[Dakota Titan]

Hi all,

I have a 2006 Titan Crew Cab 4x4 and I have noticed a huge drop in power. I notice it when going up any grade, but drastically when towing my lightweight 2800lb camper.... The transmission has overheated twice now.... I always tow in 4th and manually shift when needed to 3rd when going up a grade. I can barely maintain 50mph.

Things I have done to try and remedy:

New Radiator - old one had a leak
New Plugs & Wires
Long Tube Headers
Gutted Cats.
Magnaflow Muffler

Transmission Issues? I don't have any slipping issues or odd noises.

Any thoughts would be great!

 

[chadp82]

When was the transmission fluid changed last?

Also, is the engine in general overheating or just the transmission?

Possibly a thermostat issue?

 

[4mula1fan]

Did you tune with UpRev? It's probably lean as hell. It's needed after headers.

 

[Dakota Titan]

@chadp82 - Good question on the transmission fluid, probably not in 3 yrs, but I dont think I have put 15k on it since then...The engine was overheating prior to the radiator change, because it sprung a leak and it did heat up after due to a trapped air bubble, but now that it has been burped, it has not overheated again and has also not overheated when the transmission overheats.

@4mula1fan- Uprev was installed after the header install, but the issue was happening prior to the header install anyhow.

Also the engine is not throwing any codes, but I am not sure if TCU codes are routed through the ECU for diagnosis or not...?!

 

[HRTKD]

An additional transmission cooler can help quite a bit. It didn't solve my transmission temperature problem but it helped.

What worked 100% of the time for me was to slow down to 45 MPH or below, gear down to 3rd and finally, avoid running the engine over 4,000 RPM for an extended period of time.

I was pulling a similar amount of weight as you Dakota. I had a side-by-side ATV on a single axle trailer.

I bought a new to me RV trailer that had a GVWR of 11,000 lbs. No way the Titan could handle that even when completely unloaded. So I bought a 2017 F-350 with the 6.7L diesel engine. It pulls the new trailer better than the Titan did the smaller load.

 

[Dakota Titan]

@HRTKD - I notice you live in CO, we just moved here 2yrs ago, maybe its an elevation thing along with all these steep grades? I just hate the fact I see 1500 pickups pulling loads and passing me right up.... BTW you did exactly what I am looking at doing... New f350 w/ 6.7l but I find it hard to believe the titan cant carry a 2800lb load fairly easily. Will likely pass the titan to by son, but he will also use it to pull a smaller load, so hopefully we can get this fixed...

Maybe a transmission flush and oil cooler install? Would it be worth it to take it to the trans shop and have them scan for codes? again, I dont know if I can pull the codes from my scanner...

 

[timthescarred]

Have you checked your transmission fluid? The early radiators were known to break in the cooler so it mixed trans fluid with antifreeze. I would expect slipping if that's the case, but might still be possible, look for milky or pink looking transmission fluid

 

[chadp82]

I have a camper, probably about 5-6k with all my gear and stuff.

I haven’t had any issues with overheating. When I have had to climb hills, the speeds have generally been 45-50, posted speed. I haven’t pulled it up large inclines at higher speeds due to where I have gone.

Hopefully ou can figure out what is going on and let us know for future reference.

 

[HRTKD]

Maybe a transmission flush and oil cooler install? Would it be worth it to take it to the trans shop and have them scan for codes? again, I dont know if I can pull the codes from my scanner...

Unless your transmission fluid is really old or is no longer showing a light pink color I doubt that a flush will do you any good. In the 100K miles I had my Titan I flushed the fluid twice. Once with AMSOil fluid and then once with Nissan Matic-S. I couldn't tell any difference between the two fluids.

Besides the additional cooler there are two other options:
1. Bypass the radiator. This may help lower transmission fluid temperatures as the fluid is coming back into the transmission. The downside is that in the winter your transmission fluid never gets to operating temperature.
2. Install an aftermarket transmission pan that holds an additional 3 quarts of fluid.

My Titan's transmission didn't overheat for the first few years. It's like it got to a certain age and became fragile. If I had kept my Titan I was going to look into the upgrade from Level 10 Transmission in New Jersey.

I don't think any of the scanners can get transmission codes.

On the bright side, my hunting partner has an '07 Armada that he pulls a 6K trailer with. He drives like a bat out of hell, even with the trailer attached. His transmission was hitting some high temperatures. Things improved greatly once I told him to slow down/gear down and he installed the aftermarket cooler. After 170K miles his transmission doesn't seem to have any issues.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about getting an F-350. Love mine. I thought I would miss my Titan, but the F-350 outshines it in almost every way (except for the stereo).

 

[honda250xtitan]

Hi all,

I have a 2006 Titan Crew Cab 4x4 and I have noticed a huge drop in power. I notice it when going up any grade, but drastically when towing my lightweight 2800lb camper.... The transmission has overheated twice now.... I always tow in 4th and manually shift when needed to 3rd when going up a grade. I can barely maintain 50mph.

Things I have done to try and remedy:

New Radiator - old one had a leak
New Plugs & Wires
Long Tube Headers
Gutted Cats.
Magnaflow Muffler

Transmission Issues? I don't have any slipping issues or odd noises.

Any thoughts would be great!

I had the same issue with my 06. My 2011 also had an overheating problem. Both issues came up post 80k miles. 2011 I "fixed" it with a big azz tru cool transmission cooler, bypassed the OEM tube warmer. Is the truck cutting out? or just sucking in general? Fuel pumps like to go out on model year 2006 titans, mine did, and a bunch of other guys too.

 

[honda250xtitan]

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about getting an F-350. Love mine. I thought I would miss my Titan, but the F-350 outshines it in almost every way (except for the stereo).

x2 on the ford comment. I love my f250. Pulls 18k with ease. Stereo sucks too lol

 

[HRTKD]

Is the truck cutting out? or just sucking in general? Fuel pumps like to go out on model year 2006 titans, mine did, and a bunch of other guys too.

That's a good point. I'm pretty sure the fuel pump on the Armada I mentioned earlier is going out. It only complains when towing over the mountain passes. That's a recent issue.

 

[Dakota Titan]

Good to know about the fuel pump, might be a good idea to do a pressure test and see what that shows. I might as well try a few cheaper things before jumping into the transmission. The last time I checked the transmission fluid, it was nice and red still but will confirm again. Sounds like I have a few things to check now.. I will report back what I find out.
@HRTKD - What kind of sympoms is that armada seeing w/ the fuel pump issues, when going up the passes?

 

[HRTKD]

The Armada owner said that while going up a steep hill the engine started cutting out. He stopped and shut off the engine for 10 minutes and when restarted it worked fine.

 

[honda250xtitan]

The Armada owner said that while going up a steep hill the engine started cutting out. He stopped and shut off the engine for 10 minutes and when restarted it worked fine.

exactly what my 06 did for a few days. slowly got worse and worse.

 

[Dakota Titan]

Well, I cant say I have experienced that issue before thank goodness... Just the lack of power and overheating..

 

[JohnS]

Not sure about the over heating but a few years ago i remember a member having an issue lacking power when towing. It was his fuel pump. Wish i could remember his user name.