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Saturday, May 2, 2015

My defective 2005 Nissan Frontier pickup

Being without two good eyes during spring migration seemed like that was as bad as it could get. But being without transportation is worse. My plan is to get my pickup from the shop early Monday morning, bring it to the house and take out all my stuff. Then I plan to catch a ride to the oasis, even if I have to hitch-hike, and go down there until I'm ready to come to town. Then I'll come with one of my sisters when they come to town. No long term plans here. My husband is going to see if he can find someone to fix the transmission. Seems that year and model Nissan had some kind of manufacturer's defect with radiator coolant leaking into the transmission, causing it to fail. Here's what one site says:

NCCC has received a number of complaints from consumers in regards to sudden, catastrophic transmission failures in 2005-2010 Nissan Pathfinder, Frontier and Xterra vehicles. We requested in February 2012 that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conduct a defect investigation and force a recall. Thus far, the investigation has not been completed.
Consumers report a complete loss of motive power and needing to be towed to a dealership. They report in all instances that the dealer diagnosed the problem as a failed transmission fluid cooler located in the radiator assembly that allowed coolant to mix with and contaminate the automatic transmission fluid, resulting in damaged internal transmission components and a damaged internal transmission computer. The complainants report no warning signs leading up to or just prior to the failures.
Here are some roses from our yard today in Alpine, where I'm so begrudgingly confined.

It'll take more than flowers to cheer me up. It's just impossible to get anything done during the weekend. To make matters worse my husband's pickup has been in the shop since mid-week getting some expensive work done to it. Don't know when he'll get it back either.

UPDATE: Our mechanic said he couldn't detect any coolant in the transmission fluid.


2 comments:

  1. Hi Carolyn, sorry you're experiencing the vehicle issues. I own a Subaru Outback, and it seems like in the last year, I've had two or three things go funny with it--and each time it's been a recall/manufacturer's issue. Luckily for me, I've been able to take it to a dealership, and they've fixed these issues for free. Are you able to take the truck to a dealership? If so, I wonder if they'd fix it for free.

    Also--my sister and I visited CMO a couple of years ago, and we're coming back to Big Bend May 14-20. If you still need a ride out (though I hope you're not stranded that long!), please email me. We'd be happy to pick you up and take you home. I'm at dguzman1964 at gmail. Just let me know.

    Ideally, you'll already be out there!

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    1. Thanks for your concern. I hope you come visit when you're in the area. My vehicle is too old and too many miles for it to get fixed for free. My husband brought me as far as the dirt road starts and my sister picked me up there. I'm using her car until Thursday. My husband bought me a 2011 Ford Ranger with over 100,000 miles on it so I probably shouldn't get too attached to it, but it's transportation. Maybe I'll get lucky with it. As long as my husband keeps me in wheels I can't complain too much.

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