The Jatco re5r05a transmission is used in a number of Nissan and Infinity vehicles, including the 350/370Z cars, 2005+ Frontiers/Xterras and R51 Pathfinders, Armadas, Titans and Infiniti G35's, to name a few. Though specifically, is this transmission reliable on the Frontiers? I have a 4x4 2011 Nissan Frontier SV 5spd w/od auto. I’m just curious how these particular Jatco transmissions are. Since I’ve heard Jatco CVT’s are awful. Scotty said in one of his videos the RWD Jatco transmissions are good, but the FWD are not. Just wanting some of y’all’s opinions & experience with them.
Also adding gearbox aficionado @Dan to the discussion
The JATCO transmissions in the RWD vehicles are fairly good (certainly way better than the ones in the FWD applications). As long as you are on top of the fluid change intervals you should be able to get at least 150,000 miles out of them.
I’m at 147K Miles with my particular one. The only problem I think is the torque converter (the truck shakes at idle and in park) . Then I do feel a bit of times when it shifts though it’s not a *clunk* so hopefully those are decent signs it’s okay.
How often do you change the transmission fluid? What kind of miles do you put on (i.e. mainly highway, city, or mixed?)
I bought it used, one owner and just bought it with 147K miles for 14K. It’s previous owner lived in New Jersey, and then moved down here in my hometown in NC. So I don’t know the history, but I did check the transmission fluid. It was changed. It’s as pink as it can be, I believe the dealership I bought it from changed it.
This transmission was installed on Nissans, Infiniti, Hyundais and even on Subarus as "5EAT".
As @DayWalker said, It is considered to be a good dependable transmission. It's a bit slow, but that's all these old conventional torque converted autos.
But Scotty says he doesn't like it.
I’m at 147K Miles with my particular one. The only problem I think is the torque converter (the truck shakes at idle and in park) . Then I do feel a bit of times when it shifts though it’s not a *clunk* so hopefully those are decent signs it’s okay
It’s not good signs at all.
Prepare for the possibility of swapping in a junkyard unit.
Dang, alright. Yeah it just drives super smooth, and majority of the times it shifts smoothly. It just sometimes jolts a bit when it shifts, I haven’t heard a clunk yet. But the torque converter most likely is causing it to shake at idle.
Check the engine mounts first and replace the fluid.
Who knows how much it can last before needing a real repair.
Those transmissions are not prone or common to have any problems. And the intermix concern was fixed prior to that year. I would have it checked for any reprogram for the vibration otherwise have you replaced the spark plugs with oem plugs
No but I have checked a few spark plugs and they seem okay. I haven’t check the one with the intake manifold where it covers them though. So I’ll make sure I look at those.
Everyone I've known with a Nissan has had tranny problems, be it slipping or just failing. My neighbor has an 08 pathfinder (I believe that's the model, only sure of the year & it being a blazer sized Nissan suv).
At 140k he's had to replace the trans twice.
Dang man that’s rough.
Yup, the poor guy has had nothing but problems once it hit say 80k in terms of both driveline & electrical.
Last summer he was telling me that his fuel pump kept failing not long after replacing it.
So I told him let me know when you are ready to drop the tank & make sure you buy a good pump prior.
He went to the dealer (again) ( got the pump. When I popped out the "old" one, I couldn't believe how fast the plating wore off. I'd say about 60% of what was once gold was now black, although it was mechanical wear I still gave it a cleaning out of curiosity, no improvement.
I made sure the filter was changed as well which hadn't been done before, buttoned it up & it ran fine.
Around November I saw him with the tank out again, sure enough he was swapping it out once more. Although I checked the wiring the last time, went through it again & it was all clean.
It's possible he got a really bad case of a Friday build, either way it has been a money pit.
The brakes were the best part, when I did those prior to the pump they had only been done once before.
His wife is the primary driver & seems to go slow, on the other hand the one time I saw him drive it, Indy 500 just like with his Honda. No issues with the civic yet, it's an 05, auto & aside from body damage all I found was a leak at the exhaust manifold.
My truck was a one owner and it runs pretty solid. He took great care of it. The only problems is with a dull shake at idle (though runs amazing when driving and no shaking), also sometimes I can feel when my truck shifts (it doesn’t clunk but you can feel when it shifts)
That's one thing I miss between my 99 F150 & 03 F250, feeling the shift.
Almost felt like a mild kit was in there when I got on the throttle but given its inability to spin the tires even on wet or sandy pavement, it was probably just knocking on death's door or the broken frame😄
😂😂gotcha