2000 Nissan Maxima

MY MAXIMA STARTED SPUTTERING AND ACTED AS IF IT WAS GOING TO DIE. THE SERVICE ENGINE SOON LIGHT CAME ON. AT ABOUT 3500RPM THE CAR BRICK WALLED AND DECELERATED. FIRST I TOOK IT TO A MECHANIC WHO BLEW OUT ALL MY HOSES. THAT WORKED FOR A COUPLE MONTHS. THEN THE LIGHT CAME BACK ON AND WAS ACTING UP AGAIN. REPLACED THE 2 FRONT OXYGEN SENSORS. WORKED FOR ABOUT A WEEK. WENT BACK TO THE MECHANIC WHO REPLACED THE MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR AND REPLACED THE FUEL FILTER. RAN GOOD FOR A FEW WEEKS AND STARTED ACTING UP AGAIN. TOOK IT BACK TO MECHANIC AND HAD TO HAVE THE FIRST OF 6 IGNITION COILS REPLACED. RUNNING FINE, OCCASIONALLY SPUTTERS, BUT MY SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT WON'T GO AWAY. TOOK IT TO A NISSAN DEALERSHIP AND THE SERVICE DEPT. SAID THAT THE 2000 MODEL DOES NOT HAVE AN ECM SOFTWARE UPDATE! *TR

MY 2000 MAXIMA HAS A CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ILLUMINATED. NORMALLY, THE CARS RUNS FINE BUT APPROXIMATELY 10 TIMES OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS IN EXTREMELY HUMID CONDITIONS AND WHEN THE TEMPERATURE IS AROUND 50 DEGREES (F), THE IDLE GETS EXTREMELY ROUGH. I HAD THE FAULT CODES READ AND THEY WERE P1320 (THREE TIMES) AND P0420 (ONCE). AFTER BEING READ, THE CODES WERE RESET, BUT IMMEDIATELY RETURNED. THIS DEFECT HAS EXISTED ON AND OFF FOR OVER TWO YEARS AND HAS BEEN RESET SEVERAL DURING THIS TIME. WHEN RESET THE LAST TIME, THE WEATHER WAS EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED ABOVE. THE CAR HAS 36K MILES AND IS DRIVEN AROUND 4K MILES PER YEAR. MY INVESTIGATION INDICATED DEFECTIVE COILS, WHICH ARE KNOWN PROBLEMS TO NISSAN AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN RECALLED A LONG TIME AGO. THE CAR WAS PURCHASED DUE TO CONSUMER REPORTS GREAT RATINGS BUT BECAUSE OF THIS DEFECT I CAN SAFELY SAY THAT I WOULD NEVER PURCHASE A NISSAN AUTOMOBILE AGAIN. ASKING CONSUMERS TO PAY OVER $1000 TO REPAIR A VEHICLE BUILT WITH DEFECTIVE PARTS IS ALMOST CRIMINAL. NISSAN SHOULD OWN UP TO ITS RESPONSIBILITY AND RECALL THE KNOWN DEFECTIVE PARTS THUS RESTORING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND VEHICLE RELIABILITY. *TR

VEHICLE STARTED RUNNING VERY ROUGH AND HAD ENG KNOCK. BROUGHT INTO A SERVICE DEPARTMENT AND WAS INFORMED THAT #2 IGNITION COIL HAD GONE BAD. THE CAR WAS A DANGER TO MYSELF AND OTHER DRIVERS DUE TO THE FACT THAT IT WOULD STALL AND WAS VERY SLUGGISH. I RECOMMEND THAT NISSIAN RECALL THIS PART DUE TO THE DANGEROUS NATURE. AFTER LOOKING UP THE PROBLEM ON DIFFERENT FORUMS THERE ARE MANY MANY OTHERS WITH THIS EXACT PROBLEM. I HAVE SINCE REPLACED THE BAD IGNITION COIL BUT IT SEEMS TO BE ONLY TEMPORARY AS MANY OTHERS CAN CONTEST THAT ONE BY ONE ALL THE IGNITION COILS WILL KEEP GOING BAD. *TR

TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2000 NISSAN MAXIMA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT REMAINS ILLUMINATED ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. HE REPLACED THE O2 SENSORS TWICE IN ONE YEAR AND ALSO REPLACED SIX OF THE COILS SPRINGS AFTER THE VEHICLE WAS DIAGNOSED. AFTER EACH REPLACEMENT, THE ENGINE LIGHT DID NOT ILLUMINATE FOR THREE WEEKS. THE COIL SPRINGS WERE JUST REPLACED THREE WEEKS AGO AND NOW THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT IS ILLUMINATED AGAIN. SPEED WAS NOT A FACTOR. HE NOTIFIED THE DEALER AND THEY STATED THAT HE HAD TO PAY TO HAVE THE VEHICLE DIAGNOSED AGAIN. THE CONTACT STATED THAT HE IS NOT TAKING THE VEHICLE BACK TO THE DEALER. THE POWERTRAIN WAS UNKNOWN. THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 89,000 AND FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 88,000.

LONG DRIVES IN HOT WEATHER (ABOVE 85 DEGREES) CAUSE THE TRANSMISSION TO FAIL. IT USUALLY OCCURS 45 MINUTES INTO A STEADY DRIVE OF 60 TO 75 MPH OR HEAVY STOP AND START DRIVING. PULLING OVER AND WAITING 10 TO 15 MINUTES WILL CURE THE PROBLEM, HOWEVER IT WILL OCCUR AGAIN IF THE SAME TYPE OF DRIVING CONTINUES. WHEN THE WEATHER IS COOL OUT FALL THROUGH SPRING, THE PROBLEM RARELY OCCURS. I HAVE BEEN TOLD IT IS THE INTERNAL SEALS OF THE TRANSMISSION. WHEN THEY GET TOO HOT THEY EXPAND AND ALLOW FLUID TO "BLOW BY" WHICH DECREASES PRESSURE IN THE VALVE BODY CAUSES THE TRANSMISSION TO DISENGAGE. I HAVE FLUSHED THE TRANSMISSION EVERY 30,000 MILES AT THE DEALER SINCE THE CAR WAS NEW. THIS IS NOT A ONE OFF PROBLEM. I HAVE TWO 2000 MAXIMA'S, BOTH WITH THE SAME PROBLEM. THERE IS ALSO A CO-WORKER OF MINE WITH A 2001 MAXIMA WITH THE SAME PROBLEM. APPARENTLY THERE ARE INTERNAL PROBLEMS WITH THIS TRANSMISSION. I DO NOT EXPECT NISSAN TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, HOWEVER THEY MUST KNOW THEY ARE LOSING CUSTOMERS. THIS COMES ON TOP OF THE IGNITION COIL PROBLEM I HAD WITH BOTH VEHICLES, WHICH OF COURSE NISSAN REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE. *JB

TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2000 NISSAN MAXIMA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE SHOOK AND MADE A GRUMBLING NOISE WHEN STARTED. IN ADDITION, THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ILLUMINATED. THE DEALER STATED THAT THREE OF THE IGNITION COILS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE DEALER REFUSED TO MAKE THE REPAIRS UNLESS THEY WERE PAID FOR BY THE CONTACT. THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 75,000 AND FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 70,000.