barristan

I was in heavy traffic going to work this morning and got stuck behind someone doing 60 in the passing lane. Everyone was going into the right lane to pass us. I downshifted to get over but instead of going into 5th I must have hit 3rd. The car didn't appreciate that because it started stuttering and jerking. I quickly corrected but it may have been too late. I was able to limp the rest of the way to work. It seemed to clear up a little but it was still doing it at certain rpms. Also the check engine light came on. Did I blow my transmission? It still shifts thru all gears just fine.

I probably should have had my first cup of coffee before I left for work.

barristan

I went out after an hour and started the car. The motor sounds fine. Although I didn't rev it much.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

That CEL was probably pointing to a fail ignition coil. Get it scanned to know which coil it was. Your gearbox is fine.

dfj240

iTrader: (1)

I agree. 3rd gear at 60 isn't outside the Rev range. You may have put a little extra dab of wear on your clutch or flywheel from it, but absolutely unlikely that you did anything worth worrying about as far as the transmission is concerned.

Get the codes checked and that will tell you what problems, if any, that you may have.

svillegas2253

Your transmission is just fine. 3rd gear is ok at 60. I took 2nd gear to 60 the other night racing a turbo neon lol

barristan

I made it home, but couldn't get past 65 or so without it acting like I threw a large anchor out the window. It would start really stuttering and jerking when the rpm went past 2K. Sitting and idling everything sounds fine until I give it a little gas. Once I hit about 2K it sounds like I am rapidly pressing and releasing the gas pedal.
Does this sound like a ignition coil?
I have been randomly getting a P0300 code for a while now. I was guessing that it is a leak on the intake. A while back I installed thermal spacers and was thinking maybe I didn't do a good enough job with the seal. I was going to redo it when the weather warms up.
Another thing I noticed even before this was when I am driving aggressively (WOT) it seems like it is holding back a little until I hit a certain rpm then it really picks up. It's subtle and not something I would have even mentioned otherwise.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Coils are still a possibility. Need to diagnose and find which ones are bad.
The 2K rpm symptom suggests your MAF may be failing too.
The WOT holding back suggests tired primary O2s. Have you ever replaced them? If not, replace them.
If, after replacing all this stuff you still feel the car holding back, I would look into the condition of the cat converter, possibly replace that too.

Diagnose the CEL properly, and replace the MAF 1st with a used junkyard one. Then go from there.

Several 2002-03 Maximas have suffered from the catastrophic pre-cats failure. If I was in your shoes, as a preventive measure I would gut the pre-cats too, just for the hell of it. Ideally I would install an aftermarket Y-pipe. It just might save your engine.

Check out this thread;

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...-confused.html

barristan

I found a MAF in a local scrap yard for $60. Swapped the sensor and it seems to be resolved. I beginning to doubt that I actually shifted into the wrong gear and that the MAF died at that instance instead.


I still have the "service engine light soon" and I can't reset the ECU with the accel pedal dance. I will try again when I get to work. Does anyone know if Torque Pro or the other app will do the reset for me?

dfj240

iTrader: (1)

Torque Pro will reset it. Good to hear you sort it out.

L_U_D_I_AMaxima

iTrader: (3)

I can easily cruise all day long with 60mph in 3rd gear on my 5speed... I have the torque app and it will reset all ses light codes

svillegas2253: on the 5 speed vq30 I can easily hit 70-75mph before I redline... man I love my 5 speed... I soooo not miss short gear ratios