Driving my '95 Nissan Pathfinder to the ‘Retirement Farm’ and the transmission dies at the top of a hill. Now the t-fluid reads above ‘hot’ on dipstick, but there’s no burnt/bad smell or look (not dark brown) to fluid. Already had a blown head gasket, overheating, won’t pass smog, etc. (could this be from an aftermarket thermometer?) I have to be able to drive it into the dump to collect any $! 
Any ideas?
Aftermarket thermometer?? I think you mean thermostat…And I doubt it. I’ve NEVER used an OEM thermostat…and NEVER had a problem. It could however been installed backwards.
How often did you change your tranny fluid?? I have no idea why it would die…Difficult to diagnose over the net. But the car is 15+ years old. How many miles on it??
Thanks, yep, thermostat, not thermometer.
Sept 2006, about 5 years ago I had a rebuilt tranny put in, and now it’s got 43,000 miles on it. Haven’t changed the fluid.
Any idea why the levels might be so high above the ‘hot’ on the dipstick?
Well…It could be over-filled…OR it could be the radiator…The trans cooler is the bottom part of the radiator…radiator fluid could be leaking into the trans cooler…Is your radiator fluid low???