A friend of mine has a 2k3 (auto transmission) and is experienceing extreme power loss in cold weather (-20C and below).

The car will idle fine, but will barely move when its in drive and the gas pedal is pressed down.

He's had the car towed to the dealership 4 times now and he's really concerned about the reliablility of the vehicle. The dealership has tried random repairs, none of which have seemed to work.

Any TSB's out for this, or others who have experienced the same thing? I did a bit of a search and only turned up some stuff about a timing sensor needing replacement. Though the symptoms don't match my friends extreme problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

CM.

 

For some reason I want to say MAF (mass air flow), though I've never had a MAF issue and as such have not read much on them.

It sounds like a sensor issue. Maybe the temperature sensor (not the coolant temp sensor), though I'm not sure exactly what its purpose is either. It's unfortunate that he has to receive advice through the boards and that nissan mechanics can't even repair it (making me think that it could be pretty tricky. Or, maybe they're just incompetent).

 

My Max loves the cold.....

Could be MAF problems.....did he have the Engine crank sensor recall.....but the stealership could've
diagnosed/treated that....

 

Mine too!

 

sounds like a maf issue to me as well. the temp sensor in 02-03 is built into the maf though. to the thread starter- was your friends service engine soon light on before he had it towed>

 

He's an elderly fellow so its hard to know if the light was on or not. lol I'll try to get some more info out of him.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

CM.

 

my injen cold air intake takes that cold air like we drink water.....its graet....but maybe -20C is freakin too cold....

 

-20 is a warm morning here. We've had a couple weeks of -35 to -40 weather now.

 

... and I had some mornings last week around -28 -30C; the car did great, and I noticed my external temp gauge don't ''read'' anything below -30C