Max Dragon

I'm usually one to always stick up for my maxima when those that are less fortunate and ignorant belittle my "Black Beauty". However, today she disappointed me. Its snowing like hell all over the east coast whether you know or not and it has now reached NY. The roads were covered in snow but no more than I have driven before in other cars. Long story short... the TCS failed me. It tried to keep me from sliding... ok... but it was also cutting off power to the engine to the point that i was at a dead stop! Cars were coming from behind me and passing me like I was stranded in a Kia or something. And the worse part is that I couldn't even disable the TCS. Whats up with that?

4MySwee

iTrader: (2)

MaxDragon, safe to assume this is a 6th gen? Which would also mean that it should still be under warranty, right? My biggest concern for you/any of us, is that you lost engine power. We don't need to be out there relying on a feature to save our hides, and then get nailed by another car (whether it be from behind or whereever) because that same 'feature' just disabled us in a precarious situation. I would make that abundantly clear when you take her in to Nissan! She is non-the-less, your black beauty!! Glad to hear you are safe. How long afterward did she kick back over? Just curious.

Apollos2

iTrader: (16)

I don't have TCS but I thought it was a button just to the left of the steering column. Next to the steering wheel heater button.

maX5

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, it is next to the steering wheel column, right next to the heated steering wheel button.

AuAltima3.5

the point of TCS is to keep the wheels from losing traction, so it will do what is req'd to keep that from happening, IE cut back power/hit the brakes.

You should be able to turn off the TCS. go to the dealer.

Max Dragon

yea its an 06 still new. Bought it in Nov and has over 4000 miles on it. Funny you should mention that because thats really what almost happened. One time I was sitting there for like 5 min trying to get power back to the engine!!! And it kept doing that the whole ride through. I was praying I got home. Its normally takes me 10 min to get home from work...all highway. Because of loosing traction and loosing engine power ... (oh did I mentioned there was a brrring and a jogging of the car?) It took me 45 min to get home. Not much traffic cause it was Sunday early morning fortunately. But this was one of the worse rides I had yet

I will definitely be going to the dealer

nimax05

well i drove 684 (brewster) to work and if we live in the westchester area we all know that they dont touch that road when it snow, but i had no problem with my car and the snow, maybe you were applying too much gas, and whenever i apply alot of gas the the slip light came on and i just release the gas and i was good

Max Dragon

I wouldnt consider going 20mph too much gas. There was sometimes even if i pressed gas it still wouldnt move as if my car was turned off!

I know 684. I was on I-84 North. They didn't pave the road yet and if they did snow accumulated back real quick

logik05se

100% what your describing your max to be doing is somethign that needs to be taken into service for. I just got back from driving around in NY and honestly the car is great in the snow....as any other FWD car I've driven.

xoomer.com

iTrader: (19)

I drive through NY's local streets no problem, did use the manual shifter though so the weels don't spin. I think you can disable that tracking control thou.

lightonthehill

Max Dragon - My 6th gen Maxima performs wonderfully well in the snow.

But I ALWAYS turn off the Traction Control System and drive very carefully when in snow. Having almost two thirds of the car's weight on the front (drive) wheels makes a huge difference.

There is a rectangular button to the lower left part of the dash, just to the right of the mirror controls. It can be difficult to see behind the steering wheel.

It has the wording 'TCS OFF' on it. That is unless the vehicle (like mine) is also equipped with the 'Vehicle Dynamic Control' System, in which case the wording will be 'VDC OFF'. Turning the VDC off also turns the Traction Control off.

If the car ends up in the situation you described, turning the TCS (or VDC) off will reset the process and restore full normal power to the vehicle.

Try running in the snow with the TCS off before heading to the dealer. You may be OK.

Max Dragon

As I mentioned in my first statement I was trying to disable it. You should see me in the car jamming on theTCS button trying to turn it off as my car is gasping for power....no response. I dont have the VDC on my car. Its the basic model (I'm 23 with a brand new car. I can't afford everything u know ) . I will be taking the car in today for a look and will keep you guys posted.

mroleg

iTrader: (2)

I think the only way to turn TCS off is when wheels stop spinning. You can't turn it off while the wheels spin. I came from a long trip yesterday and encountered snow both on the highway and local streets. Overall I was pleased with max performance in the snow. Although I have to say I personally do better getting out of being stuck in the snow with TCS off. Highway, however is all different story and TCS worked out nicely. Max Dragon you are correct in saying TCS cuts off power but it is exactly what is suppose to do to maintain grip to the ground. It prevents wheels from spinning out of control on slippery surfaces.

Max Dragon

Well i just came back from the dealers and they verified the operation of the TCS and they said they couldn't find any fault with it. The also said the same thing you did mroleg about how the TCS cuts off power to the engine to prevent slippage. But they couldn't find out how come I couldn't turn it off when I wanted it to when I had the problem. I was literally sitting in one spot on the highway for 5-8 min trying to disable the TCS after it cut off engine power to try and get the wheels up and going again. I have a feeling this is gonna be one of those things I will need to keep going back and forth about...
The only information I got that may be the problem is software. But for them to suspect that more cars would have to come in about the same problem and judging from 6th gen'rs in this forum it seems I am the only one with the problem. So scratch that idea... but we will see

logik05se

if you ever have that kind of problem again, try turning the car off then back on...before hitting the gas disengage the TCS.

Max Dragon

I will definitely give that a try

VQPRO

iTrader: (1)

I don't have TCS and i live in new york i got caught in the snow storm too, but to my surprise the max handled excellent in the snow , i had a all-wheel drive audi a6 before the max,and i got stuck in the snow a couple of times ,but since i had this maxima i have been through two snow storms and i have never got stuck

mwh

no offense meant, I usually disable the TCS while my foot is on the brake -especially if you are planning to race someone off a light. I have found that TCS will put the brakes on for you once the wheels begin to spin (lose races this way), but I have never seen it "power down" or shut off the engine.

dla

I’m assuming you have an automatic. If so another thing you can do is use the manualmatic mode. When coming to a stop push and hold the stick on the + and this holds the tran in 2nd (even 3rd) while stopped. This greatly reduces the amount of torque sent to the wheels and limits slip. Likewise while moving on snow/icy roads and the TCS comes on (or slip light blinks) you can go to manualmatic mode and select and hold it in a higher gear (and I don’t mean drive faster) and this will lower the RPM and limit slip.

RHMax

TCS uses ABS sonsors and does both, applying the brake to slipping wheel and reduce engine power if both front wheels are slipping.

mwh

Another good reason to shut TCS off if you plan to get a quick start from a traffic light.

logik05se

actually, if you come from a standing stop on dry land with tcs on and just stomp the gas, it limits the wheel spin and you dont lose much power off the take off...I do take off the tcs if im gonna race, but an inexperianced driver to the max is better off leavin it on cuz youll lose more time with the wheelspin.

MaximaSE2005

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think for the owners who have VDC. Once you turn off the VDC the TCS stays on. I remember reading that somewhere in one of the threads last year. Somebody was complaining that you can shut off the VDC but not TCS.

Anyways, I was in the snow storm with my Max and it drove wonderfully. No problems and I even left the VDC on. But then again, I was driving very carefully.

Max Dragon, good luck with your car. Hope they will be able to find the problem for you. It sucks to know a fellow Max owner is having problems. I've been through enough myself to know. Take care!

Max Dragon

wow thanx guys for your suggestions. Yes I do have a automatic. I was thinking about shifting it into the steptronic mode but didnt think it would help. Its seems I am cursed with bad cars.
-My old '90 chevy cavalier (actually my dads) wouldnt start on cold days and cut off on me. Sometimes in the middle of an intersection.
- I had a used 2002 majestic blue maxima that I had bought from "Major Auto World" (NEVER AGAIN WILL I GO TO THAT PLACE) in Feb 2005. I didnt know any better. It had electrical problems. Traded it in for the 2006 Onyx max.
- and now this.

We will see on the next snow storm how "Black Beauty" fairs in the snow.

MIKEDINERO2000

Disconnect the battery and wait about 10mins. If it comes back on then you do have a problem.

Max Dragon

What are you talking about Mike? I dont have the problem anymore. And I am not going to disconnect a battery in the middle of the road for something that can be solved by turning off the car and back on again

lightonthehill

MaximaSE2005 - The Owner's Manual (in the section discussing VDC) states that turning off VDC also turns off TCS. It had to be this way, as the driver MUST have the option of turning off the TCS, and there isn't a separate 'TCS OFF' switch on cars (like mine) equipped with VDC.

boisestate

I think I have a similar problem with my 04 auto Maxima. After I've been driving for a few minutes and apply the brakes firmly, the "VDC Off" light comes on and stays on until the engine is turned off. I think it happens when the ABS tries to activate (even if it just barely activates). Then, if I hit the "VDC Off" button (next to the steering wheel heater button) the dash displays both "VDC Off" and "Slip". Didn't see anything in the user's manual for this. Any idea what, if anything, could be wrong?

Thanks!
Josh

Smooth

Go to the dealer

jjspeed

this morning when i turned on the car the service engine light warning stayed lit, as well as the slip light and tcs off light above the service engine soon light. the car seemed to drive normally except when I tried to step on it, then i could tell that it was being throttled back because of the slip. But it almost seems to contradict itself, if the tcf was off why would it have been throttling back because of slip.
Regardless I am calling the dealer to bring it in today, i'll post the outcome and results as soon as i can

Smooth

Its doing this for one reason Its F*cked...lol The dealer will fix ya up

jjspeed

ok so the scoop was the cleaned and re-tightened ecm ground connections bulletin #06-009
While it was there I had them take care of the rear cross memeber assembly recall, along with the driver seat switch recall.
They also turned down my front rotors and put new pads on the front, as well as a tire rotation and front end alignment. And all I paid for was the front end alignment.

they only thing that i didn't like was the dodge neon loaner for 4 days. I was embarrased to drive that piece of c$#p