"Loss of power - I have 98 GXE with manual transmission and 100k miles on it and up until recent it was in excellent shape. Here is what happened: my son was driving on freeway and decided to downshift from 5th to 3rd(!!!) gear, the genius missed and plugged straight into 2nd instead... RPMs rocketed into red and engine shut itself down (at least that is what he told me). Check Engine light is off. Now I feel a substantial loss of power - feels like it’s going on 4 cylinders now. After 4 drive tests at 2 shops mechanics keep telling me that the car is fine and they can’t find any problems. If I wasn’t driving it before I would probably believed them – it does drives fine, but now it’s more like my 4 cylinder pickup and not the Maxima it used to be… If anyone have knowledge, similar experience or just have any ideas I would greatly appreciate any advice.”

Submitted onbehalf of GOSHA

 

Thank you for posting my question!

 

Engine damage. How the hell did he try to shift to 3rd and end up in 2nd?

 

Yes, that requires special skills.

First do a compression test and go from there. Any weird noises? Check the oil and change it, look for metal peices/flakes.

 

I would have to say that if the car is idleing fine, then hes probably ok. You saying there is a loss of power is probably in your head. Most overreving issues will usually cuase a bent valve and will dramatically decrease the smoothness at idle.

-matt

 

How far into the rev's did it get(Im assuming pretty high up).. My friend happened to miss a 4th gear power shift, and the oil pump completely blew up. *insert rocks in motor sound clip*..

 

i really dont understand how he tried to go from 5th into 3rd and ended up in 2nd. maybe i can understand first because its right beside 3rd but 2nd how does it idle? also you mention the CEL is on, what code comes up? wouldnt the rev limiter prevent it from over-revving? Id check compression, then do a leak down and go from the results.

 

If you hit the rev limiter hard enough, you will bust through it no problem

-matt

 

Rev-limiter is an electronic limit, it cannot over come the mechanical speed of the trans and motor when downshifting that aggressively.

 

is it a power loss, or a POWER LOSS. Because unless its extreme its probably all mental malfunction on the butt dyno.

 

i do 5th to 2nd all the time...but on purpose......change oil do compression....the CEL likght prolly came on as a precaution of exceeding rev limiter.....so yea...ur prolyl fine......u prolly didnt hit much past 7200

 

compression test will reveal all.

drain engine oil and wave a magnet over, drain trans and use magnet to try to find metal flakes.

 

i have overreved
it happens your ok

 

ohh okay makes sense, cant overcome human error. So anyword on how he accidently shifted into second instead of third?

 

Maybe a spun bearing?

 

thats why i dont let nobody drive my car...... 5th to 2nd how on earth do u manage that..

 

Is it even possible to do that, like seriously.. in all honesty I don't see how you could be that inept.

 

Hi everyone, thanks for the input... I'll try to answer some questions:
1. How the hell he managed to get into second instead of third?... Well, I don't really know. Guess it's a lack of proper experience. He got his license last year, I taught him how to drive stick on my 4 cyl 95 pickup, then he got my wife's beloved 96 G20 auto (after I rebuilt tranny, AC, put new alternator an hoses). Somehow he managed to miss a really shallow turn in a 25 mile zone and ran it into a tree... He claims he was going 40 but I ran it through the same turn (right after the accident) at 65+ and it made it easily like it was on rails - really loved this car for exceptional handling.. go figure... then he had his license suspended for a month, then he got this Maxima. I guess he just panicked, jerked the shifter and plugged it into second. Whatever he did and no matter how I'm pissed off - it's all irrelevant now.
2. CEL is OFF.
3. Power loss - it's all in my head - I wish ,but have to disagree here. I've been driving my 95 4 cyl 5 speed Nissan pickup for 11 years now. I do have to floor the gas pedal on first to get it moving and never had a problem making 70+ on third when I needed. I drove Maxima for a few weeks and got pretty much used to it. The main problem I had with it is to restrain myself form pushing accelerator too hard on first - it'll spin wheels (new tires) like crazy. In fact, taking off on second from a standstill felt pretty much like taking off on first in my pickup. Even at 80+ just flooring the gas on fifth gave me a kick like I downshifted from 5 to 3 on my truck. Now it's all different - I can floor the gas on first and it'll take off with no spinning (pretty much like it did on second before) and at freeway speeds I have to downshift to 4 to get same acceleration as I used to have just by flooring the gas on fifth.

I'll try to get to the shop to test compression and I'll drain engine oil on weekend to test for metal. I kinda hoped that it's an ECU locked in a some kind of safe mode or something or a slipping clutch (it's original with over 100k on it) but I do not feel any slip. Guess it's not gonna be that easy. Once again - thanks for the replies and I'll post an update if I'll find out what the problem is.

Igor.

 

Apparently it is possible... I was surprised myself, I was under impression that synchronizers won't let you do that. At least on my truck they won't - I cannot shift into first till my speed is above 25-30 and into second till it's 40-45...

 

huh????? shift into 1st gear until above 25-30? you mean below? haha

yeah maxima synchros only seem to apply when trying to shift into first at too high an RPM, at least on mine. The others it doesn't really seem to matter.

 

I can shift into 1st gear when de-accelerating at around 20mph. I dare not lift my foot off the clutch but can do it.

If you feel the ecu maybe in somekind of safe mode then reset the ecu.

 

Maybe your son put an aftermarket intake on the car.
That will cause a loss of throttle response big time, espeically in the hot summer.

 

He sure aint lyin....though I doubt that you wouldn't realize an intake was on the car!!! lol. My car is acting just like yours and I have a short ram.

 

HAI in summer sucks!!!

 

maybe the KS failed since the last time you drove it?

 

It's all stock with K&N filter which was there when I got it.

 

Would just disconnecting positive for a few min be sufficient to reset the ECU? Or it has some kind of internal memory and should be reset at a shop?

Pardon my ignorance, my other babies are 1950 with flathead six and fluid-drive and 1954 with 331 hemi... no ecu's... Damn, I hate computers... and I'm a software engineer with degree in electronics...

 

I would say to run a OBD scan, a bad KS will not lite the light. If you do not have a scanner ->Autozone or Advanced auto parts, etc.

Also, What about a glazed flywheel or clutch disk/ pressure plate? That is another thing I would check. With 100k on it, the clutch is prob old and worn as is. Plus, if he drives like you say he does...he's abusive, not like us abusive (as if that's much better) but his abusive is mixed with ignorance (not knowing about damage he could be doing).

A compression check like the others have said is the other thing i'd do.

For the pc, just disconnect the negative battery terminal for about 10 minutes or so. That -should- work to reset it.

 

Try checking the codes even if the CEL is not on. Check the stickies on instructions how to do this. You may find a Knock Sensor code(hopefully)

 

yeah when the wheels are turning the engine and not the engine itself, you can make it rev to any speed you want

 

Hi guys - finally I've done what I should have been starting with - checked the codes. I got a 0304 - KS. Checked the sensor as described in stickies - shows 15 MOhms on one terminal and infinite impedance on another. Guess the next step is to take it to the shop to replace KS... Or maybe I'll just leave it as is and let my boy to learn how to drive first... Can I damage the engine by driving with bad KS?

Anyway - thank you all for the input - really truly appreciate that - and you definitely saved me a lot of money and headache already. Thanks all!

 

You won't damage the engine, With it being bad...you know how it feels sluggish? thats the 'limp', or 'safe' mode. It limits the car so you do not do more damage by pre detonation. Right now your timing is 'retarded' hence your lack of power.
If you do want to fix it, you could do it in like 1/2 hour with a socket, a ratchet, a swivel or two, and a long extension or two (depending on how you try to do it. A new KS is like 70-80 bucks, I bought mine off ebay and it was a factory nissan one.
It is fairly simple to do though, from the driver side, standing next to tire. Look under the intake manifold in the 'valley', or in between the heads. you'll see it. one wire sticking out of the top pluged into it, but 2 going to it. Dead center of 'valley'.
Good luck, and maybe make your son fix and pay for it, once I had to fix and pay for my driving mishaps, I started to learn from them and not do them. Its cool to have fun, if you can afford and know how to fix what you break.

 

Thanks, I've already ordered KS and then it's up to my boy to either replace it himself or pay someone to do that for him. Hope nothing else is broken...

 

Just to confirm - new KS solved the problem - power is back!

 

Good to hear. that might be my problem also.