Hey guys! I need some advice big time. My girl's 2000 max with 62K miles had been shaking since a long time once in a while. She had a tune up (air filter, fuel filter, plugs...) done at some regular shop a few months back when her car had started shaking again. Recently the car just died after few hours of shaking and then by having a burst of shaking. The car smelled like rubber burning. The car was towed to Nissan and she was told a few days later that the ECU was burnt down. They ordered the part which was on back order. They replaced the ECU and while testing it out it burnt down again. So they had a specialist come in from california and figure it out. Now during this whole ordeal she had been talking to nissan consumer affairs, and they have been telling her the whole time that the ECU is covered under 880 warranty.

Yesterday she was told that the car was done but will not be covered under warranty because the reason the ECU burnt down was because the motor mounts had melted.

Now this doesnt make any sense to me but nissan service and consumer affairs is telling her this. Can this be a possibility or this is a sack of crap? Need some advice ASAP!

thanks!
Ken

 

why would motor mounts burn the ECU??
sounds like crap to me!!
get a lawyer, that will stop them bullsh!tting you

 

that what i am thinking but i wanted to check with you guys to see if there is even some possibilty of this happening in so werid way...

From what i understand motor mounts are just bolting the engine on to the car and has no electrical part or has any electrical part going through it.

ECU is under the dash and no where near the motor mounts. Correct?

 

that is true, no where near eachother. only connection i can see it that the mounts went out and the car was working harder then usual. which maybe somehow cause the ECU to work harder and blow out. but whos fault is it if the mounts "melted"? and why the hell would they melt? i would raise the BS flag. make them PROVE what happened.

 

Sounds like crap to me... what reason did they give for the motor mounts going bad?? Also why would the vibration from bad motor mounts waste an ECU which is mounted in the cabin.... that would have to be some SHAKING going on.... now you guys wouldn't be making woopie in the back seat now, would you? Check for any TSB'S for bad motor mounts and any recalls that they might not tell you about.

 

Not that I necessarily buy into what they're saying, but the GLE
model at least has electronic motor mounts. Can't remember of
the GXE and SE does as well. Check the emissions warranty section
in the owner's manual to see if any exclusions apply. In any case
I think they would have to prove that the motor mounts caused
the problem. Sounds like it's time to call Nissan USA...

 

Ah ok well this is a GLE. SO this car has electronic motor mounts according to DanL.

Now how do electronic motor mounts work? why would they cause the ECU to burn out?

 

They're designed to minimize vibration at idle and then 'firm' up
once the RPMs increase.

BTW, a bit of potential bad news. I did a quick 'google' and came across
at least one thread where a dealer had to replace two ECU's under
the 3/36 warranty due to faulty mounts so maybe there is something
to their claim.

 

still not his fault!!! mounts should be under warranty too

 

And why would motor mounts fall under the Federal emissions warranty?

 

didnt realize we were talking about emmission warranty. why would the ECU be covered for that matter??

 

It's a key emissions component regulating everything from mixture
settings to dynamically adjusting ignition timing. By law, the ECU
is one of the items covered by 8/80 part of the warranty. The
other major component is the catalytic converter. BTW, if you read
the law, it says that possible valid reasons for a manufacture denying
a claim are:

Vehicle abuse such as off-road driving or overloading; or
tampering with emission control parts or systems,
including removal or intentional damage of such parts
or systems; or improper maintenance, including failure
to follow maintenance schedules and instructions specified
by manufacturer, or use of replacement parts which are
not equivalent to the originally installed parts.

I'm not sure any of those apply unless they claim that failure
to have the motor mounts replaced amounts to 'improper
maintenance'. However, I'd argue that the motor mounts
should not have 'melted' in a 4 year old car with only 62K miles
and, IMHO, the fact they they had to bring is an expert to find
the problem strengthens his case.

 

To burn or melt you have to have a short circuit. You should have some melted or discolored wires at the source of the problem. Have them show you the evidense of the short circuit.
NOW THAT WE KNOW THIS COULD HAPPEN every body who has this should install fast acting inline fuses to the motor mounts.
I would ask Nissan why THEY did not use circuit protection in the design. This is a design flaw that they will probably get away with because only a small percentage of the cars have electronic motor mounts

 

So do you guys know if the motor mounts are part of the regular maintance that i should have done or if they are covered under warranty?

Should i try to convinece nissan consumer affairs to see if they should cover it?

What are my chances of this? should i fight it or give up?

 

i would fight it. you didnt do anything to cause the mounts to go out. its not part of maintinance, there is nothing to maintain. they shouldnt go bad.

 

This is the second time I've heard of a motor mount shorting out and frying an ECU.

If you had a broken motor mount and eventually it led to an electric short, they could try and blame it on you.

Why Nissan would not protect the ECU from a short on ANYTHING is beyond me.

Good luck!

 

Actually, they go bad quite often, however 5spds are more prone due to hard starts with the clutch vs. a smooth auto engaging.

Anybody, who dumps a clutch or brake-stands an auto is SEVERLY stressing the mounts. Wheel hop is also hard on them, which I get just pulling away from a light in the rain.

 

I agree wholeheartedly with DanL....the only way they can deny this thru warranty would be if the vehicle owner's manual or the maintenance schedule in the maintenance/warranty book expressly pointed out 'inspect motor mounts' as a required maintenance item -and you either skipped or cannot prove to did that.

The fact that motor mounts melted and caused this....BFD...it's a Nissan design problem if their 80k mile warranty part is placed at risk because a 36k mile warranty part failed...

 

From this statement, it sounds like a known issue/symptom was ignored UNTIL the motor mount shorted and the ECU fried.


Motor mounts are a CRITICAL component that wreak havoc on all kinds of systems/parts if not kept in top shape. Is it Nissans' fault other parts like your tranny, wire harnesses, exhaust, ECU, etc. fail as a result of you driving for xxxx miles with a broken mount(s)? I don't think so.

An example, my sister ignored/didn't notice her broken motor mount and it eventually lead to a worn through transmission cooler line and a toasted tranny. Should the tranny have been covered? I don't think so.

The ONLY argument I see for this being covered under warranty is if it was <60K and motor mounts are covered under the 60K powertrain warranty. Otherwise, SOL.