2003 Nissan Murano: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Apr 22, 2012 · Acceleration · 71,147 miles · AZ

I continue to have episodic loss of power with my 03 murano. All instances occur after driving at interstate speed for more than 30 minutes at a rate of between 65 -80 MPH during times of high heat (100 degrees+). The first incident occurred in june 2010 while driving from phoenix to flagstaff. Going up a long incline, I noticed that my speed was declining (I was using cruise control). Pushing on the accelerator - no response. The car continued to decelerate on it's own as I struggled to both change lines to get to the nonexistent shoulder of the road and avoid getting hit by the semitrucks. Turned off the car for 30 minutes and waited. Turned it back on and the car ran. I have since not used cruise control. They could find nothing wrong; car did same thing immediately after, drove it back to the shop - they could not replicate it! June 2011 - driving from la to phoenix, 105 degrees and 2 hours in to the trip, the car does the same thing. Pulled off the road, waited. Tried again; could go 10 miles before the car began losing power. Towed to a dealer - who could not reproduce the incident. April 2012 - driving from tucson to phoenix; 105 degrees and 72 miles into the trip. Loss of power on the interstate; 1 hr of waiting, and power returns, but I did not trust this car to get me home (nor did I want to be stalled in the middle of an az desert waiting for a tow truck.) towed to a different nissan dealer. I have had this car in and had many things done and replaced - the cam sensor, transmission fluid, etc. No one can figure this out and more frustrating is that not one mechanic can replicate this loss of power/lack of response to the accelerator.

Filed Oct 21, 2011 · Acceleration, Electrical · 90,000 miles · TN

Second owner, purchased with 63000 miles. First occurrence was driving on the highway a short distance (45min) started to notice the speed pulsing on flat stretches of road with the cruise control being set at 60 MPH. I would manually take over the gas pedal just to have to constantly give it more gas then less gas to maintain 60 on flat ground. To the point of nailing it to maintain 60 then out of no where it would start to go accelerate suddenly up and I would let off the gas to stay @ 60mph and hold the pedal there for about 20 secs just to lose power on flat ground again and would just repeat over and over. When I got off the exit ramp it was sputtering really bad and had a hard time just getting it home w/o hurting myself or others. Next day nothing. Then over time (1 month) it happened 4 other times but is seeming to get worse. Then today I stopped in town at a red light. When it came time to go the care jus sat there and the RPM gauge moved up but the car didn't move forward. I immediately put on hazards, put car in park, shut it off, then restarted it to luckily be able to pull off. Went on highway home going 60mph and the surging back and forth with power to weakness to sudden power was the worst its ever been. Car isn't under warranty due to being 2nd owner but come on nissan really? I'm a student/new father and the $ is crunched like most families now in this economy. I bought a nissan b/c its reputation of quality and endurance/resilience. I would be sick if this injured my baby b/c this car wasn't in the "original recall range". It is very dangerous and could lead to both my tires locking up on the highway going 60 or even faster leaving not only us in jeopardy but everyone around me on the road also.

Filed Feb 5, 2011 · Acceleration, Engine · 119,550 miles · VA

First incident: "slip", "vdc off", and "service engine soon" lights all came on simultaneously as car jerked/hesitated in hov lane of westbound I-66. Car remained running with "slip", "vdc off", and "service engine soon" lights remaining on the rest of the trip home. Second incident (01/30/2011): "service engine soon" light already on. As stop light turned green and began to accelerate from complete stop, "slip" and "vdc off" lights came on and car stalled in the road way. Was able to restart car with some difficulty in middle of the road and continued on. Third incident: "service engine soon" light already on. Car stalled turning into owner driveway, with "slip" and "vdc off" lights coming on. Was able to restart car with some difficulty and pull into driveway. Nissan dealer service department found code p0340: "b1 cam sensor failure". Fp-number: 23731-69j0b. Sensor assembly replaced 02/03/2011. 2nd code p1564: "replace cruise control"

Filed Nov 5, 2008 · Transmission · 65,312 miles · MT

Was driving on the highway at 75mph (normal speed for interstate travel in montana) when our murano started run at 4000 RPM abnormally. It ran at this rate for awhile then it felt like the transmission was loosing power and I had to take it off cruise control because it couldn't keep up and maintain constant speed. Vehicle start to jump in speed and then loose power and continued to do this until I pulled the vehicle off the highway. When I had stopped I tried accelerating to get back onto the highway with no success. I had the accelerator pedal to the floor and had no power. I turned the vehicle off/on and had slight acceleration enough to pull back onto the highway but almost got hit because transmission wouldn't accelerate properly and fast enough. Took murano back to dealer to check out engine/transmission and they said after conducting diagnostic it needed a new transmission. I said the vehicle only has around 65,000 miles I've never heard of a 5 year old car needing a new transmission. What's worse they said is the transmission has to be ordered directly from nissan and cost $4200! Total cost for the repair would be $5600!!! This is no small repair problem! A 2003 vehicle with only 65k miles on it should not need a new transmission!!! Nissan should be held accountable for such a manufacturers defect that had the potential to kill my family on that highway if all power had been lost suddenly cruising at 75mph in traffic!!!!!

Filed May 15, 2008 · Transmission · 96,500 miles · KY

We began experiencing transmission problems approximately 1 year ago. The first indication of trouble was the inability of keeping a set speed while vehicle was set in cruise control. We could hear the transmission struggling to get to the set speed and could see the RPM shoot up at the same time. The other common problem occurs while veh is at a complete stop and then the accelerator is pressed in order to proceed (I.e. Through an intersection), the veh will not move for several seconds while continuing to press the accel pedal. Then, very abruptly the veh will shoot into the intersection at a high rate of speed. *** this seems to be a continuing but intermittent problem. It occurs without warning-sometimes at high speeds on a freeway, often at low speeds in stop and go traffic. Recently, while on a very busy and dangerous roadway in lexington,ky during rush hour, I experienced the inability to reach the speed limit of 55 MPH. While attempting to reach the speed, the tachometer (RPM) would increase to near warning (red zone) levels. I felt as a driver that I was completely helpless and in possible danger from the heavy traffic and my distraction. The town we live in has a high number of 4-way stop intersections. We have 2 school-aged children and do a lot of in-town driving. If there is a hesitation by me as a driver due to a mechanical problem, the other 3 drivers may not realize that I have established an intent to move into the 4-way intersection. In the past, a driver of one of the other 3 cars has entered the int and I have had to make an emergency type stop to avoid a collision. Our nissan dealership (glenn nissan-lexington,ky) examined our vehicle on 5/6/2008. They have advised us that our CVT transmission needs to be replaced. Estimated cost $5,030.00. The codes given are "dtc po868, p1778. Mileage 97148. We did purchase the extended warranty, and are past the 72 month point (although still under the 100k mileage point).