So I was driving her pretty hard and shifted from 2nd to 3rd and missed the gear baaaad, it grinded HARD like something blew up in the tranny. Clutch got real soft so I freacked out and parked the car. Got out, walked around, erything seemed fine. GOt in, clutch felt normal, stiff again, car started right up and went without any hesitation, loss of power, or weird shift. SO everything is fine, 20 miles down the road "engine service soon" light came on. SO im thinking OMG im screwed. So what do I do from here? I dont want to take it to the dealer, im out of warranty and their diagnostic fees are pretty expensive. I know on my old accord i could make it flash codes for me and there was a way to tell what exactly caused it. Is there a way to do this on the maxima? Also where is the OBD plug on our 6th gen? THanks.

 

Go to autozone. They read codes for free.

 

Thats probably my favorite part of this post. +1 about Autozone.

 

Yup... AutoZone... get the code, and post it here.

 

could just be a sensor that set it off. Like a knock sensor. Very sensitive. Autozone is the key or Checkers/Schucks.

 

Can I ask what walking around the car is going to accomplish when you miss a shift? Lmao, wouldnt it be smarter to check under the hood?

 

Agreed lol. But definetly check it at autozone, even some shops are nice enough to hook up a code scout to your OBDII port and give you the codes.

 

Sorry for the late reply...I realize that getting out of the car and walking around it wouldnt accomplish much but I still figured Id look underneath it to check for any fluid drippings. I freaked that something might have blew up or cracked so i figured if I park the car and walk around it and look underneath to check if everything is still dry and there is no tranny oil everywhere would be the most I can do. ANYWAY

here is the code:

P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1)

I did some outside research and someone said when there is an unburnt fuel that gets into the cat, this might set off this code. Which is quite possible since i bounced off the rev limiter few times when i missed the gear. So Autozone wouldn't reset it for me, is there a way to reset it myself. (disconnecting battery doesn't work, i already tried.

 

http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/ecu.asp

 

well lets hope its the unburnt fuel that gets into the cat because the cats fpr these cars are pretty expensive. Good luck

 

Yah im pretty interested on what it could be!

 

Ok so I cleared the code by following the above directions in the link (thank you by the way) and it went away. Drove for 150 miles and light still hasnt come back on

Conclusion: MIssed a shift, redlined high as F***, unburned fuel caused Service Enghine Soon light to come on, once cleared, everything was fine.

Thanks again for all the help and responses guys.