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davidjbrady Senior Member


Joined: May 29 2009
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| Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 8:26pm | IP Logged
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I have heard about the radiator tank based transmission cooler springing leaks and ruining the tranny, anyone know of a good aftermarket external cooler to buy and what size?
__________________ 08 Frontier CC, 4X4, LWB
15 Altima S
Sacramento, CA
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lakota Moderator Group

Nissan Frontier Forums Moderator
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| Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 9:14pm | IP Logged
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..
First look for a spot where it can be fit in. Then buy one that will fit.
It does not have to be in front of the radiator. You can mount one under the bed in the back away from the muffler. If the oil runs over 220 degress when pulling a heavy load put a small 12 volt fan on it. The cooler the oil is the longer the additives in it lasts.
Have a good one.. Don S..
__________________ PLEASE >>> A SIG similar to mine can be VERY HELPFUL to all the members!
'99 4x4 3.3 Frontier Se KC Auto, 48,000 miles
'76 4x4 401 Wagoneer QT
'04 FWD 1.8 Sentra '08 FWD 2.4 Camry LE
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frontierguy Senior Member

Master Mechanic
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| Posted: Jun 27 2010 at 7:35pm | IP Logged
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The bigger the better. Just remember to completely take the existing cooler out of the loop. Should be plenty of room in front of the condensor.
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'10 Altima SL
Traded 08 Frontier for 16 Frontier SV CC Long box, quite an upgrade. I do miss the 6 speed and Dynomax ex.
Nissan Technician 25 + years
2011 John Deere X720SE
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davidjbrady Senior Member


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| Posted: Jun 28 2010 at 8:06am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the tips, also another question, would it be better to replace the radiator (with an aftermarket one of better quality with the internal AT cooler) as opposed to getting an aftermarket AT cooler?
The problem seems to be the OEM radiator, if I take that out of the equation, would that work?
__________________ 08 Frontier CC, 4X4, LWB
15 Altima S
Sacramento, CA
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Peninsula2010 Groupie

Joined: Jun 18 2010
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| Posted: Jun 28 2010 at 10:43am | IP Logged
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A few days after I bought my 2008 crew cab Frontier whilst driving to Spokane, I noticed a smell coming into the cabin.
Being a mechanic for over 18 years I knew it was an oil smell of some sort. When the following morning I opened the hood and got down under the car ,the engine cradle was thoroughly wet with ATF oil.
I traced the leak to the cooler up on the core support and immediatley rang the dealer from where I bought it from. They even said the car was serviced with oil and filter changed, I knew by looking a the filter it had not been changed and if it had the tech should have noticed the leak?
So I let them have it on the phone and told them that if anything happens to the tranny in the future I wanted it put on record that there was a leak in the cooler and this may cause problems later???
They fitted a new cooler and doubled new hose clips on the fittings.
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kcidmil Moderator Group

HI! My name is Ben and I have Car ADD.
Joined: May 02 2005
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| Posted: Jun 28 2010 at 11:22am | IP Logged
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wow they were so cheap as to use the old line and just double the clamps on there. I find it funny they would short cut that especially when it can give them a little extra $$$$
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davidjbrady Senior Member


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| Posted: Jul 07 2010 at 12:40pm | IP Logged
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I thought about this some more and maybe after all, an external tranny cooler will not solve the problem, it will save the tranny from coolant contamination. The way I see it, suppose I go ahead and put in an external cooler. Then say many miles later, the coolant does get into the in radiator tranny cooler, next thing you know I will have coolant pouring out of the tranny cooler lines on the radiator, just like a big water leak, right? I am having trouble locating an after market radiator that is an upgrade to the OEM model. My guess is that Nissan uses the same radiator for the stick shift models, correct? Maybe they make some threadded screws to plug into the radiator transmission lines? This would then stop the leak, but would require periodic unscrewing to ensure the AT coolant tank is not leaking. At least this fix will be well under $500 as compared to say $6000 tranny reubuild?
__________________ 08 Frontier CC, 4X4, LWB
15 Altima S
Sacramento, CA
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m8kitrun Newbie

Joined: Jun 29 2010
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| Posted: Jul 10 2010 at 1:55am | IP Logged
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as a retail auto parts salesman, if you are looking for an aftermarket replacement that is going to be better quality than oem, you are wasting your time. the only one that i would recommend as far as high performance or severe duty would have to be becool radiators, but you will need a few shiny pennies to purchase one. in my experience, everything else i have dealt with has been a cheaply manufactured overseas product.
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Jimmy frontier Newbie

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| Posted: Aug 12 2010 at 8:25pm | IP Logged
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My 2008 frontier i just bought 2 weeks ago is in the shop right now getting a new radiator, new transmission, due to the transmission cooler leaking inside the radiator.
The dealer said he has seen this happen before, i asked him how many? He said they only had 2 frontiers with this problem before, sounds like it's a pretty common occurence. I sold my 2002 frontier 3.3 v-6 recently, with 118k miles, no radiator problems at all. Hmmmmmm?
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davidjbrady Senior Member


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| Posted: Aug 12 2010 at 8:27pm | IP Logged
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Correct me if I am wrong my 08 Frontier CC 4X4 AT has one internal AT cooler and 1 external AT cooler.
__________________ 08 Frontier CC, 4X4, LWB
15 Altima S
Sacramento, CA
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