Nissan Frontier Replace Radiator 2005 Pathfinder Xterra

Josh takes you step by step through the process of Replacing the Radiator on a 2005 Nissan Frontier. These instructions will generally be the same for most modern vehicles but they are specific to the 2005 Frontier and surrounding years.
Tools:
Socket set w/ extensions
Needle nose pliers
Flat screwdriver
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[@craig2510]

Nice concise instructional video. I'm waiting on my Pathfinder radiator to be delivered and watching this ahead of time will save me a headache or three. Thank you kindly.

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Craig you’re welcome, good luck!

[@toploadtele]

You made dealing with those stupid brackets look easy... I wrestled with mine for an hour when re-installing the new radiator!

[@Hallie95b]

Just did mine today following this. '05 Xterra. Excellent 💯

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

I'm glad it helped!

[@Hallie95b]

I had the video up as I worked. The water pump detail (looks crooked) when putting the fan back on was a big save b/c it would have caused unnecessary issues thinking there was a problem when it’s ok b/c it realigns itself 👍🏽 Excellent work 💯

[@dmann1209]

Solid replacement video and advice. The video was clear and the narration was completely understandable.

[@salt7379]

Replacing mine today in my 05 Pathfinder.. thanks for the video!

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Best of luck!

[@BigWilk7]

Outstanding video! Replaced my radiator on my 05 Frontier today following this video. Thanks!

[@OPMDS1]

This is by far the best video out there showing how to replace the radiator in one of these vehicles. I need to replace the one in my XTerra as there are cracks along the top seam. Do you think these directions will be generally the same of an 03 XTerra? Also where did you buy it from and for how much? Has it worked well? And how difficult was it at first?

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Hi Matthew! Without having an Xterra in front of me I can't say, but on most vehicles radiators are usually a pretty similar procedure. The differences are what you have to remove to get to the radiator. As long as there are no permanent frame elements that crossover the top of the radiator in the engine bay (in which case you might have to go thru the front via bumper) then taking off the cooling fan(s) usually makes enough room. I got the radiator from rockauto I think for around $100. Its still working! This job is medium difficulty, made easier by having someone to help lift radiators in and out. good luck!

[@OPMDS1]

Budget Mechanic Thanks for the information!! You got yourself a new subscriber haha

[@Hallie95b]

Just did '05 Xterra today 13Sept18 & it's exactly like this.💯

[@keving52002]

Does anyone know if an aftermarket radiator will stop the milkshake of death?

[@wednesdaywhite4511]

Hey thanks for the video. I have a 2005 pathfinder with a yd25 engine because I have 4wd it has an air bag sensor at the front which is meant to be disarmed. Do I need to disconnect the actual air bags or would just disconnecting the battery be okay?

[@Drew-zw5vj]

Excellent video, thank you

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Glad you liked it, I hope it helped!

[@dntlss]

Stop leak,lol, I'm right there with you Josh,if you've been stabbed bad you need to go to the hospital, there is no band aid that will help,if you have a radiator thats leaking the best thing is to replace it,trying to get a few more miles out of the radiator? sure no problem but start looking for a new one or a good used one, i work with this guy and he has a really bad power steering leak in his truck,its one of the hoses i believe and i even offered to help but he doesn't wanna mess with,Ive been thinking about trying to catch what spills every day and reselling it, its that bad,lol, BTW, thank you much for the video dude,i gotta tackle this soon and this has been really helpful

[@_BAD_MERC_]

I manage a major retail auto parts store. Several times a week I get people that want stop leak for a leaking composite tank radiator. These age and deteriorate from the inside and just cannot be sealed with snake oil. People get aggravated and storm out when I try to explain the unfortunate truth about these claims. Of course they believe I just want to sell them a radiator. I'd rather lay my head down with a clear conscience and lose a customer than sell garbage and take your money. My cousin learned the hard way on with 4 liter Wrangler. He kept adding stop leak until it just overheated when he drove it. I ended up replacing his radiator and water pump, bypass pipe, thermostat, fan clutch, tensioner and belt, and flushing the heater core of that nasty syrup. Now he's good for another 100K miles! Folks - just fix it right.

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Sometimes “budget” means doing it right so you don’t create more expensive problems!

[@tmz90]

Do the new radiators fix the transmission/radiator cross contamination?

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Yes that should be the only place the two could mix...

[@Winefj]

Big help. thank you so much!

[@alexrangel1490]

Thank you bubba helped me out so much

[@renedelafuente123]

Great job, thanks for the video.

[@logyfullington]

Thank you

[@ram457moreno]

I know I’m sure you heard about these radiators that sometimes can leak into your transmission fluid how do you know if you have external cooler on these vehicles I see one in front of my radiator is that one of them so I don’t have to worry about my radiator leaking into my transmission fluid if it ever gets out internally

[@Kandeecee45]

What would make my fan super loud after replacing radiator? It's loud when I start it

[@wandajames6234]

No need to remove the fan or disconnect the airflow duct at the air filter because you are removing the air filter cover anyway-- it comes out all in one piece.

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Good idea

[@scottharrison3391]

Hello, I live in Honolulu, own a 2007 Xterra SE and want to replace my radiator, if I buy the radiator can you install it?

[@ram457moreno]

Question... these 2007 Pathfinder had an issue with radiator cooling leaking into the transmission .... not sure if mine is the same . By replacing it with a new radiator do you think this will fix my problem and further cases of preventing it from leaking into the transmissions . Not saying it has leak in to my transmission . I only see it leaking from the seam of The radiator.

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Ram M457 I’m not familiar with that particular issue but I’d have to look at it to diagnose accurately. If you can find fluid leaking out anywhere from the radiator though I would definitely replace. In my experience none of the stop leak products you can buy are good long term fixes.

[@TheMttaco]

I have an 06 Xterra, and I'm purchasing a CSF radiator, do I need a separate transmission cooler?

[@001whardi]

Good job !

[@brockjones1634]

thanks good job

[@francisco0400]

Great, thanks for show me 🖐🖐🖐

[@hidenwatch7592]

about how long should this take a beginner?

[@rafaelcastillo9165]

How much cost for mechanic??

[@jimfusco7546]

nice job, what name brand radiator did you get?

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Sorry for the late reply, I’m not actually sure what I used for this one. I have found parts houses that I trust and just get multiple different brands

[@Sroor90010]

I didnt find condenser fan between my radiator and the clutch fan even cant find the plug for it its pathfinder 2007?

[@Sroor90010]

I bought it used so i dont know about this

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Sroor9001 I'm not sure what you're looking at then. Do you not have two electric fans between the radiator and engine?

[@Sroor90010]

@@BudgetMechanicHawaii no i dont have only clutch fan thinking of retrofit a fan with a relay to work with ac on I have one 16 inch drale fan ill try to see if i can install this temporary untill i figure where is the connector or wiring cause iam lost on this May be he cut it or Did something i dont know this is bad even he didnt tell me and ac was cool and who checked car ac is ok and temp gauge is ok hope i can find a way to hang this fan on radiator

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Sroor9001 yeah if it’s been customized I would definitely try and find out what they did if you can. Good luck!

[@randy1ization]

ALSO MOST NEW RADIATORS DONT COME WITH THE CAP

[@Normanb15]

Is this similar for 2009?

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Not exactly sure. If you look up the engines for the two different years you could see if they’re the same.

[@jeramygrajiola1544]

Those damn oil lines and transmission lines fuck up my transmission . Now I gotta replace everything

[@tragan1476]

So I watched to see if there was a trick with that fan shroud without having to take the clutch fan off....guess not thanks for the video tho

[@Sroor90010]

Too much work to replace radiator omg

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

You can do it!

[@randy1ization]

if those are original hoses REPLACE THEM

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

texas tough thanks for the comment and agreed! As I mention in the video this is a great time to replace your hoses as well!

[@NKaumans]

Yeah one last step, bypass the transmission cooler as it's a ticking time bomb for your transmission

[@rickbarendregt956]

Can you explain why it is a ticking time bomb please

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

I believe he talking about they can leak when they get older, and you lose your transmission fluid which can ruin your transmission if you don’t catch it in time. Bypassing can be a problem however if you do a lot of mountainous driving, towing, or live in a very hot climate. Without it the transmission can get too hot. Do your research before bypassing

[@ClownCarCoup]

@@BudgetMechanicHawaii Wait! Won't a new radiator fix the issue that requires the bypass work-around? The radiators in the 2005 Frontier (and other years/models) had a high failure rate causing cross-contamination and transmission failure and therefore a bypass could be used to avoid the issue without replacing radiator. I would expect the new radiator (OEM?) will work as designed w/o this failure rate. Found this helpful comment on the ClubFrontier.org site posted by smj99smj regarding this topic. #5 • Jan 8, 2017 The issue was caused by a failure of a seal in the radiator's integral cooler; it's not a corrosion issue as some have suggested. When the seal fails, the engine coolant and transmission fluid can cross-contaminate. This issue occurs on 2005 though 2010 Frontiers/Xterras/Pathfinders with the VQ40DE engine with the original, Calsonic radiator. Most of the failures have occurred on 05-07 models, but there have been failures on later models, including 09-10 model years. That said, any radiator with an integral oil cooler (or coolers, as some vehicles have integral transmission fluid AND engine oil coolers) has the "potential" to experience a cooler failure, but they are, on the whole, very reliable and have been used for decades. It was just these particular Calsonic radiators had a high rate of cooler failures. Calsonic, as a company, has been a long-time manufacturer of parts for Nissan, including exhaust systems, air conditioning systems and even dashboards. Nissan bought out the company in the mid-2000's, which, ironically, is when the cooler problems started in the Frontiers/Xterras/Pathfinders and also when the problems with cracked, lower radiator tanks started in the Titans/Armadas. There are several options to avoid the issue. The cheapest is to simply bypass the radiator's integral cooler and rely only on the factory installed, auxiliary tans cooler. This method usually does a pretty good job at cooling the fluid and there is really no need to add an additional cooler, however, it does eliminate the radiator's integral cooler's ability to warm the transmission fluid (transmission fluid operates ideally around 175-200 degrees F.) as well as provide the ability for additional cooling, if needed. Liquid to liquid coolers are far more efficient than liquid to air coolers. Also, those who have done the bypass method and measured their trans fluid temperatures have reported readings around 155-165 degrees F. under "normal driving conditions." While this is slightly below the "ideal" range, it is still okay, however, you do not want to run transmission fluid consistently at temperatures below 150 degrees F. The integral cooler will warm the fluid more quickly and better maintain it in the ideal range. The other options include radiator replacement. The genuine Nissan radiator is around $550 ($450 online) and they have a value line option for $350, which is still a lot for a plastic tanked radiator. Most of the aftermarket, plastic tanked radiators are made in China, including the popular Spectra Premium, but they are, on the whole, well-constructed and can be had in the $100 range. For the same $350 that you could spend on a Nissan value line radiator, you can get an all-aluminum, CSF radiator from Stillen Motorsports that will bolt right in. Any option is better than gambling on whether the factory radiator will fail and ruin the transmission or not.

[@truearmpitfarts]

So did you add transmission fluid to it?

[@ram457moreno]

Hi I have a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder and the radiator is leaking from the seal on the bottom of the radiator so I have to replace it my question is would you remove the radiator lines did you re-add fluid transmission fluid and had a kid yourself since it's sealed ?

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Ram M457 you will need to pull the transmission lines off the radiator yes. Usually not much comes out of them, especially if you can put some caps or plastic wrap over them. So I usually don't have to add transmission fluid.

[@BudgetMechanicHawaii]

Ram M457 I always like to see the part in person before I buy it but that’s just me.:)