Nissan RE5R05A
Torque Converter Replacement Cost

The RE5R05A is the Jatco-built 5-speed longitudinal automatic Nissan used behind the VQ40, VK56 and VQ35 for most of the 2000s and into the 2010s. Titan, Armada, Frontier V6, Xterra, Pathfinder R51, Navara, plus the 350Z and the Infiniti G35, FX35, FX45 and M35. It is a stout gearbox with one well-known soft spot: the torque converter lockup clutch.

One clarification before you spend money. If you are on this page for a 370Z, that car uses the 7-speed RE7R01A, not the RE5R05A. The 350Z is the 5-speed. Confirm which unit is in your car before ordering a converter, because they are not interchangeable and the return shipping on a torque converter is not fun.

What Actually Fails

The lockup clutch inside the converter is a friction disc that clamps the converter cover to lock input and output together above roughly 40 mph, killing slip and improving fuel economy. On the RE5R05A the TCM does not just switch it on and off; it modulates it, deliberately slipping the clutch a controlled amount over a wide speed range to smooth out driveline pulses.

That controlled slip is what wears the lining. Once the friction material starts to break down, two things happen at the same time. The clutch chatters instead of engaging smoothly, which you feel as shudder. And the shed lining material goes into the fluid, where the pump pushes it out into the cooler, the cooler lines, and back through the valve body.

That second part is why this job has a reputation for coming back. The converter is the source of the debris, but the debris does not stay in the converter.

Symptoms and Codes

Shudder at 35 to 55 mph, light throttle

The classic. Feels like the tires hit rumble strips, or like the truck is running over closely spaced tar strips. It shows up at steady cruise or light acceleration, disappears if you tip into the throttle enough to unlock the converter, and disappears again below lockup speed. That specific come-and-go pattern is what separates converter shudder from a misfire or a driveline vibration.

Shudder that gets worse as it warms up

Cold fluid is thicker and masks a marginal clutch. Twenty minutes of highway and it shows itself. If your shudder is worse hot, that leans converter.

RPM flutter at cruise

Watch the tach at a steady 50 mph. A 50 to 150 rpm oscillation with your foot still is the lockup clutch grabbing and releasing.

Codes worth knowing

A P0744 with a 40 mph shudder and otherwise normal shifts is a converter job. A P0744 alongside any of the P0731 through P0735 gear ratio codes is a transmission job. That distinction is the single most important diagnostic call on this unit. Scan tools that read Nissan transmission live data.

The Cooler Flush Is Not Optional

This is the part shops cut to win a quote, and it is the part that determines whether the repair lasts.

When the lockup lining fails it puts friction material into circulation. Some of it lands in the pan where you can see it. The rest settles in the transmission cooler and the steel cooler lines, and no amount of pan dropping reaches those. Bolt a new converter in, start the engine, and the pump immediately draws that debris back through the fresh unit. You have contaminated a brand new converter in the first thirty seconds of the test drive.

On most of these applications the primary cooler is a plate or tube stack in the radiator side tank, which makes it difficult to fully clean. The three legitimate options, in ascending order of confidence:

• Pressure flush the cooler and lines with a proper flush machine, then flow-test to spec. Cheapest, and adequate when the failure was caught early and the debris load is light.
• Flush plus an inline cooler filter in the return line as insurance. This is what most careful shops do.
• Replace the radiator or cooler outright. The only way to be certain when the fluid came out black with visible material in it. On a high-mileage truck that is due for a radiator anyway, this is the honest answer.

Every remanufactured converter supplier voids warranty if the cooler was not flushed or replaced, and they are not being difficult. They know exactly why converters come back. Get the flush documented on the invoice. Inline transmission cooler filter kits.

Fluid matters too. The RE5R05A wants Nissan Matic-S on later applications and Matic-J or Matic-D on earlier ones; check the build date and the fill plug callout. Generic multi-vehicle ATF has a different friction modifier package, and on a transmission whose converter clutch is deliberately slipped, wrong friction characteristics cause shudder all by themselves. Nissan Matic-S ATF.

Real Cost Ranges: Parts vs Labor

Why the labor is so wide: this is a longitudinal RWD transmission, so it comes out the bottom. Exhaust down, driveshafts out, crossmember out, shift linkage and wiring disconnected, and on 4WD models the transfer case comes off first. A 2WD Frontier is a straightforward day. A 4WD Titan with rusted exhaust fasteners is not.

This is not a job to attempt on jack stands with a floor jack and a friend. A transmission jack with a proper saddle and tie-downs is the minimum. Transmission jacks, or read our transmission jack buyer's guide first.

When To Replace The Whole Transmission Instead

The transmission is already coming out, so the marginal labor to swap a whole unit instead of just the converter is small. That changes the math. Three findings that say do the unit:

• Any P0731 through P0735 gear ratio code. That is clutch slip inside the gearbox, not converter slip. A new converter fixes nothing.
• Slip on an actual shift. Rising rpm without a corresponding speed increase during a 2-3 or 3-4 change. Converter problems live at lockup, not at shift points.
• Black fluid with fibrous material in the pan. Once the debris has been circulating long enough to darken the fluid, it has been through the valve body and scored bores and worn the clutch packs.

Rough rule: if the converter, cooler service, fluid, seals and labor add up past roughly 55 percent of what a reman unit installed would cost, and the truck has over 180,000 miles, put the money into a complete remanufactured transmission with a warranty covering the whole assembly. You will not want to do this labor twice.

FAQ

How much does an RE5R05A torque converter replacement cost?

The converter itself is $250 to $600 remanufactured or $700 to $1,150 for a genuine Nissan unit. Labor to pull and reinstall the transmission is 6 to 10 hours, which is $780 to $1,750 at typical independent rates. Add fluid and the mandatory cooler service and installed totals run about $1,400 to $2,600 at an independent shop and $2,400 to $3,600 at a Nissan dealer.

Why does the cooler have to be flushed when replacing an RE5R05A converter?

When the lockup clutch lining fails it sheds material into the fluid, and that debris settles in the cooler and lines where a pan drop cannot reach it. Start the engine with a new converter and the pump pulls that debris straight back through the new unit. Every reman converter supplier voids warranty if the cooler was not flushed or replaced, and they are right to.

What does P0744 mean on a Nissan RE5R05A?

P0744 is torque converter clutch circuit intermittent. On the RE5R05A it usually means the lockup clutch is slipping rather than that a wire is broken. The TCM commands lockup, watches for engine and input speed to match, and sets the code when they do not converge. Combined with a 35 to 50 mph shudder it points directly at the converter.

Which vehicles use the RE5R05A?

Nissan Titan, Armada, Frontier V6, Xterra, Pathfinder R51, and Navara, plus the Nissan 350Z and Infiniti G35, FX35, FX45 and M35 automatics. Note that the 370Z moved to the 7-speed RE7R01A, so 370Z owners chasing a converter issue are looking at a different transmission.

Can I just do a fluid change instead of replacing the converter?

If the shudder is mild and the fluid is old but not black, a full fluid exchange with correct Nissan ATF sometimes quiets it for a while. It is a stay of execution, not a repair. Once the lockup lining has started shedding, the converter is consumed and the debris keeps circulating.

When should I replace the whole transmission instead of the converter?

If there are gear ratio codes in the P0731 to P0735 range, if it slips on a shift and not just at lockup, or if the pan is full of clutch material and the fluid is black. Those mean internal clutch damage, and a new converter bolted to a damaged unit is money thrown away.