Murphy5156

Lent a friend my 2002 Maxima (102,000 miles) yesterday. When I gave it to him everything was fine. Not a single problem with the car at all. Well, the "step shifter" (I have an auto) must have thrown him for a loop because he drove all the way to the airport (about 20 miles) at 70MPH in 3RD GEAR. He gets to the airport, and when he attempts to leave the car doesn't want to start. Sounds like it's flooded or something. He manages to get it started, but then notices that the Service Engine Soon light is on AND the Tach is not working AT ALL! He drives it back to my house, and I manage to avoid punching his lights out. :-) I try to start it, and sure enough it sounds flooded for a few seconds, then starts up. SES light still on.....Tach still not working. Other than those three symptoms, car seems to run and drive just like it always has. Took it to AutoZone this AM and they checked the SES code. Came back as P0725 "Speed Sensor Malfunction." This being Sunday I can't get to the dealer. That's my story, and now a couple of questions for the Org:

1) Can I assume that driving 70mph in 3rd gear for 30 minutes damaged the Speed Sensor? The owner's manual claims you can go up to 80mph in 3rd.

2) Any idea why the Tach would stop working (it's on zero)? Is it related to the Speed Sensor Malfunction?

3) Is the difficulty in starting related to the Speed Sensor malfunction?

4) Any ideas on what a Speed Sensor should cost to repair/replace?

5) What exactly does a Speed Sensor do?

Thanks for any help!

VaporHead

A speed sensor will do all this. The speed sensor sends information to various computers for engine and gauge management. The speed sensor part usually goes for around $100-$130. Also, I think your friend was beating the living dog crap outta your ride.

misiek

iTrader: (2)

rule #1: do not let anyone else drive your maxima
rule #2: never break rule number 1


other then that its an easy fix so good luck with that

Murphy5156

Thanks guys! Do you think simply driving 70mph in 3rd gear would really be enough to "fry" this sensor? Seems like an awful lot of "damage" done by something that seems sort of innocuous. But then again, I've never heard of anyone doing this to their Max, so who can say what's innocuous? :-)

Taking it to the Dealer in a few minutes for an after-hours drop off. They will be able to look at it in the AM. Any idea how much $$ labor would be to replace this part?

Whatever it is I should send to bill to my friend. :-)

VaporHead

The stealership will charge around $45-55/hr, and count on it being about a 1-2 hr job, plus whatever diagnostic charges they have.

AuAltima3.5

I am with him.

I would guess that the rpms would be around 4-5k, but shouldn't have fried that sensor. Don't they usually operate on magnetic or optical input? If this sensor is a mechanical operated one (like the old style speedos, I kinda doubt nissan still does this), then it could have been a coincidence.

Murphy5156

OK....the problem has been diagnosed by the dealer and fixed. The Crank Position Sensor had failed. And as luck would have it, it's under Factory Recall so it was replaced NO CHARGE. The funny thing is that I've had the Recall notice on my fridge for about two years but blew if off thinking it was no big deal. :-)

Of course, they found a couple of other, unrelated things that need fixing, but I'm going to put them off until I get some advice from The Org. Thanks guys!