Hi all,

Sort of an urgent question here as I am on the road.

A huge winter storm hit today, and it just happens I got to take a 300 Km trip in the maxima. It performed like a champ until I got to some small country road with huge wind blown snow mounds all over. I had to go through quite a few of them but the maxima got me through alright.

Here's the problem. After the speed picked up again I was shocked to find out I can't get into gears 5 and 6. I drove 50 km to a hotel and the car is parked right now. I don't know if reverse works yet.

Anyone have any ideas? What the duece?

Thanks in advance!

 

Maybe there is a chunk of snow/ice that is caught in the shift linkage that will melt when it warms up. maybe ?

 

Sounds like you're manual. I don't immediately recall if there are any symptoms of the shift cable bracket preparing to fail before it actually breaks. In any case, my first thought would be to do a visual inspection under the car to see if there are any sticks or clear indication of damage. You may have it something covered by the snow or a huge peice of packed snow and/or ice which damaged the cable or transmission. Could be a stick for arguement sake. Next, I'd do a visual inspction under the hood around where the shift cable travels and connects to the transmission. If possible, have someone move the shifter between gears and observe if the cable is showing where any problems may be.

All I can relate to is recently I hit a large spot of deep water in my auto Maxima. Despite having my splash guards installed, something got wet because my tranny shifted out of overdrive and refused to go back in. It wasn't until the car sat overnight (assuming dried out the harness/whatever got soaked) and the next day it worked fine and has been perfect since. Certainly mine was electronic. Sounds like yours is a mechanical issue.

 

Likely ice formed from plowing through drifts. Happened to me once in the far north with a GMC Suburban. Drove for hours in a huge storm. Got to the town I was going to and I couldn't shift out of Drive. Huge ice chunk formed around the linkage. Had to park it in a garage overnight to let it melt. Hopefully as simple as that for you.

 

Got it fixed. Chris was right it was a mechanical problem. the shift linkage clip had popped off and landed in the engine bay causing me to lose 5, 6 and reverse. The mechanic that showed up found it in the bowels of the engine bay. It somehow hung around for the bumpy 100 or so km, really lucky. Thanks for all the replies.

 

Thanks for the follow up. Glad it was something simple and fixed easily, and hopefully at little cost.

 

he only charged me 20 bucks!