buss95max

sometimes when i come to a stop, and let go of the brake. my car doesnt move at all. and then all of sudden it shifts itself into gear, and starts to roll. feels like my car forgot to downshift itself into 1st gear. and if i press the gas it will jolt and start moving, like if iam in second gear. any other automatic owners have this problem?....

wdave

Sounds like low fluid (always hope it is the cheap easy stuff first)

Dave

Eric L.

It's not low fluid, or a broken tranny.

It happens in EVERY 4th gen automatic. It's backasswards shift logic. It happens to me like everyday and every other Maxima driver (automatic) that I know.

What happens is that in Nissan's wisdom to maximize fuel mileage (ha..fuel mileage and Maxima is an oxymoron), the transmission holds high gear for as long as possible. So when you come to a rolling (or "California") stop, you never stop completely and the transmission gets hung up in a high gear until you press harder than normal on the gas pedal.

This is what I do...just come to a complete stop when you stop. Then every single time, your transmission will be first gear when you accelerate out from the stop.

The_quorum

...manually once I'm at a SLOW (less than 10mph) speed (so I'm not jerking when it downshifts)...
I got sick of the hesitation...I even tried driving intentionally "HARD" starts from rolling stops for a while to see if it would learn, but apparently our tranny's aren't that bright.

Mike S.

One.....I think its good to come to a complete stop. If I'm under 5mph....which you should be....the tranny's in 1st. It shouldn't even be an issue execet when your rolling to a stop and then the light goes green.

Two....his problem is not this. In the post he says when he lets off the gas his car does NOT move! Meaning...he lets up and no idling forward....then it goes. Sounds more like a problem than the shift logic.

Eric L.

Well, it has to be a complete stop for me. Even if the speedometer reads like under 5MPH, the transmission will still bog in a high gear when I step on the gas...I have to stop and wait until the car jerks backwards from the stop, then the transmission will be in 1st. I used to think my transmission was messed up, but I know several other people with Maximas who have the same shifting quirk.

buss95max

exactly it doesnt move forward(how its suppose to do in "d"), it just sits and i can FEEL the gears shift down back into first, before it starts to move again. it always happens when im going kinda fast, and i come to a stop all of a sudden. it doesnt do it when im coming to a stop at a normal speed. so basicly its like my car forgot to downshift ..

Eric L.

well the car does move forward, but like REALLY slow, right?

I mean sometimes I get stuck in 3rd gear coming to a rolling stop too, and when I step on the gas...the revs go up a little bit but the acceleration is like almost nonexistent, then it downshifts and the car accelerates ok from there.

buss95max

heres how it happen..
i was going maybe ~45mph..and there was a stop sign around 100 feet so i stepped on the brakes. when i let go of the brake pedal. my car didnt move. usually its suppose to roll, right? but it didnt. i pressed the gas and the car stalled and jolted into gear. as if my car was thinking.."oh yeah thats right first gear from a stand still, not second"
know what i mean? heres another example i can think of. you know when you're driving a stick shift and u stall? and the car jerks forward? well thats what it felt like. it just jolted forward...i hope this gives u an idea of what happen..

Eric L.

It could be a combination of two problems. 4th gens are notorious for having front brakes that groan when you release the brake pedal. It's the calipers sticking slightly. Nothing major...just an annoyance. If you were like in 3rd gear when you stopped, then 3rd gear in idle speed might not be enough to push off the slowly releasing brake calipers, which held your car in place at the stop sign. It's sort of a complicated answer, but hey, you never know.