Earlier this month, I've opened a new thread regarding problems with my car. My car is a 2000, I have 128 000km so thats about 74 000miles on the car. Not long ago, I was rolling at around 100km (60 miles) i felt my car give a big kick back, I stoped at the light, I tried backing up R ( reverse) didnt want to work. Now the car drives normal from 1 to 2 gear after second gear the car doesnt shift no more. I try reverse and it works perfectly no hesitation from the car. Some people think its the transmission, other solenoids and other torque converter. I brought the car to 2 different Nissan dealerships. First one made me wait over 2h30 to finally tell they cant bring the car in for X reasons. So they had me talk with one of their techs coz i was getting pissed off, he said clutch inside the tranmission, and yet he wasnt sure. He said they would have to take out the transmission and open it up to see whats the problem. ( Thats bulll sh*t to me) yesterday i brought the car to another dealership, they didnt want to bring the car in the plug it in the computer to see whats wrong with the car, instead they also sent me a tech to test drive the car. Like if i was stupid i didnt know how to explain what was happening with the car. During the test drive, hes like ohhh your car doesnt shift from 2 to 3. we return to the dealership and he tells me the tranny is done ( uhumm) The he ask me if iv done any maintenance on the car. I'm like i change engine oil every 5000km and last time nissan tech had me change my transmission fluid because it was old and getting dark. He told me that probably ruined your tranmission since your tranny got used to the old oil ( im my head, im like omg this guy thinks im a tard!!!!!!) to top off his stupidity, he opens the hood start looking around, smells the oil and says ohh it smells like something burned, ( im like wtf, its oil what do you want it smell like, strawberrys ?) he sees wires from my sound system and and HID kit, he tells what is that, if it wasnt well installed that it could have ruined something in the car. At that point i couldnt take it anymore, asked how much was the labour to take out my tranny out and install a the new one if i get a used one. he tells me 10 hours at 70$ an hour. At that moment it confirmed , they are trying to rip me off. To sum up, Nissan dealerships are voltures, i dont know what to do now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

go somewhere else........ unless you have extended warranty

 

Take it to a proper transmission shop. My mechanic (not a Nissan dealer) had a problem with his 4x4 tranny and he said he wouldn't mess with that s***, cause it is a bit of a specialized field. You wouldn't go to a foot doctor if you had a heart attack would ya'??

 

another person bashing all dealership because of what happened at one.

FYI, sometimes the owners are at fault for what happens at the dealership.

- do you expect to be treated like royalty? if you dont make an appointment, you might have to wait.
- if there is a problem, a tech will drive the car. thats standard practice. you expect them to just take you word for everything?
- yes its expensive to install a new tranny. if you thinks its so easy, you do it.

$20 says its the TCM

ps please work on your posting skills so we know when a new sentence starts and dont have to read it three times to figure out what you are saying. dam run-on sentences

 

I am sorry for you man but like the other guys said one bed experience thasn't make all Nissan dealers bed.
I myself had a similar problem - only first gear and reverse on and off it happened suddenly so I drove it strait to the dealer - I just showed up and within half an hour they diagnosed it and they said that I need new tranny.
They find a courtesy car for me because they had to get a new tranny for me so it might take a while - and I was off.
Since my car was still on warranty it was free to me and in ten days I had my car back with new tranny.
So you see not EVERY Nissan dealer sucks.

 

I actually went to two dealers i appreciate your concern but im not bashing all dealerships, I brought to 2 different dealerships none of them took the time to plug the car for a diagnostic. And im not saying its an easy job!! its only I've heard it takes a lot less then 10 hours to remove and place a new tranny!

PLZ people dont get me wrong, its possible that im going to the wrong dealerships that dont offer good service. Anyway you guys got to understand my frustration!!! I have no warranty on the car, everything i got to repair $$$$ comes out of my pocket!!! Semester starting soon at university so new tranny isnt in my budget, specially if its not dead!

 

I do understand your frustration with the dealership and the fact that you are going to have to pay for this. Y
ou dont have to plug the car in for a diagnostic on the tranny. The tech has to drive it to figure out what he thinks is wrong.
I think its the TCM (tranny control unit). there is TSB for this problem. take the TSB to the dealership.
FYI, its even harder to try and get warranty work done because they try and deny the problem since they wont make any money off of it.

 

http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/tsb/NTB00-039a.pdf

 

Well lets think about what is making you mad. You didn't take care off your tranny and now it is going to cost you money, guess what thats what happens. As a tech I can tell you everthing he told you sounds accurate to me. If you don't replace your tranny fluid varnish builds up, and after a point the varnish is what allows the tranny to work at all. Do me a favor pull your dip stick wipe it off and tell me if it comes clean, I bet no. Go ahead and change your fluid I bet your car won't move at all. Now lets adress the smell issue you have, as your non-maintained tranny starts to slip it generates extra heat. This extra heat BURNS the fluid. Its what happens, your right it shouldn't smell pritty but it shouldn't smell burnt. I will give you the labor, it dose sound a little high, but not as high as you think maybe about 2 hours. Now what have we learned, don't freak out because you were to cheep to maintain you car. The bottom line is he is right and your were wrong. I also belive you should apologize to him, me, and all the other Nissan Techs out there that you are magicaly "smarter" then.

 

His native language is French, guessing from his location. Cut him a little slack, how many years did it take you to figure out the english language?

 

i dont post on french forums

 

and if you did, I bet they'd flame you.. the world is such a nice place, isn't it....

I think the major flaw of all service departments is adequate communication... seems like techs are good at describing symptoms, but not always so good at stating a cause, a real problem that has to be fixed, etc... perhaps that's the dealership's fault - "be ambiguous to the customer so we can reduce liability" ?

I think customers would be much more satisfied if they got a reasonable explanation for a reasonable problem which the tech could describe. A "your oil smells burned, we're going to have to open up your tranny, its' going to cost this much money" type of answer just frustrates people. I'd rather have a tech give me his wild theories, but give me some more detail about the situation, than leave me in the dark...

 

what were the reasons?


no, thats not BS. its either authorize teardown time to confirm the problem, and it may be a relatiely cheap fix, OR replace/rebuild the trans. if you go rebuild, hes gonna have to drop the trans anyway, and take it apart, so the labor involved would apply to the rebuild anyway, so its not like youre getting charged extra. an independent tranny shop will do the same thing.


no... its called verifying the concern. the tech will spend less time trying to duplicate the problem if youre riding along to show him what the problem is. lol, and if you didnt stay to drive with him, and he couldnt duplicate the problem, youd probably b!tch about that also, lol


so do we. how many miles on teh car? if a nissan tech had you change the fluid, then either it was too late, or the service was done improperly.

his... or yours?

which is true...


what makes you think theyre trying to rip you off. $70 is about a normal dealer labor rate, and with diag time, R+I ttrans, transfer components and setup the new trans, road test, etc will probably run more than 10 hours. i can look it up for you , if youd like.


lol

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=180808

 

Put your self in my shoes, I just find it real strange that 2 techs from 2 different dealerships diagnose 2 different problems. And by the way, what are you talking about being cheap, I bought the car used it had 102 000km, before buying the car I had a full diagnostic done by the dealership to tell me if something is wrong. They said everything is perfect. So i bought it. 15 000 km later and 3 oil changes (engine) the tech told me it would be good to change tranny fluid. I told him do whatever you need to do to keep the car in good shape. That car is or was my baby, I took and still take care of it. I just dont want the car ending up in the wrong hands and finish by getting scr*w*d. I am sorry that you took my post as a personal insult.


By the way, I've noticed that when the car is on (P)ark the car idles a 1250rpm. When i put on drive it comes back to 750. My buddy has a maxima also the same year and his idles at 750rpm, and iv seen pretty much everycar idle at 750.

 

First, diagnosing a car is not as easy as you think. Lots of tings could go wrong that have similar symptoms. And a full diagnostic doesn't mean much, how do you know they performed one at all? Do you have an inspection on paper? Do you still have the receipt to the tranny fluid change? And if the dealership is too $$$, take it to an independent shop.

 

no one 'diagnosed' your car. you said that they checked afew things, and gavge a few possibilities of what the problem might be, but told you that in order to find out for sure, theyd need teardown time.

fact of the matter is, all three times its been told to you that its INTERNAL to the transmission.

the trans needs to come out. you need to pay for it. or sell the car.

just because everything was cool on teh car when you bought it, doesnt mean that it will be for the rest of its life. anything that generates heat or has moving parts is prone to wear and failure. that would include your tranny.