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2010 Nissan Maxima CVT Issue (?)
dragongunner
Member Posts: 3
Hi all. This is my first post and I hope that I am doing it correctly. I just wanted to share with you my experience that I am now going through. 1 month ago I bought a 2010 Nissan Maxima SV. A few days ago (mileage approximately 950 miles, thats right less than 1k) at a toll plaza I noticed that my maxima was lagging. Sort of like when you put a manual transmission into 4th gear and try to drive from a stand still. Shortly later the service engine soon light came on.
The following day I took it to Courtesy Nissan (Tampa, Fl) and told them of the problem. After several hours they said that diagnostics did not find any problem, but when the tech took the vehicle for a test drive the vehicle was in fact lagging as I had reported. The tech contacted Nissan engineering because they had not heard of this problem(s) on a 2010 model. Nissan advised that there was something wrong in the transmission (I assume the CVT, but am unsure at this time) that made the vehicle it think that when starting from a stand still that it was in 3rd or 4th gear. Nissan is now sending some new part for the transmission. Now I am just waiting for Courtesy Nissan Tampa to call me that my maxima has been fixed.
I will keep you all posted as to the outcome and will use more technical terms as soon as I get the final report.
I am a first time Maxima owner and bought the Maxima because I have always heard that they are great vehicles and retain resale value more so than many other vehicles. I sure hope that this does not completely ruin my Maxima experience. Apart from this problem I have been absolutely loving the Maxima.
The following day I took it to Courtesy Nissan (Tampa, Fl) and told them of the problem. After several hours they said that diagnostics did not find any problem, but when the tech took the vehicle for a test drive the vehicle was in fact lagging as I had reported. The tech contacted Nissan engineering because they had not heard of this problem(s) on a 2010 model. Nissan advised that there was something wrong in the transmission (I assume the CVT, but am unsure at this time) that made the vehicle it think that when starting from a stand still that it was in 3rd or 4th gear. Nissan is now sending some new part for the transmission. Now I am just waiting for Courtesy Nissan Tampa to call me that my maxima has been fixed.
I will keep you all posted as to the outcome and will use more technical terms as soon as I get the final report.
I am a first time Maxima owner and bought the Maxima because I have always heard that they are great vehicles and retain resale value more so than many other vehicles. I sure hope that this does not completely ruin my Maxima experience. Apart from this problem I have been absolutely loving the Maxima.
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Best of Luck getting your problem resolved!!
What ever the problem was it is now fixed. I have put about 600 miles on the vehicle since and have had no re-occurring problems (crosses fingers).
I dont have the dealership work order and parts paperwork on me at the moment when I get it I will try to look up the issue and post exactly what part was malfunctioning.
My experience with the dealership was actually very good. I am quite surprised as I have had awful experiences with new vehicles in the past. Good luck to you all and I will get that info out to you soon.
I use top tier Shell Premium gas and have had the noises with both the Nissan Dino Oil the first 7500 miles and now a full synthetic since and the noise just don't seem to get better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O1brN0Ur50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaDiOYlohzs
How embarrassing for a 38k dollar automobile to be making these kinds of unrefined noises! I definitely think its heat shield related since its metallic sounding in nature.
Reported: Says engine light was on over the weekend. Acceleration from a stop was very poor until 45 mph then it seems ok (engine light code P1778 stored).
Work Performed:
-installed: valve assy
-installed: washer-thrust
-installed: seal-O ring
-installed: bolt
-installed transmission fluid
installed: washer thrust
-performed diagnosis for code P1778 and replaced Valve Body assy per hotline.
Like my previous post this seems to have corrected the issue and after 600 miles put on the vehicle I have not noticed any further problems.
I hope this may help anyone else out there who has experienced or is experiencing the same problem.
I'm planning on finding a dealership tomorrow but my fear is they won't find a problem or be able to replicate the issue. Wish me luck.
That is exactly what happened to me. I took the car to Royal Palm Nissan in West Palm Beach. A technician drove the car and was not able to duplicate the problem. They claim that no one had reported such issue. If you are in the West Palm Beach area, you may want to take it to the same dealership(the name of the service advisor is Frank) and than we may both have an answer to this problem. I received a Customer Satisfaction survey from Nissan and I intend to mention all these instances and ask them to look into it. It is a major safety concern and something needs to be done about it.
Took it to Nissan, "Can't replicate the problem, perhaps you're just not familiar with the CVT - want to test drive another and we can show you that it's common"
Um, NO! It's not common - I test drove this one before I bought it and it didn't do it. Heck, if it had I would have had nothing to do with this. I'm seriously already at the point of thinking about selling it. I have 2 small children and I do have to go past a pretty scary intersection 4 times a day. I'm really mad about this and Nissan doesn't admit there's an issue. I showed them the printouts from this forum and they didn't seem to be bothered in the least.
If Nissan Consumer Affairs dismisses your problems, I've found in the past that threatening legal action sometimes gets them to take you more seriously.
Definitely should not be happening and I've had a 2010 Max for just about a year now and its never done anything like what your describing so its definitely not normal!
Best of Luck to You!!!
Max as 1000's of other Max owners are having with their 2004-2007
models. I have a 2005 Nissan Max and have been researching online for about a month now and think that a moderately price fix has been found. Try checking out these two website on transmission issue and not only will you see tons of postings regarding the same complaints, but you may find some valuable information as well.
I hope everything works out for you.
link title
link title
After the last time I posted we wrote to the customer service folks and have a lady who is working with us now. We left it at the dealership for a few days and they reprogrammed something and said that they've had others report similar issues lately and this seems to fix it. They also were going to fix a squeaky steering wheel. They told us to pick it up and the day my husband picked it up I got a call saying the part was in?? What? I am pretty sure that we're picking it up today. Come to find out that they never fixed the steering wheel, they just ordered the part. If I hadn't have told the hubby about the weird call he wouldn't have known that it wasn't fixed. So he's been driving it for 2 days and said he would take it by there to get the steering wheel part fixed.
I'm very lucky that he's been driving it because today HE got to experience the stalling thing. He was telling me of the RPMs and what else was happening, but I'm glad that he can explain it now. I'm mad that a brand new car is having these issues. I'm fed up. Carmax will give us $27K for it. I'm not sure how much longer I want it to just be sitting in the shop. What is the lemon law? :lemon:
Oh I'm so mad! If this is happening to others, please let me know!
I will look at those sites the last person sent. I will pass that on I mean, I'm sure I am not able to fix it, it's still under warrenty. Will keep you updated!
Here in NJ where I live, if you have a car that is either under 2 yrs old or 18k miles, and have had a problem with your new car that has been fixed on 3 separate occasions, WITHOUT a fix from your stealership, you can file for a lemon law claim on your new car. Typically, when you inform your state and automaker your filing you have to have detailed paperwork, 3 separate (failed) repair attempts by your stealer.
It doesn't sound like you've had 3 separate failed repair attempts yet so I don't think you would qualify for lemon law at this point. To be honest, a squeaky steering wheel is not that big a deal and typically can be fixed easily. I've had a few technical issues like that fixed on my Max already but many cars have TSBs and repairs like that, not just Nissan.
Now the transmission problem is more unacceptable in my opinion. Hopefully that fix will solve your issues and that would be considered repair attempt number 1 for that issue.
I just bought a new 2010 Maxima. It's only got about 1,000 miles on it and occasionaly I experience the same problem. Did you ever get a fix?
The revised CVT programming manages the powertrain so much better, the whole car feels a lot more powerful and connected. In fact, it no longer feels like a CVT but a very well behaved and very responsive automatic.
I had the TSB applied about a month ago and am obviously extremely pleased with the result. This is how the CVT should have been programmed from the factory.
I finally feels 290hp, and there has been no change in fuel consumption.
TSB Details:
AT09-014 NTB09-138 December 18, 2009
2009 – 2010 MAXIMA; BOOMING NOISE OR VIBRATION
APPLIED VEHICLE:2009 - 2010 Maxima (A35)
IF YOU CONFIRM:
There is a booming noise and/or vibration when all of the following conditions are present:
• Speed between 20 and 45 mph
and
• Transmission is in “lock-up”
and
• Engine RPM between 1200 and 1500
and
• Light acceleration
Customer Information
1. Slight noise and/or vibration under the conditions described above are a normal operating characteristic of this vehicle and are within design specifications for the vehicle.
2. For those customers who are particularly sensitive to this characteristic of their vehicles, the transmission control module reprogramming procedure described in this bulletin may be performed. However, the customer should be advised that this is a specification change and differs from the original specification that exists on their vehicle.
3. If a customer voluntarily chooses to have this specification change made to their vehicle, they should be advised that their actual MPG may (or may not) slightly decrease (up to 1 mpg) as a result, depending on their driving habits and other conditions.
The issue has been fixed. After involving NissanUSA customer service and several trips to the dealership, the Nissan Engineers in Tenessee recommended a valve assembly replacement. It took about a week to get the parts and few hours to replace. I have driven the car for about 2000 miles since, and it is a complete different acceleration and performance. Now I can consistently feel the 290 horse power engine.
Good luck!
Responsiveness is now better than good and a car that was a lot of fun to drive is now so good it is hard to not make excuses to get in it and go. The car always had an animal inside but the gate had to be unlocked and the door opened..now there is no gate, no door, it just goes. Down shifting is smooth and very quick..no hesitation. I would not trade this CVT for any 6-7 speed automatic. With the TSB flashed, it is superior to any I have driven.
Sorry it took so long to come back on here, but glad the ordeal is done!
I'm a car junkie... buy & sell cars of different makes & models every 1-3 years (until I met my wife) and never have had serious problems like this before. Yes, I'd drive the heck out of them.
We bought our first Nissan in May 2010, after hearing how "awesome" Maxima's were. Plus the body design & size along with the raw 290 HP attracted us.
1) Immediately I noticed it was difficult to back-up the car into the garage. It was like the 1/2 inch concrete lip was a pure challenge for the car. So, we now park it forward.
2) At less than 1k miles we noticed the car was lagging anytime we backed the car out of the garage. Completely stopped. Put in drive and pressed the gas. It took a good 20+ seconds to get any "power" to really move forward. It now has 11k miles and the issues persist.
3) We took it on a vacation and after we got off the highway, we had to wait to cross a divided highway. I darted across the first two lanes into the "suicide lane" and paused. We almost got a good taste of that suicide! I saw an opening and gunned the car and... nothing. WHAT?! Let off the gas, gunned again.. nothing. Flipped to Sport mode... nothing!! I heard the engine revving, but it was as though the engine & tranny were no longer connected. We were slowly moving forward. After almost getting creamed, the car started to pick up and go. I think we both just about peed our pants.
4) Stop & Go city traffic... lack of power again.
Dealership:
They kept the car a few days and thankfully experienced the same issues.
"Fix": Reset the transmission's computer.
Reaction: Wow, it was like the 290 horses woke up! It was awesome... Even the RPM's were higher, which was fine. I found it odd, personally, that they were so low in the first place.
Problem: A few days later... the issues returned.. # 2, 3 and 4 listed above. We never tried backing it into the garage.
Dealership:
They again experienced the same issues.
"Fix": The transmission from the factory came with too much fluid... only a thimble size. They drained some of the fluid back to what it should have been from the factory. Supposedly that additional fluid was messing up the parameters the computer was setting. They said the transmission was going into a "fail-safe" mode to prevent itself from damage & therefore there was lack of power. They also reset the transmission's computer back to factory settings.
Reaction: Wow... it's working again. The car is alive!
Problem: A few days later... "You've gotta be kidding me..." .. The issues #2, 3, & 4 have returned!!
Dealership:
Okay, this doesn't make sense. We fix it. It leaves working. A few days later it falls flat on its face, again.
What's next? A new computer? A new transmission? What's after that??
* Does that ' Valve Assembly Replacement ' seem to work for folks?? * Maybe there's a leak. :sick:
Thank you.
My Dad went forth and just traded in his 2007 350Z (bummer!!! That was such an awesome vehicle to drive!) and bought the same 2011 Nissan Maxima SV but got his with the Sport and Technology Packages. He hasn't had any issues with is CVT transmission. The paddle shifters over-ride the whole system so you can use them whether in normal or "sport" mode.
Overall, I really like the Maxima. I can see us keeping it for many years!
Thank you!!
I recently purchased the 11 Maxima in Canada and now facing the same vibration issue at low RPM when driving. The problem goes away after it passes 2000RPM.
Took it to the dealership this morning and they said it is normal for the transmission. I showed them the NTB and said it applies to only U.S. Models, and no Canadian NTB exists.
My question is has anyone in Canada experienced this problem and tried to resolve it?
Also why would this problem be only limited to U.S. models? Its the same transmission, am i missing something?
Thanks in advance,
My maxima 2010 purchased in february 2010 made 47k miles last week and the cvt died completely.... All it could produce was noise .... It happened on a highway at around 80 mph with lots of vehicles left right and center... Was lucky enough to get to the roadside without bothering anyone... Was towed to the service center in a short while... the dealer warranty of 36 months or 100 000 km - whichever comes first - already expired in february, but on nissan assist site I came accross the info about extended cvt warranty, something like 5 years and 60k miles, which is still a long way to go for me.... The question is - if this extended cvt warranty still working ?