Just posting this in case anyone else ever has the same problem I've been having. My 02 SE auto was occasionally slipping between 1st and 2nd gear (and banging really hard into 2nd). I brought it in to the dealer, took a mechanic for a ride to show him what I was describing, and they ended up performing what is described in TSB NTB00-039a.

http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/tsb/ntb00-039a.pdf

The funny thing is they claim this applies to 2000 - 2001's, while mine is an 02. Anyway, they replaced the solenoid valve assembly, and the transmission shifts beautifully now.

Hope this helps someone out there someday!


By the way, the service was performed at Bill Kay Nissan in Downers Grove Illinois, and I was very impressed with their service department. They drove me to and from the train both days they had my car. My car was returned washed both times, and it was ready when promised.

 

thanx for the heads up on that. i haven't noticed any problems yet but will keep an eye out..

 

How can you tell if your transmission is slipping. Sorry I don't know too much about cars. I think mine might be doing it. I think it shifts hard sometimes. 02 SE auto FYI.

 

I have a 2K that had the same problem When shifting from 2nd to 3rd, especially when accelerating on a hill, car would begin shifting, but would take 2-4 seconds longer than it should. Revs would get higher becuase gas was pressed adn the car was effevtivly in nuetral until it completed the shift. Because revs were higher and the other issues, I got a hard shift as it finally got into gear. Nissan replaced the TCM and something else. It was covered under warranty (thank god, $3500). I think I was still under the 3/36 but it may have been my extended 7/100.

 

how hard was the shifting? sometimes mine takes a coupla seconds then switches gears but its a smooth change

 

When shifting from 1 to 2, it would slip for a second or two (you could feel it trying to shift, but the RPM's wouldn't drop), then the firmness of the bang into 2nd depended on the amount of throttle I was giving it.

With very light throttle, the bang was fairly light, but enough that it felt like someone lightly bumped you from behind. With maybe 1/2 throttle, it would bang hard enough to rattle things in the dash. Under full throttle, it would slip for 3 or 4 seconds, then feel like it would almost break the tires loose on dry pavement when it finally did catch.

Again, this didn't happen all the time. Maybe 1 out of 5 times starting out from a stop.

 

damn thanx night hawk, like i was saying i like the way mine does it, gives me a couple more seconds to ride in the high rpms when switchin manually. i'll deff keep an eye out thanx again man

 

the problem is you bought the auto

 

Hey thanks for the dealer tip, i'm not that far from there actually, i'm in schaumburg.

 

NightHawk thank you for the advise. I was wondering about it myself, because I too have an auto, and it kind of shifts not to smoothly. I think there might be a problem.

 

you just described exactly what my car is doing. i hate this problem, took it to the dealer, and they replaced the soleniods but not the TCM so i hopefully they'll put a new TCM and that should fix this problem. i absoutley hate this probelm and it does make the acceleration slower whenever you need it. tons of lags between shift and the tranny just feels real slugish