I just bought a 2010 Nissan Maxima Premium with 24,000 miles on it. Absolutely beautiful car. The dealer, which was not a Nissan dealer, put a new throttle body on it before I bought it. When leaving the dealership and got on the interstate, the car fell flat on its face had to floor it and it was still only going 35 MPH. Got it back to dealer. They reprogrammed the computer and said it must have needed to relearn the throttle body. Anyhow, car ran perfectly fine for the 1 hour drive home and ran good for several other small trips. Took it out a couple days later. Drove 20 minutes to my destination and it ran fan. Go in it to come back home and it fell flat on its face again. Had to pull over and shut it off and restart it twice to make it home. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?

 

any more info, what do you mean fell flat on its face. were you accelerating hard? did it just rev up and then cut throttle like as if it hit a governor or fuel cut.
i am having a very similar issue, if i really get on it it revs up and then all of a sudden it will cut throttle to 46%. no codes or anything are triggered. dealer looked at it and cant figure it out either. im going this weekend to a shop to have it put on dyno and monitored to find out exactly what is causing it to cut throttle.

 

A new throttle body after 24K???. These cars don't require things like that unless the car was not taken care of and someone really abused it. If this car has a return policy before a number of days, I would give it back and shop somewhere else if they can't fix it. Yea it might look great, and its beautiful but you wont think that the next time you are stranded. The reliability of it is always going to be in the back of your mind.

 

If I remember right, someone with a data logger found that at speeds above 85 anything WOT is limited to 46% throttle. Must be some sort of safety limiter. I could be wrong on this though. Obviously this had nothing to do with OP issue however.

 

True. Also before 30mph it doesn't get full throttle and it never sees 100%.

Which is another reason why an Uprev tune is the best performance mod for this car.

 

I had similar symptoms with a 5th gen. It would do this once the engine was warm or after a few miles of driving. It turned out to be the transmission speed sensor I dont know if the cvt has such a sensor. But anyhow since you just got this car take it to a nissan dealer and get a full diagnostic to find any other issues. The dealer should be able to fix this easy. I hope you didnt get too good a deal on this car. Does this maxima have a clean title?


Try switching to DS and try changing the fake gears etc see if it picks up speed.

 

By "flat on its face" I mean it wouldn't do over 30 MPH on the interstate with the pedal on the floor. The car is very strong otherwise. This is the third Maxima I have owned. I actually don't think there was anything wrong with the throttle body. The dealer I bought it from wasn't a Nissan dealer. I am sure there computers aren't set up for a Nissan. They came and got it on a rollback yesterday and took it to the local Nissan dealership to have it looked at. I feel like it is some kind of sensor or maybe a bare wire that arcs occasionally. Something simple. I don't feel like it is the motor or tranny. We will see.

 

Sounds like the car is in limp mode. Never experienced it myself, but I know there are a few threads in these forums about people who have had it happen. And I may be wrong, but I believe the problem is coming from the transmission. Maybe it's overheating? I don't recall. Do a search for "limp mode" though and see if it matches your symptoms. Good luck.

 

Sounds Like some Mess to me. Dealership know they foul....

 

Let us know what you find out please.

 

I had something similar happen to me with a Chevy when the catalytic converter died, but it didn't recover. Definitely sounds like the car is limiting itself.

 

I'm currently working on this problem. I have been running datalogs for a couple of weeks now on my own Maxima. I haven't gotten those problems yet but have a few theories about what is happening but won't know until I compile a months worth of data.

I found that compiling a months worth of data on a visible chart gives a very good story about a cars short comings. I just wish I had more time to dedicate to my car. I'm booked up with custom fabrication back to back. Sad I can't even find time to make myself my own turbo system....

Oh well just trying to keep my head above water with all the work I have now.