I stopped at a stoplight and when it turned green I attempted to proceed. The car would not move forward .the car behind me almost ran into me and many others started blowing their horn. The murano moved about 6 feet limping forward slowly the stopped again. The light changed and I was stuck in the middle of a 4 lane ( 2 each way ) road. It took about 5 minutes to get into the correct lane and the car had a top speed of less then 10 MPH. I pulled in a non service gas station and went in for lunch. About 3/4 of an hour later I returned to the car which ran fine..went to the airport and returned almost home before it happened again at another stoplight. While waiting for the 2003 murano to move a transport behind me jumped the curb to get around me and also gave me the finger. I took the murano into a dealer who had never heard of the problem I mentioned ( but they told me it went into " limp mode" so I was sure that they had lots of experience with the specific problem. I took the murano in on march 9th and picked it up march 15th after having the transmission replaced. On returned the murano to the dealer on monday april 9th I once again returned to the dealer because the murano did not feel right. I asked if the mechanic could come with me and test drive it. I drove about 4 blocks from the dealership and pulled over to let the mechanic drive it since he thought it was just fine. He got behind the wheel and I noticed he was shifting from forward to reverse and back again, then he told me it would not move. Finally it limped back to the dealer with 4 way lights flashing. The customer service rep at vero us 1 nissan - hyundi wrote up another work order and on april 20th I picked up the murano with a second replacement transmission in 25 days. To this day neither nissan USA or nissan canada have admitted there is an inherent safety problem with the murano 2003-2004 CVT transmission due to failure and shutdown of the transmission.
2003 Nissan Murano transmission complaints
Page 9 of 10: complaints 221 to 250 of 265, newest first, as owners wrote them.
My 2003 nissan murano fails to accelerate after having driven on the highway and exiting at a stop light. The gas pedal needs to be pressed down almost to the floor before the car begins to slowly move and sometimes the wheels spin out and the car will immediately zoom forward. Driving in stop & go traffic has become very dangerous because turning left along with normal movement through traffic has been vastly slowed.
I have owned my nissan murano 2003 for about two years and a few months ago it started to hesitate while I was in stop and go traffic. I learned that by turning the car off for a few seconds the problem would go away. Then last week, my transmission started to make a strange noise and when I went to get my car fixed...my mechanic said that the CVT needed to be replaced and that nissan is the only one that can fix it. The CVT is destroyed after 110k miles and with it's demise it took our and destroyed the transfer case totaling $7200 to fix. While looking at the consumer reports for this vehicle...it looks as if I am not alone in this situation and that nissan has turned their backs on this initial product by not acknowledging the design flaws and chronic problems with this new CVT technology. I am currently waiting for nissan to step up to the plate and make this right but if history and the correspondence with other murano owners...I am not going to be satisfied with nissan's stance. I would like to help initiate a class action against nissan for both the cost to fix this known problem and the frustration this vehicle has given me.
200 murano transmission - throttle becomes unresponsive causing vehicle to lurch forward from a stop after driving for an extended period in stop-and-go traffic.
2 weeks after the 60,000 service (at 63,500 k)I had my catalytic converter replaced. At that time, the dealer said I needed the transfer case seal replaced ($800). That was not the real problem, the bearings were defective- I need a new transfer case (rebuild $900). But no parts are available so need to buy new transfer case from nissan ($2500). Definitely a 2003 murano manufacture defect.
Nissan murano 2003- 71,000 miles- awd transfer case defect $3500- acute onset- loud clunking noise which increases in volume when speed increases- inoperable at this time- contacted nissan consumer affairs with no financial assistance granted- dealer attributed that wear was caused by driving on dry pavement while in awd which never occurred. Situation was similar in nature when my alternator failed suddenly with no cause which resulted in a recall one year later.
2003 nissan murano. After 1.5 hours of highway driving, stopped car at stop light. When accelerator depressed, car was unresponsive for 5 seconds, then lurched forward. Moments later, accelerator could be depressed to floor (in the middle of a traffic intersection) with unresponsive RPM and acceleration. Once car shut off, car operated fine at highway speeds for remainder of trip. Within a week, while on vacation out-of-state, same problems occurs again. Murano is unresponsive once auto is slowed from highway speeds to stop-and-go traffic on highway. Able to get auto off highway although once clear of the highway, auto will not accelerate from stop light. Car remains unresponsive until shut down and restarted. Once running, car seems to chug and lurch at all speeds. Murano was immediately serviced (the following day) at faulkner nissan in harrisburg, pa while on vacation and diagnosed with faulty transmission valve body. Replaced at cost of $1800+. On return trip to home (newport, ri), vehicle seems to be fine until decelerating for stop and go traffic. Once that occurs, it experiences countless transmission surges and shakes at all speeds. From standstill, car is unresponsive and often stutters and shakes. On return to home dealership (just one week after first service), dealer (barry nissan, newport, ri), replaces transmission control unit ($1300+) yet still is unsure if that is the fix. Nissan consumer affairs has yet to return my call despite my initial complaint and multiple efforts to contact them again.
Nissan murano 2003. When hot and stop and go, acceleration can lag by 10 to 30 seconds after stepping on accelerator pedal. Very dangerous. Seems to be a pressure sensor in the transmission.
I noticed the RPM rev uncontrollably between 2 and 3k while driving and didn't think anything of it as no lights had come on with the vehicle. I began to notice that on hot days and days when I was in stop and go traffic the vehicle would respond extremely slow and then 10-15 seconds later would rev up almost to 4k RPM almost causing me to hit the car in front of me. At first I thought it was due to the gasoline in the vehicle. So I continued to drive the car. Then a couple of weeks later I get stuck in stop and go traffic .. The car again begins to respond super slowly 10-20 seconds. I exited the freeway and came to a stop light to make a right turn. My car sits.. And sits.. And then takes off at 60mph at a stopped turn right and I almost hit a car. I've called the service center at the nissan in my area and they claim that they have never heard of the issues that I have stated and that they need to keep my vehicle for a day to duplicate what's going on. After reading all of the post by other owners there is something seriously wrong with something in the cars transmission. If I have to replace the entire transmission at $6000 because of a $5 sensor that to me seems like a crock. I think that something needs to be done about this because you can guarantee the owners that own these slow responding cars will sell them or trade them in and another unsuspecting owner on a hot and stop and go traffic day wont know what's going on with their brand new used 10 point inspected vehicle. I think that something needs to be done about this or their will be loss of life due to this design flaw. Right now I have not had my failing parts fixed because I will not pay the $6,000 to replace a transmission. I will probably end up trading the car in and using the $6,000 to purchase another vehicle that does not have these problems.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 nissan murano. While driving 45 MPH, the contact depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle failed to move. The vehicle was pulled over and towed to the dealer, who stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. The current and failure mileages were 82,000.
Nissan muarano 2003. When hot and stop and go, acceleration can lag by 10 to 30 secons after stepping on accelerator pedal. Very dangerous. Seems to be a pressure sensor in the transmission and they want $3000. To $5000. To fix. Many posts on the web.
I have a 2003 nissan murano with 71,300 miles, whenever I get to a stopping point or making a turn, if I tried to resume driving the vehicle does not move. There'll be no acceleration power. I will be waiting for 5-10 minutes before the vehicle could move. I'm afraid I might get hit one day.
This is a copy of the text I sent nissan. To: interested parties nissan USA reference # 5652837. I now own a 2003 murano VIN 3 j. I have a problem that I am not resolved on and details are as follows: I am a reserve navy officer now deployed to iraq, which makes this entire evolution a bit difficult. My son chris wilson age 22 was driving the murano on march 14, 2007 near his college in cullowhee, north carolina when while at highway speed noticed the check engine light illuminated and then experienced an immediate loss of power and engine shutdown. He was able to get the vehicle out of active traffic safely with no power steering or brake assist. Witnesses to the event claimed he was lucky and skilled to maneuver off the highway without endangering himself and others in traffic. We then searched for local dealerships to take the vehicle to contacted them and arranged for the vehicle to be towed there. After an analysis and the part number of a transmission control module TCM. I went to the nissan USA web site and researched recalls that had been issued for 2003 muranos. I was very interested to find one for VIN numbersjn8az08t*3w 100007-100032,jn8az08w* 200005-200071. I realize that my VIN number is not one of these and the nice folks at the call center and the service folks at the dealerships are powerless to do anything unless there is a VIN match. The recall quotes: ''on some 2003 muranos there is a possibility that the engine might stop running while being driven if the crank position sensor fails. This may also result in the ''service engine soon'' light coming on or reduced engine power. It is the same result as what happened to my car. I am a professional mechanical engineer and I feel ethically sound in making the request and maintaining an unresolved position on this matter.
My vehicle is all wheel drive. When I took it in for normal maintenance I was advised the transfer case was locked in all wheel drive. There is no warning light to advise that this has happened. I don't know how many miles the car was driven in this condition. It so happens that I had recently passed my warranty period and had to pay a very large amount to repair it. If a warning light had gone on I would have been able to repair this sooner under warranty. Plus, I had recently returned from a long two week drive in hot desert country. I would imagine it was not wise or safe to be in all wheel drive under hot road driving conditions. I asked the manufacturer to inform me how often their vehicles have this problem but I had no response from them. I did ask my dealership and they told me at least one other vehicle had the same problem locally.
I own a 2003 nissan murano, that is no longer operational due to a faulty transmission. On the 26th of november 2006, the transmission seized and stopped operating, as I was driving on the highway. Now I have a 3 year old, $35,000 dollar vehicle, which may as well be a paperweight. The vehicle is sitting in my driveway, awaiting repairs. I take care of this vehicle as if it were my own child. I ensure that the oil is replaced every 3,000 miles religiously,and I have spent hundreds of dollars for routine scheduled services. To sustain a nissan murano is not a cheap task. The last scheduled service was a 60,000 mile maintenance and it cost me well over $500 dollars. I ensure that the maintenance is being completed, because I understand the importance of routine services. When I purchased this nissan murano, I had no idea it would give me so many headaches. I have been to the nissan dealers for unscheduled warranty repair at least 5 times a year, since I purchased it. Some of the issues I have had with the SUV are, the check engine light turning on, unexplained vehicle vibrations when driving, car seizing in the middle of road, bad brakes, alternator had to be exchanged, battery went bad, and my transmission would not fall into gear. I called the nissan consumer toll free number and the nissan corporation is asking me to consolidate the records of everything that has been repaired on the car, and fax it to them. It seems that conveniently enough, nissan does not have records of any maintenance that was performed at authorized nissan dealers. I was told that this information had to be faxed first, before a decision can be made. The transmission has had previous difficulties covered under the warranty and had continued to malfunction when the current incident occurred. The only decision I would like to receive, as soon as possible is, if the nissan corporation is going to grant my request to fix my transmission at no cost.
Experienced clicking sound and subsequent loss of power while driving in mountainous area. 2003 murano was completely disabled with what turned out to be complete failure of CVT transmission in nissan dealer maintained vehicle with 77,000 miles on odometer. At this point, nissan has offered no goodwill help in replacing $5000 CVT transmission,citing outside of 60,000 mile drive train warranty. Reliability of CVT technology in 2003 model is questionable , if complete failure on CVT is normal wear and tear at 77,000 miles. With exception of replacing two radiators and this CVT failure, I have had been very happy with vehicle.
On monday, 11/13/06 I took my 2003 nissan murano in for winterizing & to have them check out a humming noise to the nissan dealer. Later that day I was called and told the noise was related to the transfer case which needed to be replaced at my cost, over $4000 to repair. This vehicle has only 89,000 miles. Decided to get a second opinion and had the vehicle moved to another nissan dealer. This nissan dealer has repaired another murano with the same situation and so was able to diagnose that it is not the transfer case, but it is the transmission. Unfortunately the cost is even more - over $6000. Being I did not purchase an extended warranty, I'm responsible for the costs. What I don't understand is the "why" for the failure. There was no indication that either the transfer case or transmission were failing when the car was being driven. I called my salesperson about the situation and he informed me he had a friend that had his transfer case fail at approximately the same miles. In my opinion, major components - transmissions or transfer cases should not be failing at this mileage and would like for someone to pursue to determine if there is a recall situation.
After driving on a highway at 55+MPH, for more than a half hour, if you then get into stop and go or city traffic, and you are stopped, if you press on the accelerator, the car will not respond for 5-10 seconds, then will lunge forward. This is not only annoying, it is so dangerous. Now that I am aware of it, I try to leave lots of space between me and the car in front of me (not always possible in the city). It only seems to happen under the conditions described above. I noticed this happening a little over a year after purchasing my murano.
2003 nissan murano, at 2500 miles transmission seems to skip or disengage for a second at highway speeds. Dealer could not reproduce problem. At 12000 miles vehicle started to act up and same thing happen, this time vehicle seemed like it was in neutral gear. Vehicle recalled for alternator replacement, same week and I informed the dealer of the issue, they seemed not too concerned. At 35000 miles when driving in reverse, transmission clink noise. At 58000 took vehicle to dealer with a complaint that the transmission is acting up. Dealer installed a gas tank shied, and did not care to investigate the transmission issue and said all are ok. 64000 miles, after stopping at a traffic light, vehicle will not move forward, acceleration pedal pushed all the way. Vehicle will then suddenly pickup speed and lung forward. Vehicle RPM will kick up and down while driving at steady and cruising speeds giving the vehicle a feeling of sudden acceleration and deceleration. Situation is getting worse and no help from dealer since he recently went out of business.
03 nissan murano---transmission went out while driving at highway speed and car only has 46,000 miles. It is in the shop being repaired but it will take up 2 two weeks since transmission is coming from california. This is an issue because it is happening to too many murano's at low mileage. Nissan must look into this and do something soon. I did not get hurt since I was able to pull over on the shoulder with the help of a tractor trailer stopping traffic. Someone else may not be as lucky. Please do something now!!!!
To date, we have had numerous problems with our 2003 murano. We have replaced the throttle body, motor mount, battery, TCM and transmission. On july 21, 2006 our murano made a loud noise then quit moving. We had it towed to the dealership where they stated it needed a new TCM. That did not fix the problem so they said we needed a new transmission. We had 64,000 miles. Since then we had the car for one day and took it back for yet a new problem with the rear axle.
While on the highway and then in stop and go traffic I pressed on the gas and my murano moved slowly, then picked up speed. I took it to the dealer while under warranty, 57,898 miles, but they said the computer only needed to be reset. They did not document this problem. The problem didn't happen again until around 66,000 miles. I took it back they said they could not find anything. The problem happened again at around 68,000 but more and more during stop and go traffic and now they say I need a valve body and more than likely a new transmission at $6000. Nissan but out a service bulletin telling the repair shops to look for this problem because they know its a problem. I called nissan and they said its my problem. They won't fix it nor will they help to fix it. This is a very dangerous problem if you need the power and suddenly you don't have it.
Dt*: the contact stated while attempting to apply pressure to the accelerator pedal, the vehicle would not move forward. After the vehicle started to slowly move, it was taken to a local dealership. The mechanic determined the valve body of the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer has been alerted. Updated 08/24/06.
2003 nissan murano awd would accelerate and skip gears. If you are in stop and go traffic and you take your foot off the gas the car will lunge forward and try to go into a higher gear then first. This started happening intermittently then it happened several times in one day the friday before memorial day 2006. On saturday when we started the car it made a horrible clunking noise. We drove the car to the dealer and several days later we were told we would need a brand new transmission at a cost of $4000. The car has 78,000 miles and is 32 months old. All the miles are highway miles. We do not have an extended warranty because we have always owned nissan cars and never had a problem. I have conducted research and found several consumers have experienced the transmission problems at various life cycles of the vehicle. Some had problems with in the first thousand miles. It is suspected that the problems are caused by the new CVT technology that nissan first introduced in the nissan murano in 2003. I think this is a serious problem.
2003 murano was stopped. Driver had foot on brake. Vehicle was struck in rear. Brake pedal went to floor and vehicle rolled through intersection. Had to pump brake pedal twice before brakes would hold again. Ever since, vehicle labors as if pulling a heavy load or as if parking brake was partially engaged. Nissan dealer states that brakes seem to work, therefore they will not attempt to find cause of pedal-to-the floor incident or cause of vehicle "laboring".
After driving on the highway, then stuck in stop & go traffic, car will not accelerate. Has happened 5 times, and is very dangerous. It takes at least 10 seconds for the car the accelerate. Was told can't be fixed unless problem can be recreated. I was unable to move out of the way for police when this last happened.
Overall the vehicle has been very good. At approximately 65,000 miles the transmission failed and needed to be replaced. The day before it failed I heard a noise but could not determine where it was coming from. On the day it failed the noise seemed not to be present. I exited a highway after a 1 1/2 drive and the transmission made a bump sound that made the car shake for an instant. Then, the transmission seemed not to engage. The car appeared to go into limp mode. I traveled for a few miles to a small town. After being parked for a few minutes the transmission again engaged. I called the dealer, and he said to get vehicle to them , and they would take a look. A few times along the way the transmission slipped. I was informed the following day that the transmission needed to be replaced at a cost of over $5,000. Nissan refused to help in anyway. They were simply turning their back on me because the warranty expired at 60,000 miles. I requested any contribution for repairs and they refused. It was a very sad corporate policy.
Dt: the consumer states that the 2003 nissan murano experienced a loss of power while driving at 20 MPH. The vdc off and the slip where the lights t came on in the dashboard. These lights came on the first time that this happened. The next time that the loss of power was experienced the light did not come on. The car has been at the dealership twice for this issue. The dealer has no idea why the car is doing this, specifically states the consumer. The consumer has contacted nissan directly by mail and received a message from nissan that they wanted to schedule a final repair attempt at the dealership. The muranos shifter was also sticking, and you could not get the car to go into park or reverse. The car would not go any higher than neutral. The car has been in the dealership three times for this problem. The owners of the car have filed for the lemon law.
2003 murano radiator and transmission malfunctioned.***no answer required***.*mr the alternator was replaced after the alternator light illuminated on the dash. When accelerating suddenly the vehicle would hesitate.
3/7/2005while driving to las vegas from dolan springs, when stopped at stop light in boulder city, nv- heard a loud clunk and the transmission locked up. Called nissan roadside service and they towed to douglas nissan in henderson, nv. 3/11/2005picked up car at douglas nissan. On the way back to dolan springs, az.we smelled a lot of hot burning and when we stopped, we saw some smoke. The next day, we called douglas nissan and they said wait for about 2 weeks to see if it continues, it is probably residue. 3/19/2005while in las vegas, we stopped at douglas nissan to check we still had hot, burning smell. They discovered that the seal(s) were leaking. 3/23//2005we picked up the car and began drive back to dolan springs, az. When we got to about 15 miles (boulder city, nv), we again got the hot burning smell. We called douglas they found that the car was not fixed and was still leaking. We left car and they said would be done on 3/25. 3/24/2005made call to nissan nissan rep assured us car would be ready on 3/25. 3/26/2005we stopped back- car was still not fixed. They were not sure when it would be fixed. 3/29/2005car still at douglas nissan and no idea when it will be fixed. They said they now thought it might have something to do with all-wheel drive seal. 4/30/2005car still not fixed. Parts ordered- may be on back order. No idea when it would be done. No explanation why car has been in dealership since 3/11- still not fixed. Basically, although we have had 2 months of frustration and stress, we still have enough confidence in nissan and the murano to purchase a new murano.
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