marke

Okay, I'm gonna give you a complete description of what just transpired with my last car ride and I hope some of you might know what's going on.

It's really cold out, less than 10 degrees (Might be a factor).

First thing -- My transmission was being really weird, jumping up and down and not responding well to the accelerator. The RPM gauge was bouncing all around, companion to this was a clanking noise of sorts, possibly from under the hood.

I pulled over, turned the car off and then on again, same weird problem happening. Drove a little more and then got to a hill where I switched to neutral. I noticed that my headlights were dimming and then going back to normal, my interior guage lights were also doing this.

Thinking this may be do to battery failure, I turned off all auxiliary power (stereo, etc.) and continued to coast down the hill I was on. Then all power quit and the oil, engine lights went on. My headlights remained on, but I lost power steering, brakes, and once at the bottom of the hill, kicked the car back into drive but there was no acceleration.

Came to a halt, turned car off and then restarted the car, power came back on... transmission problem was still there. Got home and started typing this.

Any advice as to what is causing this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and merry christmas.

Foo90SE

Trannie is probably dead..the lights coming on n stuff was the motor stalling, maybe due to the trannie grinding its internals up. thats what i get out of that description maybe someone else can say more but i bet the trannie is dead...seems to be commmon now

marke

well a very merry christmas I'll be having this year. Tranny dying... does that mean a necessary tranny rebuild, or can it just be fixed? (Please say the latter)...

Would something like this just happen out of the blue? The only thing that made me think something was going wrong with my car before this happened was that my starter was acting weird, like the battery was dying. I never got any really weird feelings from my transmission response before this.

Somebody give me some eggnog and a bottle of brandy.

Foo90SE

hmm...somethings wierd...maybe whatever caused your engine to die is what was causing the noises, maybe it wasnt the trannie doing it but the motor acting up. Was the motor revving out and you werent going any faster? if so, dead trannie...you'll need a rebuild if thats the case..plan on 1500+ bucks for that..sorry

marke

The car wasn't revving out, but from the looks of the RPM gauge, it would appear as if I was pumping the gas repeatedly. Before the whole power thing, I changed the auto transmission into "Comfort" mode and everything seemed to go back to normal. Then after the power cut, comfort mode acted just like before, with the jumpy RPM gauge. Bah humbug.

Foo90SE

this is sounding like a bad alternator kinda...iv had cars with bad alternators and the lights would dim and almost go out and it would start 'bucking' and not running right. Plus you mentioned starting problems....from the sounds of it it probably isnt your trannie tho(the most expensive repair)

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

i'll bet $$ that it's your alternator. there's not enough power to spark the plugs. misfiring and rmps all over the town. the tranny is probably fine. get the alternator checked out and the battery too.
good luck

block

I have some sort of problem like yours. the rpms get all jumpy only at idle or low rpms for me though and the lights dim as its idling rrrr dim rrrr dim rrrr dim ... kind of like that. Ive been trying to get the problem solved. so many people have so many different things it could be. my thoughts on what my problem could be.

bad o2 sensor
clogged or bad injector
clogged or bad cat
dirty clogged throttle body
bad alternator.

i dont think mine has anything to do with the tranny.
mine does die often though. and a big power loss at times.

I'm taking it in on wednesday so they can hopefully figure out wth is wrong with it. then i will share.

marke

I sure hope you're right Dan. Does make sense to me now that I think about it. I'll get it checked out tommorow. Thanks.

superdesi

Hey Mark,

Sorry to go off of the subject.

But what JVC headunit do you have?

marke

I have the JVC KD-LX50. It's El Kameleon.

superdesi

I am soo close to getting the KD-SX949 or KD-SX850 because they have all the features I want.

Do u like the quality of JVC. Is it a good solid headunit to get? How is the power output from just the h/u?

1991gxe

IF I WHERE U I WOULD HAVE THE ALTERNATOR INSPECTED. I THINK YOUR TRANNY IS FINE. SEE IF U COULD GET ONE OF THOSE TESTER OR BRING IT TO A LOCAL SHOP. IF IT IS THE ALTERNATOR HAVE IT REPLACED. YOUR BETTER OFF WITH A FACTORY ONE INSTEAD OF REBUILT. IF THE PROBLEM IS THE ALTERNATOR I WOULD ASLO CONSIDER BUY A NEW BATTERY BECAUSE THE ONE U HAD IN IT IS PROBABLY TO DRAINED OUT.

marke

I think you mean the KD-SX950? That's a good head-unit... lots of nice features, like subwoofer control. The SX950 has a really cool display too, very nice colors. The power output should more than enough to supply juice to 4 speakers.

Sith

iTrader: (1)

I definetly stand by JVC. Just look at my sig.
I have an older deck, the '99 deck. KD-SX840. The only problem i've ever had with it is when it's cold it won't eject the cds all the way, they'll come out a little bit then act like it get stuck, all i gotta do is just give it a little tap and it comes out. hasn't happend for awhile though.
I want the new El Kameleon with voice control and crossover features. But i wanna work on more performance for my car right now.

And marke i'd defiently take your car to like Shucks or something and have them test the alt. Like Danny said i'd put $$$ on the alt.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

Blah..
check your MAF sensor also.. it's either your MAF sensor or your alternator..
the tranny isn't a problem (I'm at least 99.5% sure anyway)
could possibly be a frozen bearing in the alternator, but I would say it could also be a short in the wiring. check and make sure the cable to charge the alternator is attached securely and not shorting out against anything.. be sure to unhook the battery before you fool with thie cable, as it's attached DIRECTLY to the battery and will zap the !@#)(!@# out of you if you touch it against metal. the voltage isn't high enough to get you if you touch the wire, but the flying sparks and heat will get you if you touch the wire to bare metal.

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

Matt have u seen a MAF fail? if it is the MAF the idle and the driveability would be shot to sheeit. black smoke and all.
i would point to the alternator...they seem to be dying lately on the 3rd gens.
12V welding is always fun.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

Dan, one of mine got a crack in the lid, so it got full of water, and now my good one comes disconnected all the time because the little metal clip that holds the connector on has dissappeared. need to find a new clip..
but yeah, I know exactly what happens when you drive with no MAF.
When it comes undone, there's basically ZERO throttle response, and the RPM jsut drops like a rock.. then it'll pick up again and take off.. weird !@#)(
I never noticed any black smoke, as the engine thinks there's zero air movement, so it doesn't inject any fuel intot he air, so no gas= no black smoke.

Greyboy

When it's cold out, every car does weird sh!#. Your tranny could be the result of bad fluid. When you car gets cold, that stuff can get as viscus as molassis which leaves your tranny with minimal fluid to protect the parts and to function properly. If your car has high milage, as most peoples' cars on here do, you should have the tranny fluid changed soon.
Now, for the battery. Again, when it's cold out, your battery is naturally weak until it warms up. The molecules in the battery acid are barely moving and aren't creating much power until it gets warmer. Again, if your battery is old, replace it. Your car puts a huge demand on the battery when it's cold and if it's old, it can't handle it. Turning over a cold engine takes more power because of the hardened oil in the pan. When you switch the car to neutral, it takes the load off the crank shaft leaving the engine with more power to turn the alternator to charge up the battery (hence the brightening of your lights).
Do these problems disappear whenever your car warms up? It could be the alternator, however, I dought it. Unless your car has a lot of miles on it or you have tons of stereo equipment, your alternator should last a long time. Keep us posted.

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

so basically the unit failed because there was a crack in the case (outside shock) and not by failing itself?
the metal clip is no fault of nissan either...you lost it.
these things seem to be very reliable. the MAF on the maxima is the last thing i would suspect failing...just my $.02

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

Not to belabor the point, but yeah.. I lost the clip.. big deal.. both problems I had with my MAF were basically my fault.. I dunno how the one got cracked, but it musta been something I did.. I dunno how else something made form ABS plastic could crack.

but the point is that I know what these sensors act like when they go bad.. Yes, I HAVE heard of them going bad in a max on their own.. I've seen it several times on this board in the last year. these are the same symptoms..

I'd figure if the alternator was going bad, you'd hear lotsa nasty noises coming from it also, but he never mentioned whether he'd checked that also.. the maf is kinda a silent death.. since it doesn't make any noise istelf, just causes the engine to run poorly.