Nissan Maxima

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Besides the complaints below, many 2003 Maxima owners complain that their headlights are being stolen repeatedly.

• Nissan Maxima - stolen headlights

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Brian of Orlando, FL March 1, 2010

I have an 2004 Nissan Maxima that I bought used from a Nissan dealership in 2004. I had my transmission rebuilt around 70,000 miles. I had the same symptoms as everyone else I agree Nissan should be held accountable. Mine cost a little over 4,000 to rebuild and at the time I was told I couldn't buy a new transmission all I could do was get it rebuilt. I also am now having to change out an engine mount too, and even after getting my transmission rebuilt its still not running much better and a new symptom is during driving it I'll feel a jerk, then when I decelerate and come to a stop it will not come out of first gear. I have to pull over, turn the car off for like 30 seconds and turn it back on and then the problem is better until it happens again.

I agree than Nissan should be held responsible since there are so many people with the same problem and we should be reimbursed and have the problem fixed by Nissan, warranty or not. Has anyone looked into an attorney?

Dennis of North Miami, FL February 26, 2010

I have a 2006 Nissan Maxima. Bought it with 34,640 miles on it. Love the car. At about 50,000 miles the a/c hose sprung a leak. Went to the dealership and was told this was a know problem with the car.Had to pay 336 dollars to fix the car. Then at about 83,000 miles the Service Engine light comes on. Take it to nissan to have it diagnosed, catalytic converter is bad. Repairs would cost me a little over 1000 dollars. I was informed that the warranty covering the catalytic converter ended at 83000 miles so i would have to foot the bill.

About a month later my rpms began to rev between 3rd and 4th gear and sometimes between 2nd and 3rd. Took it back to Nissan. They found no problems with the transmission. Somewhat relieved but still skeptical i continued to drive the car. I now have 106,000 miles on my car. Went to nissan to get the spark plugs replaced which is a 342 dollar job only to find out that my transmission also needs to be replaced. The Technician mentions to me that this was a very common problem with the transmission in my car.

Thankfully i just finished paying the car off so i do have the money to fix it, i just dont think i should have to pay to fix it. If this is such a known problem with the car then why wont nissan remedy the problem. I will be contacting them to see what they can do. I bought my car at the age of 19 im now 23.

I expected this car to last me awhile. My engine is fine no issues but the transmission is gone. My sister has a 1998 maxima with 228,000 miles on it, same engine and transmission in the car. I thought this car would be reliable. I Thought wrong. I will be filing a complaint with Nissan, I encourage everyone else with similar problems to do the same. The number should be in your ownwers manual.

Erica of Oklahoma City, OK February 26, 2010

2004 Nissan Max I have the same jerking problems. Since Nissan will not do anything about this problem - maybe we should start advertising this issue with some signs on our cars (let the world in on our ordeal). Maybe that will wake them up!!!!!!!

Nicole of Dayton, OH February 25, 2010

I have an 05 Maxima. I have the same exact problems that everyone else has been having with the transmission. I have replaced the motor mount, have had the transmission flushed 3 times and it still is the same thing. The dealer told me that I need a new 4,000 transmission put in! The service managers have been rehearsing what to say. The first time I went out online to see about these transmission problems, the blogs looked like I had written them myself. I sent a letter to Nissan along with about 10 pgs of email comments. Nissan eventually called several weeks later, trying to make me think they were going to help me, later to find out they don't really care! Nissan does not back their product, so now you see why their buddies, Honda and Toyota are going through it. It's a shame! I will never buy nissan ever again! Oh, this is only my 4th one! Nissan needs to handle this mess! It's a problem when lots of people are going through the same thing.

Jacquelyn of clements, MD February 24, 2010

I bought a 2005 Nissan Maxima in 2006. Recently have been experiencing transmission problems among the many other problems I have had. I went to the Nissan Dealership in Waldorf, MD as well as Clinton, MD and was told to call 1800Nissan1. After doing so I spoke with the site rep of Nissan North America who said to take my car into a Nissan dealership and have diagnostics completed. After doing so and the diagnostics returning with no results. No one seems to know what the problem is with the 2004-2005 Nissan Maximas but something needs to be done. I have googled 2005 Nissan Maxima and received nothing but problems with the transmissions and the defects within. Nissan acts blind to the fact that there is a serious problem.

Kara of Pomona , CA February 24, 2010

I purchased my 2004 Nissan new, after 74,000 miles, a little over 4000 miles on the extended warranty, I also had jerking and a delay in changing gears. I was told this can be normal for this year and make, the problem got worse; I took the car in this past Friday Feb 19th and was told my transmission is fried along with two motor mounts. I am so mad right now, I just paid the car off and now it would cost me 5100 to fix. This car would end up costing me alomost 50,000.

I bought a Nissan because they are suppose to be dependable long lastings cars. I would hope that it would last over a 100,000 miles before all the problems started. I filed a claim through Nissan to see if they would honor these problems. I just spoke with a rep and he said my claim was denied, of course the person who was taken care of the claim did not call me herself with this news.

This is a manufacture default! Nissan needs to own up to this problem! they acked like no one else is complaining, ya right. I will be contacting the local news stations as well. Please jump on board with this so we can get the word out. These cars cost a lot of money and I as a consumer expect more.

Joshua of BOZEMAN, MT February 24, 2010

As like many other Nissan Maxima owners (especially those that I've read about on this website), I experienced the same "transmission" symptoms with my 2004 Nissan Maxima in early Jan 2007. "Hard, jerky shifting", "randomly slipping out of gear into neutral with revving engine RPMs", and "randomly no acceleration on demand".

My engine service light finally turned on, so the dealership had an error code to reference. It was error code "P0345". They replaced the "Cam position sensor", which fixed the problem immediately. I have not had any "transmission" problems since then. I recommend trying this fix first before a complete transmission overhaul! 100 for diagnostic test and 100 for new cam position sensor.

Monty of Ponder, TX February 22, 2010

My 2004 Maxima had around 76000 miles and I just had the transmission rebuilt at just under 4 grand. This transmission is made by Aisin Warner and is in other cars other than Nissan. Just do a google search on AW55-50SN and you should be able to find technical info on repairs of these types of trannys. It sounds like there isn't a lot of success with rebuilts since there are so many areas of failure. I would think dealerships would have to know about these issues and could be lieing if they act like they have never heard of your hard shifting issues.

K.M. of Sandy Springs, GA February 21, 2010

I own a 2005 Nissan Maxima with aprx 63K miles. I am still quite surprised with the number of compaints others with the 04 & 05 Maxima are experiencing. It is the same exact problem, the jerking, jumping, kicking feeling. I have an automatic and am not familar with the gears and the speeds when shifting. I do know that I get the kicking, jerking feeling at times when I speed up or am slowing down. The dealership said that a new transmission is needed along with motor mounts. Their estimate was between 7-8K.

Joe of London, KY February 19, 2010

I am having the same transmission problems as many of the people on this website. I have a 2004 Nissan Maxima with approx. 83,000 miles, and the transmission jerks when shifting from 1st to 2nd gear and from 2nd to 1st gear. The car does this after about 30 minutes of driving, but is fine when it is cold. When put into drive or in reverse, there is a 3 second delay before it "switches" over, with a hard jerk. I took it to Legacy Nissan and spent 75 for a diagnostic check, and I was told they got a code they had never seen before. I had to take my car back a few days later, and they told me it was loose ground cables.

I paid another 240 to clean ground cables and reconnect them. The problem was still not solved. I took it to an independent guy for a diagnostic check, and he couldn't tell me anything because no light ever comes on. So, I took it back to Nissan and they checked the transmission fluid. It was black. They changed it, ran it through, and changed it again. Still, no fix! I do not have the time or money to deal with this nightmare of a Nissan I purchased. I will not buy another Nissan, and will tell friends and family to stay away fron Nissan! I do not know what to do. Many others have this problem, but Nissan will not do anything about it! I bought this car because Nissan's are supposed to be reliable!

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