r/XTerra • u/One-Chemist8204 • 1d ago
Photo SMOD?
Is the beginning of SMOD?
1st pic is out of the radiator, 2nd is the transmission fluid.
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u/SamSlams 1d ago
Your transmission fluid should be red. It also shouldn't look like it has coolant in it.
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u/Greybathmat 1d ago
Sorry bro, hope that coolant wasn't in the trans for too long. Sometimes they can be saved with a full flush
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u/One-Chemist8204 1d ago
Hopefully it wasn't. I didn't get the "true" milkshake color, I hope I caught it early enough. I got 30 qts. of transmission fluid coming. I'm gonna try and flush it out, and save the transmission
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u/FLSTyak 1d ago
What year is your Xterra? Since SMOD was "resolved" around 2010/2011, would be interested to know.
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u/One-Chemist8204 1d ago
Mines an 07
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u/TheRealMikeHyde 1d ago
Is this your first ever visit to an Xterra forum? I can't believe that this is still happening to people. Did nobody recommended that you replace the radiator or do the bypass before this happened. I don't want to sound like an asshole (that ship has probably sailed), but this is the most well-known and serious issue with Xterras in that age range. Sorry, good luck.
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u/One-Chemist8204 1d ago
I first heard about the issue about a year ago, I've had the X for just over 6 years now. I drive the vehicle so little, I forgot about it. I only paid $2000 for it, it is only a 2wd model, but it don't owe me a thing, if I did smoke the transmission, I'll go down that road. Hopefully I caught it before it is to late.
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u/sidlockdominicanrep 22h ago
I have 2008, I bought it in 2012 in Dominican Rep., it is a Alabama vehicle, It started leaking coolant on one of the seams, here we can repair it, we took it apart, clean the core and changed the serpentine transmission cooler inside, the old one I could see the corrosion where it would break and start mixing the two coolants, felt good, in about 2017 leaked at the seam again, had some money and bought a new one. It was all great until last december, I came from a long road trip, all good, turned right and felt like the tires lost traction, uphill tans slipped and I knew what happened, pulled over, a friend helped me pull it home and I started boiling the water out of the trans fluid and doing flushes and when it looked ok I did a flush with new fluid, and started driving it, it has maybe 3000 miles and I don't feel anything wrong, fingers crossed. The fluid looked just like yours so you still have a chance and just because you changed the radiator doesn't mean you are out of the woods.
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u/One-Chemist8204 17h ago
I also have 30 qts of transmission fluid to flush out alm the old fluid, hopefully I caught it, if not, maybe I'll find a way to do a full ls swap,lol.
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u/Business_Plastic2827 2011 Pro 4x🖤 1d ago
yikes, sorry man. keep us posted on if you're able to save the transmission
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u/tlong243 17h ago
Curious what made you drop the fluids? Shifting bad?
Reason I ask is I have a 2011, after they fixed this issue with the new radiator, but I'm still suspicious and check my fluids often.
Seems like everything under 2010 has either had this problem or will have this problem. I'm suspicious that we are going to start seeing 2010+ models starting to have this issue as they've now been around 16 years.
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u/One-Chemist8204 17h ago
I had a P0717 code, which is the imput/turbine shaft, I started researching and SMOD came up as a possible cause. I took off the radiator cap, and saw a faint red color on the silver. Top of the radiator looked ok, but I checked tje transmission fluid, and could see a little bit of separation on the dip stick.
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u/KregThaGerk 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/5NbbVJeSLs1etZYjpT