Hi,

The following 3 paragraphs describe problems I've had with my '94 Maxima and the HELL I've been through trying to get this car back on the road (combined with some ranting). This is the only car I own, and I need it for classes and my dead-end job; I can't afford a new car. I'm looking for an experienced person to shed some light on this. If you do reply, thanks in advance.

I own a 1994 Nissan Maxima GXE (auto tranny, 145k milage), and it's been acting extremely erratic. First off, I know the problem is related to the transmission. I've owned it for about 2 years now and it was driving absolutely fine up until about 3 months ago. In October of last year (3 months ago), I noticed that it would start up fine but everytime I put it into drive or reverse, the motor will just SHUT OFF; it would do this ONLY on cold starts. After it warmed up for about 5 or 10 minutes, the car would drive fine. So on every cold start, I would let it warm up for a little, throw the car into drive, and then floor the gas to get it going... once it got going, it would drive fine. I took it to Aamco and they replaced the soleniods in the transmission (which cost nearly 500 dollars). They said that metal was getting into the valves (or something to that effect). Anyway, that fixed the problem completely.

Now, fast forward about 2 and a half months, the car started to repeat the same problem; but this time, it would do it worse (in addition to some new problems). Not only it was stalling on cold starts, but the transmission would "slip" inbetween gears. I noticed that it would act lazy when changing gears and sometimes, it wouldn't even change gears, the RPMs would increase but the speed would stay the same (living in overpopulated Atlanta, that was a MAJOR problem). So I took it back to Aamco and they performed some diagnostic tests on it and they claimed it had an internal problem and it needed a new transmission, which would cost nearly 2100 dollars.

After my ****ing jaw dropped, I decided to get a second opinion, so I took it to Mr. Transmission. After they performed tests on it, they also said the transmission had an internal problem. Then, they offered some sort of disassemble test where they extract the tranny out of the car and take apart the tranny to identify which part is causing the problem. So, I did it. Now, my transmission sits disassembled in that shop, and I'm awaiting the results.

Could anyone please shed some light on this? Do you think I would need a new transmission? I think I wouldn't because after it runs for 5 or 10 minutes, it'll run FINE. It only ****s up on cold starts.

ANY HELP would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-Wes

 

i'd use that cash and convert it to a 5 speed. the type of problems you're describing are half the reason i've never owned an automatic. if you have to take out your tranny anyway, might as well save yourself from future problems and buy a manual. or just bypass all of the stress and warm up your car until it works normally as you say it does. i'd start saving your money for a new tranny in the meantime though.

 

Not saying that this is definitely your case, but my experiences (have some) on electronics, this car GXE, points to starved components all over: all wirings too thin from the very beginning, and now after over ten years of oxidation in a carage, summer driving, it was worse than bad. Starved = dramatic voltage losses on long wirings, causing components to lose 'power', sensors to give wrong input to the many controlling logics onboard.

Tranny had veeery loooong shifts. Now All Gone. See through mein kampf, I documented these for u all, start from here: http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/748507/14

Maxima is a Hot (not car) floating computer center! ...translated: expensive commuting device.

 

when the first shop told you metal pieces the first time, they should have told you right then that you would need a rebuild.
but you definately need a rebuild if there is metal in the pan.

 

If there are metal particles in the trans, kiss it good bye. But never go to aamco, they are lucky to know how to get out of bed. They used to advertise that they had rebuilt 4 million transmissions. It was a lie, they rebuilt 1 million transmissions 4 times each. They don't rebuild your transmission and put it back in your car. They swap it with one that was rebuilt at a rebuild center.

 

Thanks everyone for your replies and advice. I think Aamco really screwed me over; I'm NEVER going back there. The guy at Mr. Transmission (the people rebuilding the tranny) said he doesn't know why in the world Aamco would just replace the soleniods and not tell me I needed a new tranny (they probably just wanted a quick 500 from me; ****ing *******s).

Anyway, I'm having the tranny rebuilt.

Things wrong w/ it now: rear plantary, drum is not good

Things they're adding: overhaul kit, bushing kit (?), torque converter

That's basically all I know now; rebuilding should be completed by Monday afternoon. I just posted the little list for future reference (maybe it'll be educational to someone... I dunno).

Once again, THANK YOU!
-Wes

 

If you are refering to them replacing that solenoid pack, they really screwed you. I bought a solenoid pack offling for $120 and am going to replace it myself. Don't trust repair franchises.