[E_ss]

Hello!

I am looking to buy a used 2008 Frontier with the 4.0 v6 and 6 speed manual transmission. I have read a lot about the radiator leak and transmission failure on these trucks but they all seem to be restricted to the 5 speed automatic trans, and I have found no source that can confirm this. Does anybody know for sure if the manual transmission is not prone to this failure, or have had better reliability with the manual transmission?

Thank you!

 

[rogoman]

The problem is restricted to only vehicles with an A/T; nothing to do with an M/T. An A/T uses a cooler that's integrated into the radiator but separated from the coolant portion; two separate compartments. What happens with those failures is there is a breach between the two compartments so coolant gets into the A/T cooler; ends up getting into the transmission resulting in failure of the unit.
So to summarize, the manual transmission does not use an external cooler.

 

[E_ss]

Awesome thanks for the reply! Do you have any other opinions about this year of Frontier? Apart from the trans issue everything else seems good, but as a car is no small chunk of change, I'm just trying to get as much info as possible?

 

[rogoman]

Awesome thanks for the reply! Do you have any other opinions about this year of Frontier? Apart from the trans issue everything else seems good, but as a car is no small chunk of change, I'm just trying to get as much info as possible?

There was a very good posting by SMJ999SMJ about this problem:

2006 Pathfinder radiator/transmission cooler failure

Would installing a new radiator prevent the radiator/transmission cooler failure that occurs in 2005 to 2009 Pathfinders? I am getting close to the end of the extended warranty coverage that Nissan offers and would like to forestall a very expensive problem. Does anyone know which radiators, if...

www.nissanforums.com

 

[smj999smj]

If it has the V6 and a manual trans, there's a good chance it has the DANA M226 rear axle. It's a good axle, but check for oil leaking at the axle seals (it'll usually show on the brake backing plates if it's a significant leak). The bearing would fail on some and cause the seal to leak, requiring the axle(s) to be removed and the bearing pressed off and on and new seals. If you do it per the TSB, Nissan says to replace the entire axle assembly, which is expensive and not necessary unless there is damage to the axle.
2008 was also in the years that some had issues with the upper timing chains due to the links being improperly stamped by worn tooling. Listen for a "whining noise" that increases with engine RPM that sounds like a bad P/S pump. If it's whining, the front of the engine will need to come apart and the upper timing chains and tensioner faces (at minimum) will need to be replaced, which is a pretty big job. It didn't happen to all of the engines and not at any particular mileage, but something to be aware of.