I have a 2002 se with an auto. is it alright to shift from 3 to D and vice versa. i let my cousin drive it and he was shiftin between the two. and when he was done drivin(beaten) it, the AT CHECK light was blinkin when i started it later, and then shut off. is it alright it hasn't come on since. and does puttin the e-brake up help any bit? thanx people!

 

By going from Drive to 3rd all you are really doing is locking the trasmission out of the OD gear. If you do it a lot you could cause dammage to the trans from excessive down shifting, but going from 3rd to Drive is no different then when the car normally goes through the gears as you accelerate on to say the freeway.

That being said the purpose of those selections being their isnt to allow you to shift like its a manual, they are there to control speed on a down hill or to lock out a higher gear for when you are in an area where you are going up steep hills and would normally be causing the car to down shift a lot to hold your speed.

 

but does the e-brake help make the tranny last longer when you put it up when you park the car? i feel bad when i put it in park and it rocks. and do the 2k2-2k3 have coil problems like earlier maximas?

 

If I am parked someplace that is near perfectly flat i normally do not set my emergency brake, but if there is a incline i would set it just so the parking brake in the trany doesnt fail.

I dont know about the coil problem as i have just started hanging around this particular forum

 

i always set the parking brake

 

When you are stopped and in park, you could let your tranny be the only thing holding your 3000lb car still. On the other hand, you could spend literally one fraction of one second pulling up on the parking brake handle after you put the car in park and BEFORE you release the foot brake.

Sadly, the majority of people don't use it as often as they should. I know people who have never used the parking break in their entire lives without any problems. I'm sure there are people here on the Org who never use it. I just don't see why you wouldn't use it, personally. It costs you nothing, and it has no adverse effects on the car except for the fact that you'll have to get the hand brake cable tightened up periodically, but that's part of a regularly scheduled checkup anyway (at least it is at my dealership). I think the problem is that people have been taught that the lever beside the seat is the "e-brake." It's not just for emergencies. It's a parking brake. You use it when you're parked.

In fact, using the parking brake regularly could actually be beneficial for your car's Chi. Confucius said, "Flowing water never stagnates and the hinges of an active door never rust. This is due to movement. The same principle applies to essence and energy. If the body does not move, essence does now flow. When essence does not flow, energy stagnates." This idea is based on the Taoist principles that are at the heart of Chinese medicine. Humans may practice Chi Kung (a combination of exercises, different postures, and muscular stimulation) to recapture their universal life force or "Chi," and you can apply the same principles to your Maxima's parking brake. When you view the matter in these terms, you can see the wisdom in using your parking brake regularly in order to give the cables and levers regular exercise and exposure to different postures. This will keep their Chi flowing in a healthy manner and prevent them from rusting due to inactivity.

Seriously... I've seen what can happen when you decide to pull the "e-brake" for the very first time on a 20 year-old car (not that our cars are that old yet). If the cable or any of the nuts and bolts along the cable's path have rusted through, the handle will come up and snap the weak and rusty cable, and the car will not slow down. Use the parking brake regularly. That way, you'll be giving its moving parts a regular workout, and you won't have any surprises if you have to use your parking brake as an "e-brake" one day.

 

The parking brake's main purpose is doing burnouts at the track. But yes exercise it or when you do want to use it, it won't be there.

 

infact you can warp your rotors, if they are hot (after heavy braking) and you park with the ebrake on...like everyone says, if it is on an incline, only then do i put the ebrake on.
Original question...I would suspect it is fine to do so, unless you dont do N to D and vice versa. All cars now days have electronic solenoids and by changing between 3 to D, all you are doing is restrict the computer to shift from 3rd gear to D or vice versa.

 

Lol. I hope people realize that my post above was, for the most part, a joke. Confucius may have been a wise man, but I doubt that he knew much about Maximas.

 

sorry, you're wrong. parking brake isn't using pads on rotors, internal drum