Shifting from reverse to drive, 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd - engine revs, transmission jerks after short delay. When going on downhill bends this means that the car wants to jerk off the road, somewhat. Apparently due to improper cooling on the transmission fluid, it gets gummy, and then the solenoids clog up and get stuck. There is also a lot of wear on the gears. For the first repair, a flush and replacing the solenoids will usually give another 20k miles, but the problem doesn't get fixed unless a custom cooling system is put on the transmission lines. It's a crappy design. Instead of running the cooling lines to the engine and putting a thermostat on a switch, there should be a dedicated cooler on the transmission. Also, it's ridiculously hard to get to the transmission fluid filter, which is inside the transmission case. How hard would it have been to put an external filter down in the pan?
2004 Nissan Maxima transmission complaints
Page 3 of 32: complaints 41 to 70 of 934, newest first, as owners wrote them.
My 2004 nissan jerks at shifting speed of 15-23 mile per hr.
Transmission failure - I was driving my vehicle on the highway with my 1 year old child when all of a sudden the transmission slipped and failed. I went from doing 50 to 5 on the highway in front of an 18 wheeler. Luckily I am a good driver and used my senses to pull over as quickly and safely as possible.
Transmission slips then bangs hard into gear. Also transmission get stuck in high gear. Just prior to the car getting stuck in high gear, the car stalls no matter what speed your going. When you restart the car, you are stuck in high gear. No other gears work.
About 2 years ago while driving the transmission would down shift to second or first gear, which would rev out the motor. Sometimes it would jerk harshly back into gear. I replaced a sensor on the transmission and somewhat solved the problem. Now its worst than it was before, I basically drove 10 minutes at 20 MPH on first gear. I hope it can be fixed this time.
Car have a hard jerk when shifting. Also when slowing down and trying to accelerate my car jerk real hard like someone kicked me from behind.
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.
Transmission problems causes car to jerk very badly, acts as tho it does not want to go. Pulling off you will have to make sure no cars are coming at all because if you just go, you're likely to be hit.
Transmission slipping almost ran into another car. This is a major problem I see after doing online research.
I am the owner of a 2004 nissan maxima w/124,000 miles. I have been experiencing transmission problems since around 115,000 mile. It seems liken there has been a plethora of the same complaints with these transmissions. Can someone please explain to me why there has not been a recall on the vehicles?
The car is jerking is while driving. It is also revving while driving.
Car jerks when going from first to second gear. Sometimes it won't go at all. Accident waiting to happen.
As I was driving my 2004 nissan maxima the car started to jerk. I would be driving and when I come to a stop and start again the car would jerk really hard. I have taken the car for repair and I was told that it is a problem with the transmission. This jerking is very scary and it's not getting better just worst and now I'm thinking it's time to find a new car. The body of the car and everything is fine but just jerking that I get when I drive the car is really concerning.
The automatic transmission began to slip at about 63,000 miles. It continues to get worse and occasionally delays in engaging in drive especially after shifting out of reverse. From what I have read this is a common problem that nissan refuses to address and may result in transmission failure.
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.
Went to stop at a stop sign car started to pound when I went to leave the stop sign car moved but very hard. The transmission has problems the started out of the blue no warning its even stalled my car and left me stranded. There has been tons of complaints about this . When I called the nissan company they said take to a nissan dealer to look at it and let them know. You have to pay for diagnostics then they tell you sorry they cant help this should be a recall because there are so many complaints and its a horrible expense a used rebuilt is 3000 dollars it horrible. So I have this car in beautiful shape that just sits cause I cant pay to fix it.
Whenever I shift to reverse the car pauses and then jerks, same jerk behavior happens whenever I shift from reverse to drive. Sometimes when I am driving I can feel the car hesitating when switching gears. I have been told the transmission is going bad.
Taking off from intersection car shifts erratically. Sometime it will slip in intersections and cause safety issues. Slips, shifts erratically on highway as well.
In 2012 my 2004 nissan maxima would not change gears properly. It would jerk, idle up, and take a while to change gears. The transmission was replaced by a nissan dealership in 2012 for $3,725.64. Since having my transmission replaced, I spoke to about 5 owners of a 2004 nissan maxima that I met at the gas station or grocery store parking lot who told me they had the same issue and had the transmission replaced. There are tons of complaints on line. Apparently, there is an issue with the nissan transmission but nissan is not taking responsibility. Please help us in this effort to investigate and receive reimbursement for the transmission problems. Thank you very much
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 nissan maxima. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 MPH, the transmission began to jerk violently. The contact mentioned that the failure would occur when down shifting and coming to a complete stop. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 56,078.
While pulling out into a enter section of a main road in morning traffic my transmission went out causing me to almost be t-boned. This needs to be looked into before someone gets hurt or worst.
[xxx] starting it up takes 2-3x with putting the gas pedal all the way to the floor, then it jerks into gear. While driving it just stalls out which is very scary & dangerous and it goes from drive to 5th gear no 1-4, and it hesitates & when driving up to a red light for example, then it starts to conk out. Also no pick up from an idle position, I just bought it 9/17/14 and called dealer and he told him it wont pass inspection "check engine light on" constant. It feels like transmission isn't in proper gear (5th) just stalls while driving. Everyone behind me leans on the horn and yells at me when it stalls out in drive. Im afraid to drive it. The dealer (north shore auto mall, lynn ma 01905, mgr name [xxx], real jerk !!) said they did a 21 point inspection, but that's bs, they would have caught that seeing that they are in the business and knew they sold me a car w/bad transmission/alternator. Now they don't want to know me. Please give me some resources that you know of to remedy the problem. I could go on & on about the treatment I had to endure but that wont help hopefully you can regards [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 nissan maxima. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated intermittently when the gears were changed. The vehicle also jerked violently while downshifting. The dealer replaced the transmission. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,702.
Purchased this car approx 4 weeks ago. On drive home from dealership, transmission got worse and worse. Transmission had to be replaced - total overhaul. Also passenger floorboard is almost rusted through. Similar complaints found online consumer reviews. Recurring problem with this model and year.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 nissan maxima. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 MPH, there was a sudden loss of power as the vehicle failed to accelerate. The contact also stated that the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who stated that the valve body of the transmission failed and that the entire transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 160,000. The VIN was not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 nissan maxima. While driving at an unknown speed, the gears shifted without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the technician stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 150,000.
At about 98000 miles I notice that shifting from reverse to drive I was getting a pause for about 8 second then the transmission would jerk and give a clang sound.I went to my local nissan dealer to see if there was a recall or had nissan had this problem.I was told to change fluid because I was so close to 100,000mile maintenance,did so and at about 110000 problem came back now even worse. I carried the car to a transmission shop and was told that it would have to be rebuilt.$3000.00.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 nissan maxima. The contact stated that the transmission failed and had to be shifted into a lower gear in order for the vehicle to operate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 121,646.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 nissan maxima. The contact stated that while driving at 60 MPH, the vehicle switched gears independently and the floor board was rusted. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the technician diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 110,000.
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