So back in November I bought an '07 Nissan Maxima SL with 172k miles, It ran fine and all that, only had a few issues (rust floor, oil leak, fuel gauge not working.. etc). They were fixed shortly after purchasing but several months later, the car started giving me trouble shifting gears. Particularly after 40mph+ and then now anytime after 20mph+. I assume its the transmission having gone bad since its high miles, and the Nissan CVT's are notorious for not being the greatest. Since I work full time, my dad took it to a mechanic while ordering another transmission to come here ($1100), when it finally arrived the mechanic installed it and it still had the same issues (shifting gears). The guy said its probably the "transmission computer" or whatever and it needs a new one. My dad orders a transmission computer to reprogram to, guy installs it.. still not working.

Now my dad wants to take it a Nissan dealership/mechanic and get the transmission refunded (apparently it was from a Murano, but I believe those are compatible?). But we're already $600 in for the labor/installation of the transmission, and maybe $180 for the trans computer. One Nissan dealership my dad took the car to wanted about $480 JUST to diagnose the issue. Now I'm not sure what to do. I kind of came around to liking the car, even though its a "beater". It's fully loaded, heated seats/steering wheel, and normally drove fine before this. So ideally I want it to be fixed and so I can drive it daily again. But I don't know how much more this will cost and if it will be worth it at that point. For reference I bought it on the cheap ($1400) and KBB values it around 3-4k, so I don't mind dropping a little more $$ on it. Any advice on what to do or what the problem is? I also don't look forward to going back onto the car market and sorting through the sea of beaters and finding another old car that has some decent options for a reasonable price.

Thanks.

5/04 Update: Still don't know whats wrong with it. What I do know is that almost all of the lights are on now on the dash, and with the new transmission it can actually go to 40 mph+ (hit 60-70) with better shifting. The problem I believe is that the transmission computer needs to be programmed to the VIN of the new transmission that was put in. However, we learned that the transmission came from a wrecked car and they had no trace of its VIN. Is there anything else I can do?

 

That's tough. Ya got an 07 and you're not original owner. You're gonna have to start ruling things out. Check all the electrical connections and wires from the transmission. It maybe something as simple at that. You're gonna have to start learning about your car.

Get in there an make sure all the connections and wires are in good shape. Then ya gotta figure out if stuff is talking to each other. If it can't talk to each other, than it can't work the way its should.

 

Hi first off thanks for the advice! So do you think it for sure is a transmission related problem? Like it wouldn't be anything else right? And okay I guess I'll have myself and my dad take a look at the electric wires/connections although I'm not really sure what to look for specifically as I don't know much about cars.

 

On my 07, a bad brake controller could not communicate over the CAN, and as a result would not shift at times.

Local mechanic thought it was a CVT. When I went to the nissan dealer, I had to pay $500 just to find out it was not the CVT.

Again my issue was intermittant, so may be different.

 

That's interesting as that can very well be the issue. Did some googling and another user said their Wheel sensors weren't working and it caused those shifting problems. Do you know if an OBD II scanner would possibly pick up the error codes? Could save me $500 and a trip to a nissan dealer. I'd love for the problem not to be transmission related haha

 

Update so one of the dealers my dad took it too gave some codes they found, here they are:

C1124 - Left Rear Inlet Solenoid Circuit Fault
and
P0037 - HO2S2 (B1) Heater Central Circuit Low

If anyone knows if those relate. I will also look into what those mean via google

 

 

The other code is not related.

P0037 Nissan
The P0037 code is set when the ECM detects that the HO2S2 on bank 1 has a malfunctioning heater element. The heater in the oxygen sensor helps get the sensor up to operating temperature faster in order to improve fuel economy and emissions

 

That video was really informative, looks complicated lol. At the end I noticed he said that that problem causes the car to go into fail safe mode/limp mode. And that the car loses "power" but still driveable. Maybe that is what I'm experiencing? Because its very difficult now as I said to go above 20 mph.

This is definitely helpful thanks again

 

Yeah, I had an ABS issue because drains were plugged up. Went into limp mode and would not go above 20-30 mph. The car sat at the Dealership for three weeks until it was figured out - PDF attached.

 

That's the first I've heard of a limp mode, but I guess its a thing based on google. And here I was thinking it was a bad transmission hahah. Do you know how much your problem ran you at the dealer/mechanic?
Trying to figure out what it'll cost me if I tell the guy I know the (likely) problem already, here's how you fix it.. etc

 

The issue is really only with the 07 - design flaw with the rear knuckles that year: lack of appropriate drainage for the hub, which then affects the ABS. That is why there is not much chatter about on the Internet and why my car sat at the Dealership for three weeks. The Nissan techs had never seen it before.

It was not resolved until they escalated the problem and spoke with a master tech at Nissan USA. Then it was sorted very quickly. Hopefully this is your issue.

 

"Do you know how much your problem ran you at the dealer/mechanic?"

I would say 2-3 hours labour. They gotta get the car in the hoist, disassemble the rear brakes/hub to point where they can do the work, reassemble the car, and then take for a test drive. So, yeah, I am guessing 2-3 hours.

 

Gotcha thanks again! I'll update the post next week if that fixes the issue

 

Good luck, bro.

Take the PDF to the tech so he knows what to do.

 

So update: Still don't know whats wrong with it. What I do know is that almost all of the lights are on now on the dash, and with the new transmission it can actually go to 40 mph+ (hit 60-70) with better shifting.

The problem I believe is that the transmission computer needs to be programmed to the VIN of the new transmission that was put in. However, we learned that the transmission came from a wrecked car and they have no trace of its VIN. Is there anything else I can do?

 

I would find a transmission shop or a reputable Dealership. They should be able to reprogram the CVT to match the VIN of your car if that is the issue.

 

The way it was explained to me was that it would have to be programmed to the VIN of the car it came from?