2004 Nissan Maxima: harsh or hard shifting

Filed Jun 23, 2019 · Transmission · 160,000 miles · MO

Car was fine initially then started car which took longer than normal to start and car would not hardly go due to it not being in 1st gear. Put the transmission into manual mode and downshifted it to first and got a hard clunk but car would now go under its own power but when you put it back in auto mode it goes straight to 3rd gear. Shut car off came back later and started car it started right up and had no issues with transmission. Drove it for a bit turned car off for a bit and then went to start again and had the long start and bad shifts again.

Filed Aug 21, 2016 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · NY

Very hard shifting and delay from park to drive, hard shift from park to revers

Filed Aug 19, 2016 · Transmission · 136,000 miles · NJ

Transmission failing for second time. Transmission was rebuilt/overhauled in march of 2014. Mileage at time of rebuild was 111,090 miles. The total cost of said repair was $2,996.00. As of today august 19, 2016 the said mentioned transmission is failing for the second time. The current mileage is approximately 136,xxx miles. The current symptoms while car is in motion are, extremely hard shifts and slipping into upper gears.

Filed Aug 10, 2015 · Transmission · 114,000 miles · OH

Transmission shift erratically! Slips, clunks, slams into or out of gear! There are times it is so bad the car is unsafe to operate on public roads or highways. Since I've experienced this problem I have read many other of the complaints whom describe the same problems. Nissan needs to recall this car/transmission. The know it is a deadly problem. If there have been "unexplained" injury or deadly accidents involving the nissan maxima the nhtsb may want to look into the transmission failing and causing the deadly accident.

Filed Mar 15, 2015 · Steering, Transmission · 115,000 miles · AZ

The 2004 nissan maxima suffers from a common issue within the transmission. The valve body causes premature transmission failure within these cars. This results in sudden hard jerking / delayed shifting when changing gears in their automatic transmission. This means loss of control occurs when the transmission finally catches itself since the car will continue to rev higher than normal. Overtime the car will experience slow acceleration, due to the car being thrown into a safety mode unexpectedly which keeps the car in a "5th" gear state. Also, because of the codes this faulty part will throw, a vehicle with this transmission will not pass certain state emissions. Repairs are upwards to thousands of dollars, and unfortunately replacing it with the same part will only be a temporary fix. This is a major safety concern because it dramatically reduces the response time, and puts the driver at serious risk.

Filed Dec 7, 2014 · Engine, Transmission · 109,567 miles · CA

When driving the car, it slams into 2nd gear and/or hesitates shifting into it. When idle and shifting from reverse to drive or from drive to reverse, there is a 2-3 delay and the car jerks and slams into that gear. The jerk is aggressive and can cause in injury. The car does not shift smoothly and constantly jerks and slams into gear. After having the vehicle diagnosed, they mechanics say it will either need a new valve body or new transmission on a car with 112k miles on it. This is a common issue for 2004-2006 nissan maxima owners and is very dangerous and expensive.

Filed Oct 17, 2014 · Transmission · GA

My 2004 maxima is hesitating to shift an im disable living on 700 dollars a month. My daughter is in college driving this car in traffic an im afraid she is going to get hurt making left turns in this car. There have been close calls with me driving it,but I live in south ga. Where people are more sensible toward others. This is a serious problem an someone is going to get killed from these faulty transmission. I have to get a used transmission under 1500 dollars that I had to borrow to keep my child safe. Nissan should be held countable for this. I paid 19000 dollars for this car and your screw up is costing me to put a 2002-2003 transmission in my car. The transmission shops in albany ga. Are thanking nissan for their 2500-3000 contributions that the 2004-2005 maxima owners are spending with them and my transmission owner made this statement to me. Aatco transmission of albany who states he has redone so many valve bodies on these cars. I guess some actions will be taken when people that does not has the fundings to fix this problem themselves. I had to drive my car like this until I found the money an it broke all my motor mounts from the jerking and hard shifting.

Filed Jul 26, 2014 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · TX

Transmission extremely hard shifts when up shifting and downshifting. Downshifting is much worse than up shifting but both are extreme. When this occurs the car experiences a hard jolt.

Filed Nov 11, 2013 · Engine, Transmission · 59,000 miles · FL

My wife's 2004 maxima which she originally purchased new at the pomoco nissan dealership in hampton, virginia has 59,000 miles on it currently and the vehicle's automatic transmission jerks violently when decelerating and then slams into gear. The event occurs around an estimated speed of 25-30 MPH during downshifting of the transmission. The experience feels like someone has crashed into you from the rear...and the force from the gearing thrust throws the car forward violently. This happens every time the car is driven and is a critical safety concern for us. Vehicle was taken to wesley chapel nissan dealership located in wesley chapel, florida for an inspection and the tech said the transmission needs to be replaced at a cost of $3300 for parts & labor. As reflected in the low mileage, the car has been driven very little and has been meticulously maintained by her and has remained garaged the majority of the time. I have done some research and discovered that numerous 2004 maxima owners have experienced the same transmission (failure) problems with similar mileage range, but no recall was ever activated by the nissan company to remedy the issue. However, there was an extended warranty issued for a few nissan models regarding faulty transmissions excluding the maxima. Called consumer affairs at nissan to complain about the problem, but was told by rep that there was nothing they could do because the warranty for the vehicle had expired. I explained to the rep that there are numerous complaints regarding the transmission problems and that nissan needs to do something to fix the problem since this is a recurring theme when it comes to this specific year of the maxima model.

Filed Nov 6, 2013 · Transmission · 97,300 miles · NY

Car started to jerk and clunk and a couple of times while turning in to driveway it would jerk and make the tires squeal.

Filed Sep 30, 2013 · Transmission · 90,000 miles · MD

Transmission jerking hard shifting , whole car hiccups, wont shift gears, car gives out. Stuck in one gear.

Filed Jul 8, 2013 · Transmission · 87,000 miles · CO

Car began experiencing hard shifting from d to r or r to d. Hard shifting then began to occur during 1st to 2nd gear and 2nd to 1st gear. Shifts are hard and feel as if the car has been hit by another car. If you do not anticipate the hard shift the car could jump forward into another vehicle. Owner looking into replacing the valve body as this appears to be the main (costly) fix for this issue.