[Gmillsjr]

Good evening folks.. It was a beautiful day here yesterday. I took the Titan and had it washed while out running some errands yesterday. I had the truck parked in the garage after returning home. I was doing some cleaning in the garage when I noticed a few spots of antifreeze on the garage floor. I pulled the skid plate and saw the fitting for the transmission cooler was leaking. This is the line on the side that the lower radiator hose comes out. It was leaking at what appeared to be where the fitting screwed into the radiator. I didn't have my reading glasses on and looking at this fitting close up, it looked like it screwed into the radiator. I grabbed an adjustable and thought that I would try to tighten it up. I turned it a little bit and suddenly it got a little looser. Things didn't seem right but the leaking stopped. I started up the truck and within 20 seconds I heard antifreeze pouring out from under the truck. I shut the truck off to find that antifreeze and tranny fluid was pouring out of the overflow tank. Fast forward to last night. I acquired a new replacement radiator and replaced the old one. I flushed all of the old antifreeze and transmission fluid out of the cooling system and refilled. The transmission is a different story. The fluid is milky and that is why the truck has not moved. I have not driven it since I broke that line in the radiator. I will not drive the truck either. I am totally responsible for this. I am very mechanically inclined but still made the mistake of trying to tighten a fitting that I should have left alone. I really wasn't thinking that the line was a transmission line. Now I have to deal with this. I've read the DIY transmission flush. Is that procedure good enough to and reliable enough to remove all of the old transmission fluid? OR. Should I just have it flat bedded to the Nissan dealership and have it professionally flushed? This truck is an 05 with 84,600 miles on it. I want everything to be alright and not have to worry about the transmission. Thoughts??
Thanks!

 

[Dieselfuelonly]

You may be able to save it but you need to get the coolant/atf mixture out of the transmission. If the radiator you replaced yours with is the one that had the leaky/loose fitting you need to eliminate the AT cooler lines that go into the radiator as it is likely compromised either previously or by your doing when wrenching the fitting.

You can pull the plug get as much fluid out drop the pan clean pan and screen reinstall and fill back u0 with fluid and run a couple days and spill and fill until it comes out clean

 

[jd96]

man there's so much more Atf in there than what will come out from the pan.

please don't drive the truck for a few days like that.

 

[CVTitan05]

Yes, you will have to do an entire flush of all 15-16 quarts inside the transmission. Do NOT drive the truck until you do a full flush, a spill and fill of the pan will only get 4-4.5 quarts out, but youll still have another 10 quarts in there of old stuff. Do some searches on here for "transmission exchange" or "transmission service". Theres a few write ups on how to do it through the cooler line (the one you attempted to tighten up). That should get you up and running again.

I would also recommend doing what was mentioned above, and bypass the cooler that is built into the radiator, as it is a problematic part and is destined to fail eventually (like yours did). Again there are a few different write ups on here on how to do that, as well as how to install an additional external transmission cooler.

 

[Dieselfuelonly]

Regardless of how it is done you need to get the coolant/atf mixture out of the transmission promptly.


Probably would opt for cheaper ATF that is compatible as you may or may not be able to save it. Once you get coolant into AT it does horrid things to the seals and electronics.

Hope your able to save it. Keep us updated

 

[Gmillsjr]

I had the truck hauled on a flatbed truck to the Nissan dealership so there is absolutely 0 miles put on the truck with the issue. I explained to them what happened and they feel confident that the transmission flush will do the job of getting the antifreeze out of the transmission. Especially since the truck has not been driven. It's felt that there is a very limited amount of antifreeze in the transmission fluid since the truck wasn't driven. The cost for a flush is $189.99 and maybe a little more for the extra fluid to push out any contaminates. They told me not to worry. I will be adding an external cooler later this summer.
Another problem occurred on the way to the dealer. My truck was sitting on the flat bed backwards. So.. If you got behind the hauler, you would be facing the front of my truck. The driver called me to inform me that my bed cover came loose and flew up and hit the cad of my truck. It put about 10-12 dings on the top of my truck. Two of the dings have broken paint. I'm now dealing with insurance on that problem. The cover is a locking cover but it wasn't designed to stay on at 65-70 MPH backwards. The cover is laying in the back seat.

 

[Dieselfuelonly]

Wow I am sorry to hear about the damage done to your truck on top of the already gimped transmission.
I would let your insurance handle it with the towing companies insurance, I would think towing company is at fault and their ins. should cover?

What are your plans for the radiator, is it being replaced or just bypassed for now?

Glad to hear you got it on the way to being back on the road and I am sure the dealer will work with you if you have the flush preformed and later down the road you experience problems, at least I would hope they would cut you some sort of break. Have them preform a solid road test when finished and keep your receipts and stay good with the techs and parts guy!

 

[Riverratt]

Keep in mind that running the fluid thru the radiator helps the transmission to warm up.

 

[AZPRO4X]

Keep in mind that running the fluid thru the radiator helps the transmission to warm up.

It's really not needed, I've had mine in -10° temps multiple times & the tranny warmed up within operating temps just fine. Just takes a bit longer & it's a good idea not to Hammer down on a cold tranny regardless.

 

[honda250xtitan]

It's really not needed, I've had mine in -10° temps multiple times & the tranny warmed up within operating temps just fine. Just takes a bit longer & it's a good idea not to Hammer down on a cold tranny regardless.

had a week straight where it wasn't above 0, and the entire month was below 15.....my truck felt like a slug and hated me at every shift lol

 

[Gmillsjr]

Just got the truck home. The dealer actually flushed the transmission twice just to be sure. $279.12 was the grand total. Much cheaper than a transmission. Truck drives great.
Now to deal with the damage caused during the transport of the truck to the dealer. On top of the damage to the roof, my third brake light is also broken and parts of my tonneau cover is broken and missing.
Still. Very happy to have my truck back.