Hello everyone, I have a 97 maxima that is 5 speed and will not go into overdrive, when hooked up to the diagnostic machine it said it was an speed sensor which I just had replaced. I am still having the same issues. When I go 60 mph the car is at 2500 rpms. The only light that is on is my check engine light. Please help......

 

Umm, maybe start with fixing the sensor

 

you changed it with a brand new VSS? when you scan the codes is it the same code that comes up?

 

5speed won't go into overdrive ? what?

I think you have an automatic bro.

 

umm just curious here but last time I checked overdrive is on an automatic transmission

 

he probably thinks o/d is the 5th gear

 

This.

4AT + 60mph =2500rpm

 

Im at 2200 at 60 when im in 5th gear.

start small check if you have OD/off light going off in the cluster. the switch is right under the shift lock release button. lol

 

4speed automatic does not have 5th gear..

 

is this thread for realz???

 

that dude might have a 5 speed tho.

 

Nope, 2500 RPM = 72 MPH on a 4AT in OD with TC locked

 

I hover right around 2400-2600rpm for anything 60-75mph

 

uphill or downhill road at 60 mph? big difference in rpm on uphill lol. This guy needs to post a pic or at least tell us if he has a clutch lol!

 

ok now im worried. i have a 1997 maxima SE 5spd manual. at 70mph+ i hit 3000rpm and up.. we have highways with 70 mph limit so i often hit 80. no CEL. is this normal?

i might want to add that yes, i'm in fifth gear.

 

Guys, not being a d... or smth. Under the steering wheel , how many pedals are there 2 or 3. It's the easiest way to know )))))))))). No manual has overdrive , maybe if you put NOS on it and you hook up a button on the gear shifter and then you can call it overdrive .

 

5th gear in the manual trans is essentially an overdrive. Its ratio is approximately .8 to 1.

1st - 3.285
2nd - 1.850
3rd - 1.272
4th - 0.954
5th - 0.795
Rev - 3.428

 

Technically we have TWO overdrives
Some older 5 speed manuals (Domestic) actually had 5th marked OD.

 

This is true, but with 4th gear being close to 1:1, I took the less typing approach and ignored it.

After I posted the gear ratios, I had to go the the store. As I was driving down the road, I decided to see what my rpms are for 60 mph. My car is a 97 with auto trans and the tach needle was right on 2000. tigersharkdude had posted that his car showed 2500 rpm. njmaxseltd disagreed, saying 2500 rpm would be 72 mph. So I pulled up Excel and started typing in numbers.

I had the transmission gear ratios and the differential gear ratio from the FSM. I checked the 97, the 98 and the 99 FSMs and they were the same. I did not check 95 and 96.

The only other piece of data needed was the rolling circumference of the tire. The FSM tells you that the 4th gen Maxima came with 2 different tire sizes: P205/65R15 for the steel wheels standard on the GLE model and P215/55R16 for the aluminum wheels standard on the SE. I have an Excel spreadsheet that will calculate the circumference that I created back in the late 1980's after reading an article in Road & Track magazine. Now a days there are many places on-line to get this info. The one I like best is http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

If you are using either of the two tire sizes that Nissan originally put on the car, the following numbers will be valid. If you changed your tires to 17's or 18's or whatever, then my numbers will be off. And as for the 2 sizes, one a 15 inch and the other a 16 inch, the difference between the 2 is pretty small, only about .7%. What surprises many people is that the 16 inch tire is the smaller of the two. I used the 16 inch tire in my calculations.

What I calculated is that for 60 mpg, the auto trans car would be running at 2001.26 rpm and the manual trans car would be running at 2421.73 rpm. This is what my car's tachometer showed.

At 70 mph, the auto trans car would be running at 2334.80 rpm and the manual trans car would be running at 2825.35 rpm. Jordan91 in his 97 SE 5 speed was close to this.

So what exactly does this prove? I think I know - I need to get a life.

 

That tire diameter and air pressure have a measurable affect on cruizing rpm.