For anyone who is interested in how Nissan treats their customers, go to this page http://www.geocities.com/davedzny/

You will hear a Nissan rep leaving me these two pleasant messages. Also note that this was after the fourth visit to the dealer for the "fuel cut" problem.

Dave Z

 

and i have a few questions. what did she mean when she said, "upto specs"? was she a representative from the nissan headquarters, or from your dealer?
after listening to that first message, it sounded as though no one wanted to help you, or take responsibility for anything. and that second call seemed wierd to me, sounded as though she was covering up for the person that did work on your max. another thing that concerns me is that they worked on you max more than once, correct? than obviously there is a problem with it. just seems as though your getting the run around, basically they're screwing with you. i'm sorry to hear that, its really sad, a company has such nice cars, but no service after you buy it, thats probably why nissan was in trouble with the company.

 

When she said "up to specs", she was talking about my TPS adjustment. The Nissan DTS had adjusted it on two separate occasions, and a Nissan tech had also adjusted it on another visit. She thought the DTS had set my car out of specs, but he never did. All together, my car was worked on four times; once by a Nissan tech who adjusted my TPS, once by a dealer who was on the phone with Techline all day, and twice by the Nissan DTS. He adjusted the TPS on one occasion and reprogrammed my ECU on another. I also had about a dozen phone conversations with this particular person on the recording spanning multiple months. The recordings I have posted on the page was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for me.

If Nissan would only spend the time to investigate a proper ECU reprogram, they should easily be able to fix the problem. As demonstrated on my recordings, I doubt that will ever happen, though. Maybe they already know that this particular engine will not pass emissions with a manual transmission without "cheating" via the ECU. Certain cars became unavailable with manual transmissions due to not being able to pass Federal emission guidelines. I remember the Toyota Supra Turbo had this happen a few years back, and they discontinued the manual transmission on it.

Dave Z

 

Unfortunately, as the rep indicated, the vehicle IS up to specs. The problem is that the specs, and particularly the ECU programming, produce a condition in M/T Maximas that make them difficult to drive under certain conditions. I won't elaborate on those conditions again here. A full discussion is readily available in other threads. Those who are interested can find them by doing searches under the keywords "fuel-cut" and "throttle".

I have not yet heard back from my Zone Rep regarding his appeal to Nissan Japan concerning the fuel-cut (aka throttle) condition and I'm not holding my breath waiting for him to respond. I believe that the condition is here to stay. I just wish I had stock in the company that provides clutch components for Maximas.

[Edited by y2kse on 02-19-2001 at 08:23 AM]

 

I am one of Nissan's happy customers that owns an Automatic Maxima SE that displays the fuel cut problem BADLY under light throttle. Does it at most all speeds, but yesterdays episode at about 65mph was a real eye opener!! Car slowed down unbelievably.. I have also gotten nowhere with Nissan. They have even called it a "normal characteristic" of the car. (I'll bet they don't even drive Maximas!!) So we made a $25-30k mistake... What's the big deal, right..!!?? My patience is wearing thin, I'll either pursue a trade (that will hurt) or Lemon Law, 'cause I can't take it much longer (and the car only has 4000 miles on it). Just wanted to make sure us Auto owners don't get forgotten 'cause they do have the problem!!

GODOL LUCK TO US ALL...!! (I think we need it..)

 

My wife owns a 2K Max GXE A/T and it also displays the fuel-cut condition. But it's not nearly as pronounced in her car as it is in my 2K Max SE 5-speed. That's probably because the hydraulics in the A/T absorb some of the effect.

 

That's pretty funny how they are in denial about this. Sorry to hear about it Dave. Any progress with your recourse?

 

because the car is working as designed... I think Kevin found that out in arbitration

 

You are correct, TimW. The only available options are to live with the condition and pray for a TSB or sell your car.

 

She does sound very professional. Thats a good thing I guess. How has the car been?

 

Hey all. I debated if I should even post the soundclips in the first place, but I decided it was important for people to hear how Nissan was treating me and their customers in general since they refuse to acknowledge this concern.

I am in a process right now with a third party that I expect will take a few more months before I see what my situation will be.

The car still sucks in traffic. Every night coming home on the Van Wyck in New York makes me think of new curses while bucking along in traffic. When the opportunity arises, I just gun it and have fun, since the car accelerates great. It just doesn't like to slow down properly.....

I am surprised to find an A/T owner complaining of the fuel cut severity, since it only seems to cause symptoms on M/T cars. That proves it is happening on all Maximas.

Dave Z