Hi, please do not flame up over another MAF thread. I searched for days now and read just about every thread on MAF and tranny problems. In one post a guy described the same symptoms I have but no one responded which made me post this question:

I have an auto. Car goes fine up to 6K RPM, but sometimes when accelerating hard it feels like its taking time to shift, perhaps slipping, I am not sure but I think it is from 2 -> 3. So when accelerating, it climbs up to 5-6K and then it pauses a bit before it changes gears. It is reving but not shifting. Also sometimes (not always) when going from an idle roll, say when rolling off a driveway and if I want to floor it to merge the traffic fast the car feels like it is stuck in a high gear or something, revs just don't want to go up, it accelerates very slowly below 2000 RPM, I get a few sputters, and then eventually a few seconds later I get all the power and RPM and the car goes. I changed the TCM with latest updated one which improved shifting a bit but the bog down problem is still there and so is shifting at hard accelerations. BTW, I have been changing (drain and fill) tranny oil every 20K with Mobil1 (done it 3 times so far) and I have a tranny cooler installed since I got the car. My thoughts are either solenoids or MAF or both. Any ideas? What do you think? Thanks :-)

 

doesn't sound like a MAF, but you never know. When a MAF goes bad at first, it will seem fine until about 3400 RPM's and then all of a sudden it feels as if your towing a boat. If will get worse and eventually go into a "safe" mode and you wont be able to go above 2k RPM's(i think?). So if you have those symptoms, it is your MAF.

 

do a tranny flush to see if that helps ... if not well your tranny is going.... so drive slow to see if it last longer.....

 

I did the drain and fill a week ago (about 4 qts went in). Should I try the complete flush? That's with 16 qts or so, right?

 

I would take it to a tranmission specialist and see what they say after a drive. I would assume they would be able to better diagnose your problem than we can seeing that its definatly a Transmission issue...

 

Might also be the cat. That's how mine acted before the cat finally quit completely. Once that happens, you'll have no power at all. The dealership also played with the A/F ratio before the cat was replaced (I have a hook-up on parts, so I did the cat myself). Once the a/f was fixed, the timing advanced to 17 degrees and the ECU reset, it ran much better.

 

Funny that you say that as my 02 closest to the cat has been giving me the trouble for some time now and I have been suspecting to have bad cat... May be I look at that first?

 

theres a TSB for slipping during 2-3 shift.

calls for replacing the solenoid body. thats not what you mean by tcm, right?

 

Yes, I read it, TSB NTB00-039a, and I only replaced the TCM and not the solenoids... I just wanted to make sure it is the solenoids and not something else before I try that as it is somewhat a PITA job to do...

 

Any more ideas for the sputtering problem? I suffered from it again today. It does not happen every day, but today I wanted to merge the traffic and I floored it but the car just moved so slowly sputtering at about 1500-2000 RPM that I almost caused an accident! I don't think this is related to tranny. Could it be the cat, or MAF, or coils? Please help

 

So, I checked the cat today and it fine. I ordered a new MAF so will see if that will make a difference.... If anyone has any other ideas while I wait for the MAF feel free to share them... Mechanic that took the cat down, suggested that coils might be the problem?

 

does it bog at mid-low RPM under heavy load and tend to clear up at higher RPMs?

 

Checked the coils yet?

 

I have a similar hessitation with mine and I just hope it's not the tranny. One of these days I'd like to go test drive a couple other auto Maximas and see how they shift......

 

It only bogs up when leaving of a dead-stop or idle roll on a flat surface, empty car, only me in it (I'm 190 lbs). Once I get going a few seconds later it clears up... Thanks

 

No, I have not checked the coils yet, I ordered a MAF this week. I have a set of coils and plugs ready to be put in too that I will do after the MAF...

 

leaning towards coils.

 

Thanks for the tip! Will do that first and then the MAF so could see if it does it... Will try to do one at a time...

 

if the coils are the problem..see how it drives and if it is good...MAF sensor can do nothing but improve on top of that.

 

Quick update, got the MAF today, yey Will install it this week along with coils and new plugs and hope to take it in on Saturday to get the reprogramming done for both O2 and MAF (hopefully my contact will be working then ) Will post another update again hopefully on Sunday...

 

oh btw bauer, you were right, i had a bad cat. my car was giving me issues and we had that huge long discussion over it and i got the new cat installed about a month or so ago and ever since then the car has been running great. i would check your cat if you suspect any problems......bad cats can really mess with the car.

 

Man, these cars can be really touchy. My other car (supercharged 5.0) is a little touchy but these cars have all kinds of sensors that can alter your performance.

 

the only touchy sensor is the MAF sensor, AFAICT... the Bosch HFM5 isnt that great of a sensor, as the Porsche crowd knows, and oil based filters that many of us are using just make it worse.

 

No problem. Glad my past pain and anguish helped out someone else.

 

A brief update... We got a break in weather yesterday and was nice and warm outside to do the job (15C, i.e. 60F)... An hour later I had all new coils and new MAF in . Drove it to work today. Did not notice any problems so far (touch wood). I will still wait to see if the stuttering will happen again. Next is to try and get together with the Nissan tech and update the ECU (have trouble getting in touch with him)...

 

This really sucks, after replacing the TCM, MAF and coils with the latest updated parts, this morning I experienced another event of stuttering when trying to take off from a rolling stop

I have finally agreed with the Nissan tech to update the ECM on Dec 17th (update for MAF and O2 as per TSBs for those)... Would the programming have something to do with it? Would it help? Any ideas what I should be looking at next?

 

Anyone have any ideas what I should be looking at next?

 

mine does this too, when i hit the gas just right, usually bout halfway down is quickest accel for me, the SLIP light blinks for about 3-4 secs then it turns off and BAM im gone.

 

I don't get the slip problem, my engine feels like it is cutting out...

 

Does the SLIP light only come on for vehicles equipped with VSC?

 

I don't know about VSC, I have TCS & ABS, don't know bout VSC.

 

Thanks for the contribution but I don't thin I have problems with slipping (TCS)...

 

The problem comes when I am rolling off the idle or low speed and want to gun it to merge traffic for example, and I step on it and then it stutters and accelerates slooowly. Often times I manually downshift it to 1st or 2nd to get it to raise the RPM. Just the other day I wanted to merge 50mph traffic and almost got run over by an 18-wheeler. Scary! Would this have something to do with tranny possibly locking up in high gear? I read a TSB (fuel cut-off) similar to this but was related to 5-sp only (I am auto). First time ever I noticed this problem was when I was leaving the garage rigth after installing the Y-pipe. I was rolling off their driveway and it did it then the first time. Do I may be need to replace the O2 sensor after cat? Would the ECM programing, fuel map, etc? Could it be TPS, knock sensor? Should I wait till I get it reprogrammed to see if the problem goes away? Any ideas would help...

I am so desperate to figure it out that I am willing to get rid of the car and get a new one as this problem could get me into an accident. Many thanks again...

 

my car has the same problem while shifting, i had my mechanic look at it, he said the tranny was starting to slip

 

When do you observe problems on your car, under what conditions? Are you auto or 5-sp?

 

i have an auto, it will like take forever to shift only in the 1-2 shift, when i floor it it will stay at like 6k for like a second or 2 before it shifts, and now it does the same thing no matter what rpm, like if it shifts at 3k, it will stay there for a second or 2 and then shift, it seems like it is getting worse, it has been doing this for about close to 1000 miles now

 

You have a classic example of tranny slipping. Look up the TSB for it on how to minimize it. My problem is opposite, it does not want to rev up...

 

TSB.... how many miles do we have to be under... I replaced the MAF... it got a little better but I think my tranny is slipping soon... cuz when i hit the gas... it stayed at 6k for like 2 seconds longer than it should and then shifts to the next gear... (autotragic).... i don't wanna buy a new tranny

 

Power-train warranty covers you for 5yrs/60K...

 

Darn... i was hoping it was a little higher on the milage...