general problems of the 2007 Nissan Xterra - part 1

I took my 2007 Nissan Xterra to the dealer on 08/04/2025 to complete the air bag safety recall. The dealer performed the recall service, but the recall status has not been updated in the system or on the NHTSA website. It still shows as “incomplete. ” because the recall remains listed as open, I am unable to pass my brake and light inspection or complete my vehicle registration with the dmv. I have contacted the dealer and Nissan customer service multiple times, but they have not corrected the recall record or provided a timeline for when it will be updated. The recall has technically been completed, but Nissan’s failure to update the record is preventing my vehicle from being legally inspected and registered. I am requesting NHTSA’s help to ensure the manufacturer updates the recall status properly.

The transmission cooler inside the radiator faulted, causing radiator fluid getting into the transmission damaging the transmission internally.

Coolant from my radiator got into my transmission and damages my transmission and transmission computer in 2015 and I had to have it replaced. Earlier this year 20q8, my transmission went out again with what seems to be the same exact problem. I can't afford to replace the transmission again so I'm stuck now.

Mixing of radiator coolant with transmission fluid because of radiator problems.

Nissan dealer told me that the radiator fluids started to leak into the transmission and now the transmission needs to be replaced and it will cost $8000 dollars to fix.

Takata recall timing chain replacement at 70,000 miles.

While driving, the car started not to shift well when changing gears. I've noticed on the highway and on the city roads. I took it to the dealer within that week and they said it was my transmission and that it will cost over $3000 to fix. When I purchased the car 2 years ago, I also purchased a bumper to bumper warranty that included the transmission. I did not have the paperwork with me so I had to go home to look for it. Once I found it, I called and sent the copy directly to the dealer. They called me the following day saying my warranty covers everything except intermix ingrid which was exactly what it was. I spent extra money to make sure if anything happens to my car I could get it fixed with the warranty. They told me they couldn't do anything and to fix it I must pay the $3000. I had my car for 2 years and it only has 75,000 mikes and now my transmission goes out? I researched what intermix ingrid is and found out I'm not the only one with this problem??! Nissan isn't taking responsibility and instead charging us all $3000+ to get the problem that everyone is having fixed. There should be a recall or the warranty should cover this problem. Nissan should not be making a profit on an issue they are aware and not trying to notify people about.

I brought this car in 2007 and have had electrical issues,and have maintained the car regularly. I was driving recently and only had 91k miles and the transmission just suddenly went without warning.

I noticed my coolant level was low, but no leaks. I took it in and had it checked. The man put a new cap on the radiator, said he pressure tested it and could find no leaks. A few days later, on my way home from work, it barely made it home. After I parked I tried to start it and it wouldn't. My husband researched it and read about radiator coolant in the transmission and sure enough that's what happened. The repairs come out to be more than the vehicle is worth. I feel so ripped off. That was the first expensive vehicle I'd ever purchased. I only had it for 3 years and had just paid off the $18,000. Now I have nothing. Complete devastation since I live paycheck to paycheck. I feel like I just tossed thousands of dollars out the window. My Nissan has 119,000 miles. I always maintained it and thought it would last at least 100,000 more.

I purchased an Nissan Xterra 2007 SUV in 2008. Can has been well maintain. I recently took trip and in my way back car started to feel and sound weird. I just felt different. I went to Nissan to check it. I thought it was the breaks or something else. But I was informed that Xterra had an extended guarantee on the transmission because the coolant was leaking in to the transmission . It will cost me 2,500-3,000 to fix. I was never notified or warned of this defect. Why ???? I have to pay this. I even purchased an insurance up to 60,000miles car is only 76,351. Very very unfair.

Coolant leaked over into transmission. This seems to be a big issue with these vehicles. Now need new transmission and radiator. Yes there was a slight settlement years ago but no recall. . . This should be a recall. I have no money to fix and now cant even get to work to even try to make money to pay for it.

Tried to start car and jumped car with no success. Had to be towed to dealership. Dealership stated that the transmission fluids and radiator fluids had combined and corrupted the computer that starts the car.

Timing chain failure at 76000 miles. Needs to be replaced at cost of $1200.

Our 2007 Nissan Xterra had a leak in the radiator, that cost $500 to fix, but it leaked radiator fluid into the transmission which is going to cost $3,500 to $5,000 to fix.

Driving down freeway, vehicle started to shudder/vibrate, check engine light comes on, can's accelerate, smoke coming from the hood of the vehicle. Pulled the vehicle off the highway. Take it to a mechanic, where he diagnoses the problem as transmission/radiator coolant issues. Hose broke and the fluid from the radiator/transmission mixed causing transmission to stop working. Take to Nissan dealer, told $6000. 00 to fix. I have an extended warranty since I purchased vehicle used (Ford warranty). Told Ford will not cover anything, since the "transmission" wasn't really the problem. It was the coolant lines to the transmission that caused the problem. Just Ford (big business) trying to find a way around paying for something. I paid for the warranty, and the warranty is basically useless. Was told by the dealership where I purchased the vehicle liberty Ford, maple hts. , ohio that it would cover transmission issues. What a scam. I will never purchase another Nissan vehicle nor will I ever purchase an extended warranty. Frustrated Nissan owner in ohio.

Transmission failed from radiator leak. Nissan didn't notify us. Called corporate on different occasions over the last couple years and we keep getting a run around. We've been told the vehicle has to many miles or to old. I asked to speak with manger and was told there decision has been made. Each time the managers were always busy. They vehicle shut down in the middle of traffic on a busy highway.

While driving the vehicle stalled. It turned out to be the radiator leaking coolant into the transmission and fried the transmission. This is apparently a common problem in Nissans. When taken to the local mechanic he said it would cost $5000 plus to fix this problem.

My coolant system has leaked into my transmission system causing malfunction of both. This causes my car to hesitate when accelerating and will eventually cause the transmission to give out completely while in motion. This appears to be a common problem that Nissan is aware of and has not adequately addressed.

Noticed a strawberry colored fluid coming from the radiator overflow reservoir. Checked the radiator and found that the whole cooling system had the same color of fluid. I took my Xterra to a radiator shop and had the cooling system flushed and antifreeze replaced. I was told that what happened was that the transmission cooler had failed and that antifreeze and transmission fluid mixed together and went through the cooling system and transmission. I first got the radiator replaced and cooling system flushed again. I had been hearing a suspicious noise from the transmission and noticed that transmission was starting to slip. All this in williston, nd which was 620 miles from my home. I had to take the train home. We had to rent a car for my wife to use so I could use her Nissan armada to go back to williston and tow it back home. I also had to rent an auto transport trailer. My car is now in the shop getting the transmission rebuilt. I have been told by my mechanic and read several complaints online that the only solution for the transmission is to get it rebuilt or replaced, which can take up to $6000, depending on where you go. This is an ongoing problem and Nissan needs to be held responsible. From what I can see online there has been at least 300 complaints filed, and I am sure there has been other issues that haven't been reported. I also have found that there was a class action lawsuit filed and there was warranty extension granted up to 100,00 miles. I am sure that the NHTSA is also aware that 90% of the complaints are from car owners that have over 100,000 miles on there odometer. I am also sure that Nissan is also aware of this and know that this is a manufacturers defect and are doing what ever is possible to avoid fixing and replacing 100's of transmissions. I am hoping that this matter can be dealt with swiftly and once and for all.

I was driving on the innerloop of the beltway 495 from falls church va, to chevy chase MD after work around 330pm. I was on the middle lane on the american legion bridge when all of a sudden my truck lost power and I had no control or was able to accelerate. The rpm's were moving but the truck barely moved. I put my hazards on and slowly moved to the right shoulder where other cars could have hit me. Nissan's failure to recognize the seriousness of this faulty radiator that has affected the transmissions of both the Xterra's, pathfinders, and frontiers is unacceptable. I was told that since I am over 100,000 and that I am not covered under this warranty for Nissan's issue. I want to make sure you are aware that this could possible lead to a more serious accident with these transmission issues.

On December 17, 2012, 2007 Xterra with 63,200 miles was taken to Nissan dealer in oregon. The complaint: “at 50-55 mph the transmission skips and catches like a bump on smooth surface. ” also asked that dealer check whine from the engine compartment. Service dept recommended “no repairs for radiator/transmission at this time just recommend routine service of transmission fluid as per 60,000 interval… fluids not contaminated. ” engine whine was diagnosed as timing chain issue. Secondary timing chains and tensioners were replaced. Total cost: $1,185. 81. Service personnel said hang on to receipt, Nissan may issue recall on chronic timing chain problem. On may 12, 2015 same vehicle with 88,500 miles, was taken to Nissan dealer in tennessee. Complaint: at speeds between 40-45 mph vehicle vibrates as shifts gears. Also, gas tank fuel-level sensor not functioning. Service dept. Replaced gas tank sensor and diagnosed vibration as insulating shield on driveshaft that had broken loose. Radiator also replaced as preemptive way to avoid Nissan Xterra’s ticking bomb of catastrophic transmission failure. Vehicle picked up after repair and vibration when transmission shifting resumed within half mile of dealership. Returned vehicle to dealer. Diagnosis: must not have been driveshaft problem, must be the transmission is already gone. One week later picked up vehicle with new transmission. Was told transmission fluid looked like chocolate milk – contaminated by failed original radiator. Total bill: $3,178. 99 including a $2,500 copay under “warranty extension” to address chronic defective radiator causing transmission failure.

We bought a 2007 Nissan Xterra in 2010 from autonation in denver. We bought a warranty effective until 8/29/2015 or 120,000 miles. We have been bringing it to autonation for service for the last five years. Apparently there was a class action lawsuit against Nissan regarding a flaw in the radiator that leaks fluid into the transmission. This is not good for the transmission to say the least. Needless to say that is exactly what happened and we were never informed of this problem. If we would have known, we would have fixed the radiator years ago and our car would not be need a new transmission. Our car has been having transmission issues for the last month at 117,000 miles. Nissan is refusing to help with this problem and the transmission is covered under the warranty we purchased.

Saturday morning, April 18, while exiting a parking lot in my wife’s 2007 Xterra, the vehicle inexplicably accelerated in dramatic fashion – momentarily out of control. I rode the brakes, as the car continued forward some 50 – 60 ft in a rapid bucking motion until I was able to put the transmission in neutral and turn off the engine. I waited a couple of minutes, restarted, and the engine resumed its intense rpm. Again I turned off the engine, waited perhaps 10 minutes, and restarted with normal performance. In the immediate aftermath there is a resultant brake squeal, that wasn’t prior apparent, and directly related to the braking associated with the violent acceleration action. The air bag warning light was activated as well.

I was driving my Xterra on the freeway at 5:30 am and suddenly my car quit accelerating, it was as if it went into neutral. I had to immediately pull over onto the side of the highway so that I wouldn't get hit from behind. I turned the engine off and back on and the car got me to my destination. I have since found out that this dangerous issue is common in Xterra's and I am very disappointed that Nissan has not made this issue known to owners. It may well cause a bad accident. Additionally, it is a very costly repair for which Nissan takes little to no responsibility though the defect is theirs.

My Xterra would not accelerate from stop to start, then one late evening it would not start at all. I had it towed to my mechanic who said it was the transmission that needed to be replaced and the transmission was shorting out the fuse to start the car. I took it to another mechanic for a second oppinion, he stated the same and this was a known defect in Xterra, he also said that it will cost thousand of dollars to fix and even with a new transmission it will likely happen again because the electricity will burn out because of the defect. I called Nissan dealership, who stated that they knew about the problem, but was going to help fix it or reimburse me anything. I was stranded with a small toddler at 10pm in the rain and no means of getting home thanks to Nissan's known defect.

This is one of the many transmission issues with 2007 Xterras where the coolant leaks into the transmission and destroys it. The repair cost is 8500 dollars if the 100000 mile extended warranty has been passed. I contacted Nissan and they told me that this is my responsibility despite the hundred of complaints regarding the exact same issue. When driving at any speed, when the Xterra changes gears there is a rough vibration that keeps getting worse the longer it goes for. Had I not learned about this on my own accord this could have resulted in a very bad accident.

My 2007 Nissan Xterra came on with a check engine light and over drive indicator light stayed on. Obdii code for check engine light was p0700 transmission control system tcs malfunction. The transmission would no longer use 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gear. Reverse, neutral, and drive could still be selected but when in drive it was in 4th gear only. Took it to the Nissan dealership and they told me that coolant from the radiator was leaking into the transmission and this was a common issue that the service department had seen before many times now. They informed me that I was 1500 miles over warranty and that I would have to contact Nissan customer care. That is when I discovered that there was a class action lawsuit for this problem against Nissan because this was a known defect for 2005-2010 Xterras and they wouldn't do a recall. Now Nissan is telling me there is nothing they can do for me and they will charge me $7500 for parts and labor to replace the transmission, radiator, lines and fluid. That is outrageous as my 2007 Xterra only values at $8000. I was never notified when I bought this SUV in August of 2012 that it was part of a class action lawsuit and in the 2 years I have owned I have never been notified by Nissan of a settlement that could have alerted me to have this checked sooner before transmission failure happened. I also wouldn't have bought the car if I had known there was a known issue with the radiator leaking into the transmission that Nissan is not willing to recall for. Now I am trapped with a loan on a lemon I cant drive and cant afford to fix.

I have an automatic and noticed that my 07 Nissan Xterra was struggling to change gears. When it did not go away after several months, I took it into local repair shop. They found that the radiator was full of a brown milk shake substance. They determined that transmission fluid had leaked in the radiator and mixed with the antifreeze. The shop replaced the radiator. Flushed the antifreeze system and the transmission fluid. 6 months later, the transmission started stuttering when it was changing gears at 45 - 50 and 65-70. I took the car into a local aamco. Once I advised the service rep what type of car I had, he laughed and said they that had already rebuilt over 30 Xterra transmission. They checked the transmission and advised that it needed to be rebuilt and provided me with an repair estimate of $ 4200. They advised to call Nissan consumer affairs to see what they would offer to do. They also advised of a class action lawsuit against Nissan for this known defect. I have been unable to find any information on this lawsuit.

I purchased a 2007 Nissan Xterra 200 miles away from my home and while driving it home the vehicle transmission stopped working properly. The vehicle drove ok at highway speeds but once I slowed, to in town speeds, the vehicle lost the gears ability to drive the vehicle. If this occurred to me while on the highway I could have been in a much greater danger. This more than likely has occurred to others that own these types of vehicles, putting them in a very unsafe environment. If there was fluid loss or overheating it could lead to a vehicle fire as well. I would like a recall to occur for the transmission/radiator crossover to the 2005-2010 Nissans - Xterra, pathfinder, and frontier.

One day I went to put my driver side window down, as it went down I hear a weird sound. When I went to put the window back up it didn't go up. I ended up going to work and when I got off I tried it again, it went up. Thinking it was just a one time thing a couple days later I put the window down to talk to my husband, didn't go back up again. This time we were about to leave somewhere that would take an hour and a half to get there, therefore, we had to travel with the window down there and back. Resulting in worse gas mileage and constant wind. When we got home my husband had to try to take some of the window apart to get the window back up. After my husband looked at it it seem to be the electrical set up with the buttons. From then to now I haven't dared to put the window down again, especially now that's it's getting cold. It wouldn't be such huge deal to me except I hate leaving the window down when I'm not by my car and the fact that I have a baby now and ask that wind would be blowing on her. Also, 7 months after the window started acting up the passenger driver side door began to not open up from the inside and only somethings from the outside. I've checked the child lock and it is not on. About a week after it started doing that my husband and I got home, husband was in the back with our baby, I tried to open the door and it wouldn't open. Somehow the door got locked and wouldn't unlock, tried to unlock it from driver door unlock button and from pulling on the nob on the actual door itself, it just wouldn't even unlock. Therefore, I had to go to the other side to get our baby out and my husband had to climb over the carseat base to get out the other side. I'd like to know why and how we could get it fixed. . The vehicle isn't very old and shouldn't be acting upn. With those 2 things not working it could cause safety issues.

Radiator and transmission failed while driving on highway, part was settled in class action suite and owner was never made aware of defect and or how it can be fixed until failure on highway with family of four in it on 3/28/2014, the owner is the sole owner of vehice since 2007, owner never received any information at all from Nissan regarding this manufacturer issue until service department at Nissan informed owner of issue and also informed owner of $3,000. 00 repair charge for the faulty parts.

I took my car in for an oil change in April 2014 and they found a milky substance in my radiator and replaced the radiator cleaned the lines and replaced the antifreeze. They also drained the transmission fluid, cleaned the lines and replaced the trans fluid. In March 2015, I noticed the hesitation when the car was switching gears from 45 to 50 mph. I took it to aamco and they advised this is a known defect that Nissan is being sued about. I contacted consumer affiairs with Nissan and filed a case. I took my Nissan to a Nissan dealer and they confirmed it needed a new transmission and radiator at a cost of $7000. They also advised given the mileage that Nissan would not do anything and they were right.

My transmission stopped shifting, I took it to a transmission shop an was told my atf line that runs through an engine coolant chamber in the radiator failed and get radiator fluid in my transmission and that my transmission needs to be replaced/rebuilt. Now I am stranded with out a vehicle when my vehicle only has 85000 miles on it and has had regular maintenance work on it. I am extremely disappointed and I would like to see Nissan step up and be held responsible for an issue that is accruing because of faulty factory parts.

First noticed a stuttering when driving and a clunking sound when moving the shifter from park to reverse to drive in February. Also experienced no heat and over heating in March. Upon repair of thermostat, draining the radiator showed an accumulation of thick grey gunk in the coolant. Thermostat seal itself was melted. Had dealer evaluate clunking sound and they diagnosed it as intermix (the problem identified by the coolant) a manufacturing defect in the radiator/transmission cooling components that allows the coolant to contaminate the transmission fluid causing transmission damage. As a result of class action lawsuit, dealership explained that mileage was over the Nissan warranty limit of 100,000 even though the problem did not manifest until almost 120,000 miles. Recommended fix was in stages - 1) replace radiator and transmission flush $1200++ 2) if problem is not solved, replace transmission $4000++ have talked with Nissan corporate to no avail. Case # is 14308171.

While driving, it would feel/sound like I ran over the speed bumps on the side of the interstate. The vehicle then started jerking into gear. We immediately started looking on the internet for possible problems, the only one that we came up with was the transmission/coolant issue. We took the vehicle to Nissan and was told that it was not under warranty and would cost $6,000 to fix. Since there was no recall we would be buying another faulty transmission/coolant and could happen again. This is not a normal wear and tear problem from what we have been reading, but a faulty design. We called Nissan and made a complaint with them and was told that there was nothing they could do. My vehicle started overheating today 4/7/14 and when we checked the coolant, it is the consistency of a milkshake. If Nissan stood behind their product they would do a recall and get this problem fixed. We are probably going to have to get a loan to get this fixed since we have not been able to save the money up and the problem is getting worse. It's just a shame that when we do get this fixed we are buying another faulty transmission. It's a lose/lose situation. We thought about trading in and getting a newer vehicle but would be upside down on our purchase. Very dissatisfied customer!.