a oil change 2 weeks prior to having them check this problem out. I do know that this issue was already present then, because I had a couple of instances where it seemed that my transmission was slipping, and not only that, but the engine light was on.

Filed Jan 17, 2017 · Transmission · 91,900 miles · NJ

While my wife and granddaughter were driving our 2006 nissan xterra on a highway, the transmission started to slip, not allowing the ability to maintain the proper safe posted driving speed. My wife had to pull over on the side of the road during heavy traffic, exposing both her, and my granddaughter to a safety hazard. The vehicle had to be towed, while they waited on the side of the road, getting picked up by a family member. Subsequently I learned of a known defect in nissan radiators that fail, and leak into the transmission, causing it to fail. Reportedly, it has been recognized the failures commonly occur around 90,000 miles, or a little over 2000 more miles than when this incident occurred. We were never notified of this potential defect, which should have involved a recall/warranty repair, rather than subjecting me, and my family, to this safety risk. I would assume there are many more vehicles in this same unsafe state today, awaiting the same development that occurred to my family. This matter needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Thanks.