rovision

Hi,
My wife is driving a Pathfinder '95 SE/auto and lost the reverse gear. When engaged in R, it feels/acts like N.
Any ideas what the cause may be? Thanks for your help.

 

matto

check the fluid if it is ok,level,colour, i hear the reverse is the first bit of the box to go when it is going to stop working, sorry did it just stop reversing or has it been going for a while does it shift into other gears ok? i dont know if a filter and oil will fix or if its too far gone somebody else may help, i just had the o/d shudder on mine when it locked up and new fluid fixed that.

rovision

Car has like 145k, no major problems since we've got it about 6 years ago. And yes, this thing happened suddenly yesterday. Other gears are fine so far. From some search I've found some references about an "inhibitor switch/rellay" that is in connection to the box, or about "linkage".

JEL

I have the same exact vehicle, same exact problem 1 year ago (90k miles). I called around no one would even attempt to fix it, everyone said it was time for a new tranny. I got prices ranging from $2k - $4.5k the latter from a dealer's service dept. Went for the $2200 fix with one year/12k mile warranty from a local shop (not one of the national chains) and so far so good. The mechanic told me that this was common with Pathys, something to do with the cooler.

rovision

I went with a replacement too.
After some more reading I found out that due to the way the trans is built, wet clutches, in time some inner cooling fluid channels get clogged and that results in these type of problems. Sounds like a replacement is better then a rebuild.
I was quoted $1,800 for a new trans, went for a used one for $1,100 though with a local shop/mechanic we know.
So, whoever has these models, a timely A/T fluid replacement is more than needed. Didn't check the user manual if this is mentioned there too.

 

Animal

In case you can't find it, the recommendation for replacing the fluid is every 30K miles. If it is brown in color before then, don't wait.
Also, it has been recommended in a number of posts to replace the A/T cooler with an after market one. The factory one, it seems, gets clogged easily.

rovision

Thanks very much everybody for your time and help.

Hua

Exactly what I didn't want to read. Mine is also a 95 SE automatic, 106k miles, and my reverse just went out tonight as well.

ehidle

My parents have a 95 XE (same thing) that went out a couple of weeks ago. Good info about the cooler getting clogged. No point in replacing the tranny if the cooler is going to kill it again.

bhodges

This happened on my 95 too. Had 220k on the original trans though.

 

ehidle

Yeah theirs has 195k on it, so I'm kinda thankful that it lasted so long. Yay for regular maintenance! Got a quote for $1900 to rebuild the tranny and replace the torque converter. I'm probably going to do it even though the truck isn't worth a whole lot more than that. The body is immaculate and it seems a waste to get rid of it

2001pathy_SE

what year pathfinders was the reverse gear a problem for ??

stsmith

I had the same problem; reverse went out but it drove and shifted fine in the forward gears. While you may luck out, prepare yourself to spend major $$$ on a high-mileage vehicle. Pressure in the Trans was low due to interior "hard parts" wearing out after 170K... and reverse is just the first to go. I had problems with something called the drum and also had to get a rebuilt front pump for the trans. cost to date with parts included is $2100 - had it back one day and now i can't pull out in D, just D1 and D2. WHile I'm sure the trans guy I'm using will keep after it until it's fixed, parts are hard to find below are some places you can find trans parts for your mechanic - you will probably need them :

"There are 3 people I use for parts. Transtar, Axiom, and Transtec. All
are on line but all of them stopped giving pricing online. you have to
call. Your RE4R01A is a tough tranny to work on. but replacing the pump
is an easy job. don't bother with a used tranny pump because that is a
common part to go bad. You could also try Phoenix trannys. they have alot
of kits, but I just have never used them.:"

that info was provided by a helpful guy on another forum. You can get phone numbers by Googling the company names.

The dealer in Valdosta Ga quoted me $3150 for a Nissan certified rebuilt trans installed with a 12 mo/12K mi Warranty. They will not open them up on an older vehicle, but they will do a pressure check which might be useful. If you were to ask me, I would say to get quotes from 3 or 4 dealers and go with the cheapest (they will vary by as much as $700-$800 dollars). I've been catching rides and walking for 3 weeks with no end in sight.

Steve

ps it's still better than 5 years of $400/month on new car payments, so keep it in perspective and don't jump in front of a bus!

hollywood96

My reverse just went out on my 94 Pathy SE 4x4 today. Good info! I will check into it.

hollywood96

While changing the tranny fluid I noticed a lot of metal shavings in the pan. I changed the the fluid and the filter. After all that, the transmission does shift a lot better but Reverse is still not working. It feels like it wants to go into gear but never does. What is my next step or what other options do I have? Thanks