I have a 97 Maxima SE (no engine modifications) with 64K miles on it. I have a strange problem when my car when its cold and I put it in drive the RPMs will drop and the car feels like the transmission is engaging prematurely and taxing the engine, normality when the car is put into drive there is no strain put on the engine till you depress the gas. After driving about two hundred yards the transmission warms up and the problem disappears.

It would be like if you had a manual transmission and you put the car in 1st gear, and let the clutch out, and did not apply the gas.

I went to my local dealership www.hondabarnnissan.com twice, the first time they replaced something called (ECCS Relay - # 25230-79981) and said it was fixed; I took it back in the very next day with the same problem. This time they replaced the transmission fluid and said, they can’t figure the problem out, but if I replace (Solinoid valve assembly # 31940-80X25 - Cost $650) this could possibly fix the problem, if that didn’t fix the problem then they suggest I replace the entire transmission.


This is my seconded Maxima I had a 89 prior to this, I was actually pricing a new 2002 SE now I am not to sure if I would buy another Nissan.

 

Problems like yours come a dime a dozen. You'll find that most Nissan Maxima owners have had no problems with their cars for the lifetime of ownership. It has to be a sensor somewhere thats gone bad. Are you letting the car warm up a bit with the colder weather? If the tranny is going bad for some crazy reason just have it replaced. I have 88,000 miles on my auto and have no problems at all.

 

I had zero problems with my 95 max, the tranny was still going strong after 167k and it was driven hard.

 

i've heard of auto's crappin out a 60k, if u get a 2k2 get the 6spd.

 

I've also heard that manuals crap out faster than auto's (eric d wong's). I think it depends on the car. If you abuse, you lose. BTW, my auto has 80k and not a single problem with tranny(knock on wood)

 

the ratios of auto's crappin out vs the manuals is all on the autos, remember manuals can save their tranny somewhat because of the clutch.

 

I generally agree that autos do crap out first but how many fourth gens have crapped out. Not that many. I think it is a pretty good tranny (not toyota good though). It seems the 5th gens have waaay more problems with transmission issues.

 

hopefully not, i hope my moms 2k1 5spd runs flawlessly for a long time.

 

I've noticed something simliar with my car during cold start ups....When I start it up the rpms shoot up to 1500...If I shift slowly from P to N...Stopping for a split second in R( not long enough for R to engage)...When I get to Neutral the RPMs drop to 500rpm, even though its in Neutral and no gears engaged..the rpms then slowly climb back to 1500rpm till its warmed up...I think this is normal..The engine automatically drops the rpm so that it wont be jerky when D or R is engaged....Similarly this doesnt occur when the car is warmed up and idleing at normal rpm.

MikeO




I have a 97 Maxima SE (no engine modifications) with 64K miles on it. I have a strange problem when my car when its cold and I put it in drive the RPMs will drop and the car feels like the transmission is engaging prematurely and taxing the engine, normality when the car is put into drive there is no strain put on the engine till you depress the gas. After driving about two hundred yards the transmission warms up and the problem disappears.

It would be like if you had a manual transmission and you put the car in 1st gear, and let the clutch out, and did not apply the gas.

I went to my local dealership www.hondabarnnissan.com twice, the first time they replaced something called (ECCS Relay - # 25230-79981) and said it was fixed; I took it back in the very next day with the same problem. This time they replaced the transmission fluid and said, they can’t figure the problem out, but if I replace (Solinoid valve assembly # 31940-80X25 - Cost $650) this could possibly fix the problem, if that didn’t fix the problem then they suggest I replace the entire transmission.


This is my seconded Maxima I had a 89 prior to this, I was actually pricing a new 2002 SE now I am not to sure if I would buy another Nissan. [/QUOTE]

 

Mainly the 2K Autos trannies have been having some issues.

 

good to hear

 

Sounds like your experiancing an idle problem which is not really related to your transmission. Have you cleaned out your throttle body lately? This seems to do wonders to cars with idle problems. I know mine runs much smoother after a cleaning. Your at 60K so there probably is a lot of gunk in there.

 

I have a 98 GXE with the same problem only worse. When is sits in the cold (24°F) all day or over night, I can not put into any gear until it warms up - sometimes for 5+ minutes. If I'm on a hill and drift forward to start moving then slide it into drive, it does not stall. As soon as I try and stop the RPMs drop and it bucks like a manual transmission with the clutch engaged and it stalls. Starts fine, idles fine, when it finally gets over it things run fine. If its not moving, any attempt to put it into gear stalls it immediately until the temp gauge shows normal. I haven't a clue yet. It’s got 107K on it. I'm still trying to diagnose it.

 

now THIS sounds like a DIRTY THROTTLE BODY...OR, bad ENGINE COOLANT TEMPERATURE SENSOR...check those out...also, check your engine grounds (particularly near the fuel rail).

FLO_BOY

 

all these comments about manual transmissions being better than autos in reliability...how many clutches have been replaced? The ratio of clutch and sometimes entire transmission replacement to auto transmission replacement on this board is probably close to 1:1.

 

oh yeah and Ben (mzmtg) noticed a reluctance in a cold transmission to shift into R from P. The idle controller can be changed...do a search on this in the 4th gen forums, where this thread belongs anyway, eh?

 

Thanks for the Ideas. From what I've read on this site I'll bet my Throttle Body is dirty.