2011 Nissan Maxima: check engine light

Filed Mar 31, 2021 · Transmission · 106,000 miles · IL

On the night of february 16, my teenage daughter was driving my 2011 nissan maxima when she came to a stop at a traffic light. When the light turned green, she moved her foot off the brake and began to accelerate when the vehicle all of a sudden would not move. She applied her foot to the accelerator several times but the vehicle still would not move. After several more attempts, the vehicle jerked forward in a violent manner but luckily, there was no other car ahead of her or I'm afraid a more serious event would have occurred. This all happened rather abruptly, without any advance warning or indication of a potential problem. The next day I took the vehicle to my local nissan service center to have it diagnosed. The technician informed me a code indicated 'transmission fluid pressure low' (even though it contained plenty of fluid) and advised a complete transmission replacement was needed at a cost of $7,138. This was the diagnosis despite no dashboard warning or service engine light indicator, as I indicated above. Upon returning home and researching the issue online, I discovered that this problem seems to be very common. I learned that nissan has had major issues with the continuously variable transmission (CVT), including several class action lawsuits and other legal matters which subsequently resulted in nissan extending the powertrain warranty on 2003-2010 nissan vehicles and settling other lawsuits for newer model vehicles. However, model years 2011 and 2012 were not covered under these settlements despite having the same exact CVT. I have reached out to nissan north america but they have not acknowledged liability or responsibility. Such a shame because the vehicle has not had any issues until this incident. It only has 106,000 miles but now I'm worried about what might happen if it is being driven.

Filed Jan 5, 2021 · Engine · 74,000 miles · NY

This is my third nissan maxima and they all had the same idsue with the mass air flow sensor. Set off check engine light and makes car hesitate when accerlerating. My mom owns a 2013 maxima 45000 miles and has the same issue with check engine light.

Filed Aug 26, 2020 · Transmission · AR

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 nissan maxima. The contact stated that while driving, the vehicle shut down and the service engine light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the landera nissan dealer, located at: 371 e. Goodman rd, south haven, ms 38671 where the transmission was replaced. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken to the cannon nissan of blytheville dealer, located at: 305 n service rd, blytheville, ar 72315, where it was diagnosed that the transmission failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that nothing could be done. The failure mileage was unknown.

Filed Oct 19, 2018 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 113,532 miles · MS

On my way to work as I was driving down the highway my 2011 nissan maxima all of the sudden would no longer speed up. The vehicle was on and as I tried to accelerate while driving down the highway the speedometer went to 0 MPH but the RPM would climb. I luckily was able to steer the car into an empty parking lot. My car had no check engine/service engine lights on. There were no warnings. I thought it was the speed sensor due to the original diagnostic code of p0500 and tried replacement but that did not solve the issue. My vehicle was towed to a nissan dealership who said it was showing 'pages full of codes' and they told me that my transmission needed to be completely replaced and that 'it just happens.' prior to this total failure I experienced absolutely zero signs of transmission failure. There were no warning lights (check engine/service engine soon), no slipping/jerking, leaking, nothing at all. After researching the potential cause of transmission failure in my make/model/year vehicle I found there were many 2011 owners who were experiencing the same issue, total transmission failure without warning.

Filed Jan 10, 2018 · Lights · NY

My mechanic tells me maxima 2011 has a common problem that needs to reprogram the ECM. "service engine light soon keeps appearing" this should be a free service because my car does not need a new mass air flow sensor. Please factory recall this issue. My car is actually in great shape at 49,000 miles. Here are the list of cars affected. Https://www.autocodes.com/p0101_nissan.html I went to bay ridge nissan dealership and tells me my warrenty does not cover this service and there is no factory recall or bulletin. He wants me to buy a new part ($260.00 usd) and reprogram the ECM ($175.00 usd). This is unacceptable.

Filed Aug 23, 2017 · Transmission · 64,000 miles · NY

The check engine light came on in my maxima a number of months back when the vehicle had close to approximately 64k miles. The codes that tripped were p0011 and p0021, bank 1 and bank 2 cam sensors. Upon bringing it to garden city nissan, I was informed the front and rear covers needed to be replaced and the cost was expected to be $2,400. The repair was performed and the bill was paid. According to the rep. At the dealership, this type of repair is performed on this car twice a month. The gasket in the motor mount is cardboard and needs to be replaced with a silicone based gasket. The cardboard gasket breaks apart and will cause problems with the engine performance by lowering the oil pressure, which will eventually seize the engine. The car was only 4k miles out of the powertrain warranty and nissan would not provide any assistance with the repair. During the life of the vehicle, I regularly performed oil changes, for which I have all receipts. Although this is more of an engine performance issue than a safety issue, this should be reviewed by the federal safety agency as manufacturers defect that costs consumers a lot of money to repair. This is a hardship for me as I'm sure it is for many consumers. Some may not be able to afford this type of a repair and will not have the service done. I am not sure what would happen over time if this repair is not performed something of this magnitude should not happen on a car of this age. I appealed to nissan both verbally and in writing with no luck. I would hope that the federal safety agency would look into this and possible apply some pressure to nissan to initiate a recall. Thank you for your time. Attached is the claim appeal I sent to nissan as well as the repair bill. Any assistance with issue would be appreciated.

Filed Nov 1, 2016 · Electrical · 126,000 miles · RI

Starter motor failure. Intermittent on and off. Failing starter produces noise when stationary and in motion. Check engine light is intermittent. Diagnosed and confirmed failure in starter.

Filed Aug 1, 2016 · Engine, Transmission · 67,000 miles · VA

Check engine indicator light has come on intermittently 3 times in the past two months. Upon getting a diagnostic test at a nissan dealership, the second time the light came on, I was told they needed the car another day, for a longer time to further investigate the two codes that came up during the test. The check engine light went back out a few days later. Now two months later the light is on again and this time as I was leaving a shopping center parking lot, turning onto a main road the car made a jerking/surge-stop motion as if it did not want to accelerate. It continued to do this same motion any time I slowed down or stopped at a light or slowed down to make a turn during my 2.5-3.0 mile trip to my house. I did not drive the car for the next 24-28 hours. Upon driving the car to the dealership to drop off for service I did not experience the jerking/surge-stop motion. After assessing the vehicle today I was informed that the rear timing chain cover has deteriorated causing problems with oil pressure to the engine, code p0011. There were also two other codes for heating system p1217 and transmission fluid pressure p0868. Total cost of repairs $2984. My car is 5 years old, approximately 67,000 miles on it so it is outside of the warranty. After reading others similar complaints about transmission issues just outside of the warranty period, knowing that previous model years had problems that ended up extended warranty it is very disturbing and disappointing to know that nissan is not further investigating these issues further. Also, other issues I have had tire pressure indicator light coming on intermittently and car not starting but all dash lights staying on had technical bulletins. The latter should be a quick resolve yet I was charged almost $400 for something not mentioned in the related bulletin. Nissan lacks responsible customer service!!!

Filed May 9, 2011 · Transmission · 1,800 miles · GA

Tl*the contact owns 2011 nissan maxima. The contact stated the check engine light began to illuminate on the instrument panel. The vehicle also would not shift out of first gear. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the transmission code was reset. The failure recurred one day later. The vehicle was taken back to the authorized dealer where the contact was informed they were receiving various different codes for the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered to install a button in the vehicle to help record the proper codes for the failure. The vehicle was with the dealer at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was 1,800 and the current mileage was 2,000.