I had a rather pleasant experience at the dealership this morning. I know they are few and far between, but I'll take what I can get. Here are the technicians comments:Customer states the check engine/malfunction indicator light is on and there is no driveability concern noted. Check and advise. Customer has CNA extended warranty. MIL not on at this time. Consult tested. Failure code P0420 three-way catalyst code stored in the system. Found to have a programming error in the ECM. Reprogrammed ECM, cleared codes and rechecked. No further problems found.
PP-FW-PFP-23710-5Y006.

I have 42,500 miles on the car, and service advisor said it was covered under the factory warranty. Woo hoo, thanks Nissan!

Before the technician plugged the car into the diagnostic machine, he checked the air filter, (K& N Filtercharger) and noticed that it was pretty dirty. Could that have been the problem? The service advisor said it wasn't. Either way, I'm glad it's free!

Also, I know the 30,000 mile maintenance checkup has been discussed in pretty good detail here, but the service advisor suggested that I could break up, and do only certain things. He recommended flushing the transmission and coolant systems. The battery was fine, timing and engine settings arent rough, and the tires get rotated free at NTB. I think this is a good alternative to having to pay $400+ for the full service.

Thanks in advance

 

Actually, your dealership really didn't have a choice. The ECM is covered under the manditory 8/80 Federal emissions warranty. However some service departments seem to "forget" that fact. What they did is reflash the ECU per TSB NTB00-07A. The alternative would have been far more expensive for them -- replace the catalyst system (also covered by the 8/80). I will say they do seem pretty honest and up-front though.

 

DanL is correct about the info he provided. I just wanted to add whether you have the dealer perform it or not, the two repairs he mentioned are due at around 30k. i am assuming you are auto. you can have nissan or a shop due a drain and refill on the tranny or they can flush the whole system out. the drain and refill will not get rid of the tranny oil in the toruqe converter but it will be cheaper. also look at the flushing the coolant system. you may want to check the air filter and clean the throttle body but besides that you seemed to have it covered.

 

thanks guys!