I recently bought a used 2000 GLE and love the car to death, with the exception of the bizzare transmission behaviour. After having driven a 2000 Pathfinder for 3 years, I think I have an idea of how a properly behaved Nissan transmission SHOULD work...

I've read the TSB and I've tried to get a dealer to address my initial concerns a few weeks ago, and got back a "no problem was found after test driving" answer from a Nissan dealer's service dept. They claimed if there was an issue it might be related to the really cold weather. After reading, I suspect I do suffer from delayed shifting/slipping.. but since neither of these are defined anywhere, i'm asking for someone to confirm!

Now that i've driven it more, I am certain there's something not right.

Here's my symptoms:

Temperature only seems to affect how often the problem happens -- the colder it is the more often the problem happens. When the transmission/engine warm up, the problem becomes somewhat random except hard acceleration.

Condition: Accelerating lightly from a stop
- the shift from 1-2 happens pretty normally and smoothly
- during the shift from 2-3, sometimes the engine jumps in revs by about 500-700rpm for a moment

Condition: Accelerating moderately from a stop
- the shift from 1-2 sometimes jumps in rev momentarily by a couple hundred RPM
- during the shift from 2-3, sometimes the engine jumps in revs by about 500-1000rpm for a moment

Condition: Accelerating moderately hard from a stop or low speed
- the shift from 1-2 sometimes seems to happen rather late followed by a slight jarring/kick sensation
- the shift from 2-3 jumps 1000-1500 rpm momentarily followed by a moderate jarring/kick sensation

Condition: Accelerating very hard from a stop or low speed
- the engine sometimes hits 6000 rpm and/or the revlimiter kicks in and/or the traction control kicks in, lowers the rev, kicks out, then the gear shifts and there is a jarrking/kicking sensation. If the revlimiter kicks in, easing back on gas is my automatic reaction after which the gear shifts
- the shift from 2-3 jumps 1500-300 rpm momentarily followed by a hard jarring/kick sensation

Going uphill while accelerating (eg, some onramps) can make these symptoms worse.

The Maxima in question had the ECM reprogram done, but has never had any transmission repairs acoording to its service log. It has 69,000 miles on it (I got a great price), if that has any relevance.

Unfortunately the car is out of warranty -- If I do need the solenoid changed and/or the TCM changed, how much is that going to cost me?

 

the 2-3 rpm jump is the soleniods, not the TCM. TCM takes care of the 1-2 delay. You should get it addressed before too much damage occurs. It will get better with warm weather but will not go away completely. And continuing with it will only get you a rebuild.

If you cant find the parts on the cheap, call Dave Burnett. He can hook you up the parts as cheaply as they can be had. I'm fairly sure *any* shop thats good with transmission could do the soleniods for you. It not really a very complicated process, just really messy.

 

Thanks! I'll go back to the dealer and insist on a test drive with a tech in the car and bring them the NHTSA TSB. Hopefully they'll cover some or all of the word under the limited warranty. If not I'll start inquiring about for a good place to get transmission work done in town.

 

Hm, I've also had all of these "problems" since I bought the car new in 2000. The Maxima is my second car. My first was a manual so I didn't really know how a 222-HP V6 automatic transmission shifts, you know what I mean? For a long time, I simply dismissed these "problems" as ideosyncrasies of Nissan transmissions because I've read literature about Toyota automatic transmissions and praise of how smooth they are. I've only been on the .org barely a year now and this subject has come up many, many times. I really don't know how to feel about it myself. I'm a college student and I go to school more than 1,500 miles away from home. I don't have a second car and the nearest Nissan dealership to me is about 30 miles.

In my case, the shifting problems only occur when the engine has not had a chance to warm up. Before I got my car starter, I noticed the 1-2, 2-3 "ideosyncrasies" every single day on the way to my morning classes and since I got the starter, have gotten into the habit of warming my car up for a good 10 minutes before driving to class (Its been in the 20ºs for at least 2 weeks straight now) I haven't noticed the problems at all.

Quite honestly, I really don't know what to make of my situation. My car has been doing this as far as I can remember and seems to not have worsened one bit. Those occasions that the car hasn't had a chance to fully warm up I still notice the shifting delay.

I'm still under 60k miles... barely. What do you guys think I should do? Should I make the effort to leave my car at the Nissan dealership overnight so they can testdrive the car with a cold engine the next morning?

Opinions? What are my options?

 

I tried the warm up approach for quite a while, but at some point I started seeing a small rpm jump if I was pulling a hill.

 

wheres the update? i have the same prob with my 02 i35

 

Original owner of a 2000 GLE, At 85000 miles transmission started shifting late when cold. Shifting became normal when warmed up. After reading through these threads and looking at the TSB I decided to change the solenoids. Bought a pack from Rock Auto. Doesn't look difficult to install them but being the winter in the Northeast and without a garage, I got a quote from Aamco to install them. For $300 I had them do it and it fixed the problem.

 

Thanks for posting that because I'm thinking that's going to be my next job.

Shifts sorta late on the morning start or just hangs and performs normal when warm.

 

This will help but maybe won't fix it 100%.....got the same part after having same problems.....now it just does it at wot red line shift.....it will decide to bounce of the limiter and not shift when at wot.....still runs like A beast tho but have to ease off the throttle to get A downshift. Still love my car as it never left me stranded.....before the solenoid replacement it was barley shifting but still ran and moved .... I can live with this as it gets me where I got to go but miss beating it lol. Well 6 speed one day might actually happen if this tranny goes for good one day.