NIKV69

Ok I had much the interesting morning. I am in Nevada where I live in the winter. I drove up to Vegas to see my best friend who is in town for a few days. I got up early and was headed to breakfast when I get into my car and when I go to start it cranks and cranks and barely starts. RED FLAG. My car always starts the same way. Fast and with authority. I have driven through SD in sub zero conditions and AZ in 120F heat and never an issue. So after making a mental note I let it warm up properly and go to shift into reverse and BANG! I thought someone rear ended me while I was parked but then it's dawns on me that it's my tranny. I know the tranny can't be bad. I service my car at the premium Nissan intervals and the tranny has not given me any indication that's is beginning to fail. I back out and put it in drive and it barely moves. I throw the shifter to the right to do the manual shift thing and it's not working. Won't go out of drive. I park it and let it sit for 20 mins and try it again. Same. I am still saying this has to be an electronic issue for the hard starting and tranny issue can't be a coincidence. I drive to breakfast and eat (30 minutes) go out and lo and behold the car starts right up and everything works fine. Now my question. Is the relay for the electronic fuel pump and transmission valves the same? I am assuming the valves in my tranny are controlled by electronic switch and not hydraulics. This can't be a fuse because once it blows it won't reset itself and has to be replaced. Going forward what should I do? If it continues to work fine I still will be concerned. HELP!

2LEET4U

iTrader: (4)

bump for answers???????????

NIKV69

I thought there was a couple of techs here. It hasn't given me anymore trouble so it had to be basically be an freak electronic thing. Would the code be saved in the computer? I mean I know some relay controls the valve body and fuel pump.

po8pimp

I don't know if this is the answer but, when I was having starting issues and car shutting off on it's own and real bad shifting issues I replaced my Camshaft Position Sensor. Once replaced everything was good.

NIKV69

Thanks I will make a note. I spoke to a Nissan tech and he never heard of that but added that whatever failure occured should be stored in the computer and hooking up and reading the code should yield the cause. If any other Nissan tech here knows of anything please chime in!

NIKV69

*UPDATE*

Plugged a scanner into my computer and the trouble is the camshaft position sensor.

Now I have heard rumors that it is a recall and won't cost me anything and on the other side I heard that it costs 400 bucks and the dealership says to replace the crank angle sensor too which is basically the same sensor? Anybody shed any light on this?

CanadianMoFo

I believe there are two camshaft postion sensors, and one crankshaft postion sensor. Each sensor shouldn't cost you more than $100USD or so, of course there is labour on top of that. The sensor on the right side of the engine is a 5 minute job. The others...not so sure about.

CM

po8pimp

I just did this install took 5 minutes seriously. there are only two. Both on the right side one in front and one in back. one is angled and one is straight. The one closest to the front is the angled one which is nissan specific. the other you can get at any parts store for between 50-60. the one that is nissan specific costs 100 with tax. don't let them get you with labor costs. Ohh and the service manual for replacement can be found at www.nissanhelp.com under the knowledgeable>service manual section. Free membership and only two downloads a day. I think you want the EC or engine control one. very easy install. if you need help like what I did to do this let me know. Oh also there are no recalls for the 04-08 max yet. you can try and get them to cover it but good luck I couldn't.

NIKV69

Thanks guys! Was under the hood last night and found them. Not that hard a job. Sensor runs 70-80 bucks. Funny how the dealer gets 400 for the job though I can imagine they will advise replacing them in pairs and charging 100 plus each for the part and an hour or so labor. No recall on our generation they had a recall on the 02-03s. Going to do this afternoon will update.

NIKV69

*update*

Went to autozone of course out of stock. Had to go to the dealer and spend 30 bucks more. (What else is new) Install is easy and fixed it good as new!

Thanks to all that helped!

nsnrider

iTrader: (59)

thanks for the update, good info to keep in mind in case it ever happens to your car.

ramberg

iTrader: (29)

Glad that the problem was taken care of.

NIKV69

Thanks guys, yea that safe mode thing made sense I knew there was nothing wrong with my tranny. Just have a scanner it's the best tool. I plugged it in my computer and told me everything. From what I heard the dealer will charge over 400 for this. It's not a hard repair. The sensor near the firewall is a little tricky but not bad and the one nearer the radiatior literally takes 2 minutes to do. Save yourselves some money.

JMAX95

Sorry to dig this up. But the problem is driving me nuts. 04 Max SE with about 68,000 miles.

Car shifts perfectly fine when cold. After you drive it around for awhile (I'd say after 30min) shifting delays when going between park, reverse and drive and will slam into gear. Took it to dealer and showed rep the problem. By the time the mechanic got to it. He could not duplicate. He probably didn't drive it around long enough. Tranny fluid was flushed; still the same. No check engine light, so no error codes. By the time I drove the car home, I tested and it starts to slam gears again.

I'm out of ideas. I assume that if transmission had issues it'll have problems whether if it's hot or cold. Since I had no codes, I took a stab at replacing one of the cam sensors (the front one). It did not help. I did not replace the one by the firewall. Any possibility that the rear one is the cause?

po8pimp

The sensors would be the problem from the start not when hot and cold. Check your motor mounts. Sounds crazy but chances are they are bad and need replaced.