BigSlimDog

Hello guys I am having a big problem with my Maxima. Its an 04 SL and recently when say I am driving and hit the break lightly then return to step on the gas pedal, as soon as I step on the gas pedal I get a violent loud jerk almost like a jolt and then the car proceeds to run fine, this process repeats itself from time to time but lately has been becoming more frequent. Any ideas what might be wrong with my car?

Madmaxima95

Is it an automatic, torque converter possibly? Checked the fluid level?

BigSlimDog

It is an automatic and torque converter has been mentioned by the mechanic. I originally brought the car in to change the tranny fluid, however he called me today and said that he wont change the tranny fluid because it is very dark and would do more harm than good. Does he have a point with the tranny fluid? And as for my problem I really need to get to the bottom of this, that violent jerk usually happened somewhere between 1-2 gears. It is a single sole jerk/kick that repeats itself from time to time when i lay off the gas pedal and hits when I proceed to step on the gas pedal.

Madmaxima95

Your mechanic does have a point on the fluid, I've known of several vehicles that had transmission problems after changing old fluid, and almost always after a "transtech" or similar flushing of fluid. The internals of the tranmission adjust to run on the dirty sludge and when it is all flushed out, it does sometimes causes problems. I dont know anyone with a Maxima specifically that this has happened to. It seems its a good idea to change fluid at regular intervals, but if it has been nelected for some time it may be wise to leave it alone. I wish you luck, hopefully its just a torque converter issue and not the transmission itself.

BigSlimDog

If it does happen to be the torque converter, do you by any chance know of any good websites where I can order one for a good price?

Costee

I'm afraid you seem to have been beaten by the 6th gen bug: defective valve body of your tranny. Is your car 4speed or 5speed? Is your SES light on? Have you seen this
http://forums.maxima.org/6th-generat...ssion-fix.html

MaxFan

I have the '04SE 5-speedAuto. This started to happen 4-5 years ago, mostly in slow-n-go traffic (feel likes getting rear-ended by a truck). A oil drain/refill would eliminate the problem ---> until it started again. then I know it's time to drain/refill again. I'm approaching 120Kmiles now and the trans has been solid. It helps that I drain/refill every year (12Kmiles). Each time it only takes 3 quarts. What do you get to lose ? I would buy 10 quarts of oil and do a drain/refill three times within a two-week period.

Costee

It's clear that your progressively deteriorating valve body is finding it difficult to respond to your frequent administration of a life-support fluid in your ATF. The VB needs replacement. You mean you coped with this for five years! Let's just hope the internals of the tranny itself have not begun to disintegrate.

MaxFan

Thanks for the warning. But all things are deterioraring as they age. I still have trust in the trans to go another 5 years or more with good care. Would a new valve body help ? Yes. But maybe overkill. Same as the timing-chain noise, i've had the same level of noise (on cold start) for the last 5 years. Even my 190Kmiles '97GLE has had this noise for the last ~150Kmiles. Comparing to the trans/timing-belts in my old Colt, Mazda, Corolla, Accord ... they had more troubles within those range.

brunkcowok

good idea,I still have trust in the trans to go another 5 years or more with good care,thank you

MaxFan

This is not much comparing to the 4-spdAuto in my 93Accord. That trans was a POS. My 1st oil-change was ~43Kmiles and the Tech said "sh**" the moment he saw the oil coming out. Honda dealer said it was normal for the trans to "bang" into gears. I switched to synthetic trans-oil every year afterward. It did lasted until 149Kmiles.

BigSlimDog

The car is a 5speed but the SES light has not come on. Anyone have a rough idea what how much a valve body change would run in $$$, and would it more than likely solve my problem?

macantley

iTrader: (5)

any mechanic that tells you this is full of crap, changing the fluid wont negatively effect the transmission at all, the reason why he wont do it is because your tranny has a pre-existing problem and doesnt want you to blame it on the recent trans fluid flush if he does it, 99% of the time owners ONLY change their trans fluid when there is a problem starting to show, its the one item that no one ever does preventative maintenance on.

alot of people will say that the fluid has "worn" into the transmission and new fluid will fudge things up, its all a lie, been there done that, he just doesnt want to take any blame for your transmission failing and i cant fault him for that (or her if the case may be)

i agree with everyone else though that the problem is probably in the transmission and fluid definitely wont help a pre-existing problem, I dont know enough about maxima automatic transmissions to give you an idea but it seems that everyone else has pointed towards valve body or torque converter so i would guess thats a good place to start looking.

Costee

Spot-on!