[gabbycanine]

Please help me before I drive my once beloved Xterra off of a cliff.

I drive a 2005 Nissan Xterra Off Road Edition. Alright, so I was driving down the road at about 45 mph (probably 2 months ago), clunk and then limp mode. Stays in 2nd gear no matter how much I rev it and only goes up to a certain speed. The problem stops after shutting off the car and restarting, but happens again after a while. Very hit or miss if it decides to go into limp mode. We haven't been driving it so there shouldn't be any worsening of issues but who knows with this thing.

It is giving the code of P1774, Low Coast Brake Solenoid Valve.
Took it to Nissan after we switched the lines and they flushed the tranny and refilled it, said there was no cross-contamination of fluids that they saw. They drove it and said it didn't happen to them (we even drove it around the lot beforehand) so I hopped into it and about 5 miles down the road... limp mode.

I'm ready to pull my hair out. When idling, the heat stops working also and I heard that is a good sign of tranny problems. Anyone else have this problem? It's going for a second opinion on Monday since we can't fork over $5500 for a rebuild at Nissan. Just need some advice, especially since we are still paying it off after buying it 2 years ago.

 

[gabbycanine]

Also, since we got it 2 years ago, occasionally when you start it it will just crank and crank. Let it sit for a minute or two and try again, usually starts right up. Or if you turn the key to "On" and let it sit for about 30-45 seconds (it will beep three times), it usually fires right up. Sometimes it will just crank and sometimes it will start right up. Could this be related or is this another problem?

 

[dejablue]

Smod strikes again.

 

[gabbycanine]

But if there was no sign of coolant in the tranny, could that still be it? And would a rebuild probably fix the problem?

 

[ms503]

Me too--2005 Xterra

The same this happened to me, except I paid 800.00 last week for a new radiator and transmission flush. Transmission died anyway, and it will be 5K (give or take) to rebuild the transmission, though not at the dealer. I'm trying to decide whether it's worth fixing or not as I have 178,000 miles on the car.

 

[gabbycanine]

We find out tomorrow what the exact diagnosis is... took it to Nissan and shelled out $400 for a flush for it to keep having this problem. Come to find out, they didn't even look at the tranny fluid (hooked up to a flush overnight) and didn't even look at the radiator... some experts!!! And they wanted 5K to rebuild the tranny. So we are trying a local transmission shop. Hope it works out better!

 

[ms503]

We find out tomorrow what the exact diagnosis is... took it to Nissan and shelled out $400 for a flush for it to keep having this problem. Come to find out, they didn't even look at the tranny fluid (hooked up to a flush overnight) and didn't even look at the radiator... some experts!!! And they wanted 5K to rebuild the tranny. So we are trying a local transmission shop. Hope it works out better!

We are in the same boat, it looks like. I can get a remanufactured installed by a local mechanic for 5K +/-. Or I can get a rebuild for about the same. I have been advised on this forum to not do the rebuild, and that remanufactured is better since it comes from Nissan. Now I will call the dealer to find out what they offer. It looks like it costs about 5K no matter how it's done, if we combine our experiences.

 

[packpride85]

Once you have the SMOD condition, no point in doing a flush the tranny is toast.

 

[gabbycanine]

Just an update to everyone who may have this problem...

The transmission shop said it was mainly the clutch plate that went bad and we caught it early enough that it didn't do a whole lot of damage to the transmission. They took apart the tranny and noticed metal inside it so they rebuilt the valve body and replaced all worn and torn parts in the rest of it. Obviously replaced the clutch plate since it was toast. They also offered to replace the radiator, which was an extra $700 but it gave us a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty so we did it. So with the valve body, clutch plate, radiator, and a basically rebuilt tranny, we are paying about $4800. They are still working on it, but they have been so awesome in the whole process so I have no doubts that they will get it up and running again. They said they fix at least one Xterra a month with this problem. Still shocked Nissan didn't even look at the radiator when we took it in, just flushed it and sent us on our way.

 

[dejablue]

Just an update to everyone who may have this problem...

The transmission shop said it was mainly the clutch plate that went bad and we caught it early enough that it didn't do a whole lot of damage to the transmission. They took apart the tranny and noticed metal inside it so they rebuilt the valve body and replaced all worn and torn parts in the rest of it. Obviously replaced the clutch plate since it was toast. They also offered to replace the radiator, which was an extra $700 but it gave us a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty so we did it. So with the valve body, clutch plate, radiator, and a basically rebuilt tranny, we are paying about $4800. They are still working on it, but they have been so awesome in the whole process so I have no doubts that they will get it up and running again. They said they fix at least one Xterra a month with this problem. Still shocked Nissan didn't even look at the radiator when we took it in, just flushed it and sent us on our way.

Dont think this going to work !!

 

[gabbycanine]

Why would it not work?

 

[dejablue]

Please let us know in 6 months that you are still Happy with the rebuild !!!

 

[gabbycanine]

I was just curious how it wasn't going to work.... I didn't expect such a snarky remark from the administrator. I wasn't being rude so not sure why you are.

 

[dejablue]

I was just curious how it wasn't going to work.... I didn't expect such a snarky remark from the administrator. I wasn't being rude so not sure why you are.

I wasn't trying to snarky i just want to know if your happy with the rebuild in 6 months.

 

[shaqattack]

I wasn't trying to snarky I just want to know if your happy with the rebuild in 6 months.

I get a rebuild done on my 05 pathfinder. But getting the p1774 fault code in 4 months (20k). tranny didnt want to go in reverse like twice before the code appeared.

 

[Rmwheeler300zx]

In terms of your experience with Nissan technicians how to dealership, I'm not surprised.

Last time I went to Nissan dealerships service department, I ended up having a meeting with the service manager to point out all the errors and issues that his technicians missed every time they would say my vehicle was in good condition no problems. I didn't even get halfway through the vehicle on showing the manager a proper courtesy inspection walk around, before the manager told me to stop. He was so embarrassed about his service department missing so many issues but he couldn't even finish the walk around with me. In fact after I pointed all this stuff out to him and told him how damaging the poor quality work was for his services reputation, there was only one thing he was able to think of in replying to me. He told me: I'm not even going to try and offer you any services to try and fix these issues because I know you have absolutely no confidence in my staff or my service department anymore, all I can tell you is I'm going to have a major meeting in discussion with my service department about all these issues in their poor quality.

With the whole issue of rebuilt vs. Remanufactured vs. Repaired. Like with anything else the key factor is how good of a job was done who was doing the work. The majority of shops especially dealerships, are not going to sit there and actually tear apart a transmission and rebuild it for you. They are just going to put in a remanufactured and rebuilt unit, then send yours off to a specialist to be rebuilt and remanufactured so they could sell it to someone else.

It comes down to shop economics. By just putting in a remanufactured unit, they can free up both the technician in the service bay a lot quicker to bring in more work and make more money. We're if they actually have to take time to tear the whole transmission down, measure in spec out all the parts, replace them overhaul them, and then reassemble them. That's going to be a lot less money potential for them to make on that bay and technician.