I finally got the starter in my '96 GXE replaced, and as soon as I picked it up from the shop, I noticed that the check engine light was on, and the transmission was shifting very roughly. I immediately drove back to the shop (I hadn't even left the parking lot yet!) and had a mechanic come out to look at it. He plugged his computer into the car and determined that the knock sensor was bad! When I explained that I had never gotten a CEL in the 4 years I've owned the car, he said that they sometimes just go bad.

Anyway, he cleared the error and said that the transmission was probably just in learning mode and would "get better". Keep in mind that it was *slamming* into gear. Anyway, it was clear that I wasn't going to get anything more out of him, so I just drove home. I went through the ECU check procedure just now, and it turns out that I'm getting 2 error codes:

- knock sensor
- line pressure solenoid valve (automatic transmission)

Can somebody give me a clue as to what the heck is going on? Is it possible that the mechanic simply forgot to plug something back in when he replaced the starter? I had no problems with the transmission or with the CEL this morning when I dropped off the car at the shop, so it seems like an absurd coincidence that 2 things are suddenly going bad as soon as I had the starter replaced.

 

Anyone? Please don't leave me to the "mercy" of the dealership in diagnosing this problem!

 

Go back to the shop that put the starter in and leave the car with them until it's fixed. Explain very specifically that it wasn't like that when you dropped it off and you will not take the car back until they find out what's wrong and put the vechicle back to the running condition it was given to them in.

 

I called this morning and explained in detail the situation, but the guy was insistent that the knock sensor must need replacing or else the error code wouldn't be showing up. At this point, I don't have any confidence in their ability to diagnose the real problem, so I went ahead and set up an appointment with the dealership on Monday.

If I get a chance this weekend, I'm going to pull off the air intake and see if there's something that's obviously misconnected. Otherwise, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the dealer will be familiar with this kind of situation and be able to fix it without an ungodly bill.

http://forums.maxima.org/newreply.ph...e=1&p=3814238#
Me cry