Cmetilt

Long story short..posted in a different thread..first post, so was in the wrong area...

2007 Maxima w/ 116K miles...radiator blew, possibly ruining the transmission. Thought it was the head gasket as the fluid leaking looked milky. Had the radiator replaced, but transmission seems to be jumping at higher speeds. When the check engine light came on and temp gauge went up, I limped it up the street to my driveway (drove less than 2mph about 200ft).

Couple of questions, as I'm no auto mechanic and know little when it comes to cars...

Could the loss of coolant ruin the transmission that quickly?
Will the radiator failure void the transmission warranty?
Do I have a transmission problem at all?
What fault code should the transmission log produce if it is seeing problems?
Oh and...if I have to replace it, What is the general cost to do so?

Thank you in advance.

twentyeggs

OK, your radiator has a place for transmission fluid to cool off while it circles outside the transmission housing. however this has nothing to do with your overheating problem. even though you are losing all your water, doesn't mean your transmission is bad. However again, if your running your car with no water the transmission will have hot fluid circulating back. This is not good however AGAIN, your car will melt its engine much sooner than you will destroy your tranny.

What it sounds like is you have a cracked head gasket. What fluid are you talking about being milky? If the oil is milky than you have a cracked head gasket. Where is your radiator leaking from? is there a crack or is it leaking from the over flow reservoir? if your radiator is pushing all its water into the overflow than you either have a stuck thermostat or you have a cracked head gasket. You said your car jumps at higher speed, does it do this normally, or does it happen when your car overheats? is it while the gears are shifting or does it happen irregardless of shifting? I don't know if the maxima has this but some cars will go into "panic mode" "limp mode" "preservation mode" ect.. when the engine or transmission temp gets too high. this could be the computer causing your car to jump, or the fluid is so hot it has too little viscous properties thus allowing friction to ensue. basically, this info is too vague. your going to need to expand on this and answer my questions.

Thaboywonder6588

CVT's Are covered under the extended powertrain warranty as long as it's under 120k

Cmetilt

I'm not sure. But the shop who replaced my radiator said it was coolant and transmission fluid

The tech said a P1217 code for over engine temp was registered and found the radiator "exploded." The exact words from my receipt "Found radiator exploded. need to replace radiator, thermostat and gasket, and flush system. Found transmission fluid mixing in coolant causing milky looking coolant."

No..this was after I picked it up from getting the radiator repaired. It's at higher speeds.

Cmetilt

The Nissan service guy I spoke too today said Nissan could deny warranty if they determine the radiator blew causing the transmission to fail.

jasoneon

It's possible that the antifreeze and transmission fluid got mixed together if the inside of the radiator came apart before it started leaking. If that's the case you were pumping antifreeze into the transmission and transmission fluid into the engine. Not good but not the end of the world either. I would think if that happened a decent shop would have gone ahead and flushed the engine and transmission, but sometimes I think people should do a lot of stuff that they don't. If the engine isn't overheating now, you're not losing any coolant or building up pressure in the cooling system I'd say the engine is probably fine. I'd check with whoever you had replace the radiator and make sure they flushed the engine and transmission and put the correct fluids back in. With that many miles a new thermostat wouldn't be a bad idea to go ahead and install as well. As far as what codes to look for is the transmission is going bad, I have no clue. Replacing the transmission I imagine would be expensive though. I would guess a used transmission might run $1,000 and a new one probably $3,000 or more. Just my 2 cents,

Jason