and the car hesitates on acceleration again. Anyone with the same experience?

 

Depends - are you talking about hesitation or throttle lag from stop. If it's the latter, then yes - mine came back. Here's what fixed it (so far permanently):

Dealer can't re-flash the ECU - apparently the ECU knows what version of SW it has, and won't accept an update to the same level.

My dealer did two things - cleared out the ECU memory, and advanced the timing. Then my service manager (gotta love this guy) suggested that I drive "aggressively" so my car learns the right habits. Fixed!

From this, my theory is: ECU flash may not actually fix the throttle lag - what fixes it may actually be clearing out the memory. The first time it was done, I drove "normally", which is to say slow back roads with lots of stops and some traffic to/from work. So eventually the ECU learned "slow starts" from stop.

Now, I make sure I throw in a jump or two off the line on every trip (nothing serious, just fast pedal push vs. slow), and no reoccurrence. Also, advanced timing is great - talk about a cheap performance mod!

 

What did you advance your timing to? 17? I'm going to talk to my dealer tonight about doing the hesistation TSB as well as advancing the timing. Thanks in advance.

 

The service advisor said 17 (two degrees), the paperwork said 16, so . Works for me either way - with 17 I get max performance, with 16 I get more knock protection in Houston heat so...

Made a noticeable difference.

 

Hmmm, so advancing the timing can cause knocking and pinging? I didn't know that. I had that problem with a used 2k that I bought, which is how I ended up with my 2k3. I live near Philly, so the heat isn't as bad as Texas but we can get up to 100 during the dog days.

 

Okay, let me go into detail. Advancing the timing to no more than 17 degrees BTDC should NOT cause any pinging as long as you always use premium gas (preferably 93 octane). So don't worry about that - my point was really that I gained some performance, and if it turns out that one summer day I have to get some lower octane gas, my car won't be as sensitive.

17 degrees is still within Nissan specs, BTW, and will not void warranty.

Sorry, didn't mean to cause alarm.

 

Thanks! I always put 93 octane in anyway so that won't be a problem. Just out of curiosity (and completely OT)...how hot does it get in Houston during the summer?

 

July - August: Average high 90s, with about 90+% humidity.

The humidity is what kills you.