Ive had this 1998 pathfinder for about a year now, 352,000 km . no real issues besides squeaky belts and a rear windshield wiper motor burnt out.

over the previous winter i had a few situations where the transmission would not enter the last gear (as well as use the overdrive and lockup) until i had played around with stopping and starting, and such.

now it is coming up to the next winter and at the first sight of some colder weather, i have a whole set of new issues.

all of which dissapear when the transmission is warm.

from a cold start, i reverse out of the driveway fine, put it in drive (which kicks harder than normal) and approach the end of the street. which is long enough to get into 2nd gear at least. only it doesnt. it hits up to 3500 rpm, misses second altogether and slams into 3rd. 50/50 from this point if it stays in 3rd or lets go when i get to the stop sign. after this point its trouble city. i usually end up staying in 3rd going to the next street, in which it immediately goes into 4th and stays there (it ignores the rpm and speed). stopping results in no clutch activation and stalls the motor. if i put it into 1st gear selector, it usually gets me out or 4th but goes to 2nd. i managed to keep the truck moving until it was at a safe rpm to put it into drive, which usually always goes straight into 4th. im then on the highway so i limp along and let it drive its normal speed and within 15 minutes of warming everything goes away and all is fine. overdrive works fine lockup kicks in and out fine, and the transmission properly goes up the gears as i slow to a stop.

im resorting to a 15 minute "warm up drive" in order to use the vehicle now.
ive checked fluid levels with no obvious issues.

when the vehicle has had its warm up drive in the morning, it is fine the rest of the day.

any help is appreciated.

ooh. auto transmission problems are never fun. have you tried changing the fluid to see if that might help.

not at this point. im wondering if its an oil flow issue when its cold, leading me believe it could be a filter clogged. would like to know where the filter is to check that first.

you have to drop the pan to access the filter.

yeah, i mean, to drop the pan and all that, you might as well get a new filter, 20 bucks and add new tranny fluid in there

okay i might as well try that first. i checked the ecm today and its all clear of codes.

Coolant temp sensor when not at temp will keep RPM higher
Tranny coolant temp sensor keeps 4th gear out of circuit until transmission oil is at temp.
IAV will interfere with lock up, lock up at around 60 km per hour or 40 MPH but changes as more throttle gets pushed in.
From your writings:
Change transmission fluid complete with filter, look for particles in the pan and in fluid, these particles are known to make solenoid shifts lazy, retarded and hard if at all.
The car when cold as in winter takes about 20 minutes to warm the sensors. If fluid is low or burnt in colour it will make transmission shifting difficult.

Your throttle body needs cleaning

Today's engines do not need to start and idle for a warm up, start your vehicle but take off gently and feather that gas peddle until warm. If the car runs like crap it needs to be fixed.

i have no engine issues whatsoever. just total failure of transmission behaving when its cold.
so im not sure why my throttlebody needs cleaning.

this morning i started the truck and let it idle for 30 minutes before attempting to move it,
and it drove and shifted fine.

i ordered a tranny oil filter today, 68 dollars :P

my plan is next week i will :
- drain the fluid, inspect it.
- take the pan off , inspect the bottom of it.
- take the filter out, check it out hoping its plugged, replace the filter.
- new gasket, clean the pan, put it back on and fill it with:

Nissanmatic type C atf fluid ???? is this right?

Thank you for the informative post

At 30 minutes of idle time your temp sensor in the tranny might be iffy. It worked well with that long time of a warm up which is nuts and expensive. The throttle body the coolant temperature the IAC and the transmission must work together, hot or cold.

Your cold temperature operation should still allow the transmission to go up to and not including final gear until the oil in the transmission is at operating temperature.

The coolant temperature senses at what time via temperature the cold fast idle is brought back to warm idle. The idle air control brings in more air to increase idle as when the AC is used and all of these go through the re circulatory gas valve to be burned again. If the EGR is plugged up the engine will complain.

With a complaining engine the transmission can complain because torque values are all over the place,RPM is hit and miss and each will rely on the other.

Verify the engine is in tune and OK, then verify the transmission is OK and tuned.

Both engine and transmission when cold operate at different levels than when warmed and with colder ambients around they can both be a PITA.