Hey guys!

I had a little bit of problem on my 08 G35x AT. In the mornings, the car used to jerk a little bit before going into reverse - I had searched the forums on here and G35Driver and it seemed this was a normal issue for quite a few people... I still took it to the dealership a couple of times and they found no issues (no surprise since it only happened on cold start). (Car was bought used at 61K - currently at 84K)

A couple of days ago, the VDC and slip lights came on on my drive home. I looked it up and most people said it could have to do with brakes/brake fluid. I took it to a Nissan dealership and they confirmed this. I was there for about 2 hours. After taking my car back (didn't get the work done) - I found that there was a big drag when trying to pull out (drive forward) of their parking lot. I was in a rush and couldn't go back to them at the time in the middle of a work day. A couple of hours later I was pulling out of the parking at work and noticed that I could not reverse at all. I spent like 5 mins and finally it shifted into reverse and jerked back. I took it back to the same Nissan dealership and they said they only checked the brakes and what started happening has got nothing to do with them at all. I argued with them a bunch but they didn't budge at all. Going to speak to the General Manager soon. I have been driving this car for about a year and a half (bought August 2012) and had no issues at all until yesterday and it started right after Nissan techs looked at the car.

I have a hard time believing it's got nothing to do with them.
Any suggestions? I hope I dont have to rebuild the transmission. Any other areas I should get checked out?

Also any suggestions for dealing with such a mishap with a dealer? Any legal recourse? This is just messed up.

 

There's honestly nothing you can do. If the dealer hasn't touched anything relating to the transmission, and it fails, it doesn't mean that they are held liable for damage.

What you can do is have the transmission checked. It could be just a problem with the transmission fluid and its level. Has that been changed out? Unless you have evidence that the techs took a joyride in your car and raced it frying the transmission, there's really no legal recourse.

First step is the basics: check the transmission fluid. There is a dipstick in the back of the engine that you can check to see if the level is good. Make sure that it is also in good condition.

Sometimes, the car's transmission will act up one day and be fine the next. I had a scare a month ago when my car was jerking while the gears were shifting but it has been fine now the past couple of weeks.

Do you have a check engine light? Usually transmission issues will trigger a check engine light.

 

Thank you for your reply.
Yes, I guess there's no evidence of foul play.. I am just pissed that I take the car in for a brake check and this is what ends up happening. I haven't checked the trans fluid level yet - will do that first thing tomorrow. I haven't changed that trans fluid yet. I am not sure if the previous owner did. I can check with him though.

Thanks again for your reply.

 

Any update? Did you find out what was wrong? This started happening to me, the vdc, slip and parking brake light came on yesterday while I was driving home, figured it was because I was past due for a rear brake change. Then this morning I couldn't reverse out of my driveway, also wouldn't go forward either felt like the brakes had seized. Eventually I was able to pull out but then on my way to work I was making a right turn and the car started juddering like crazy and and came to complete stop. I was able to shift it into reverse move back a little bit and then when I put it back into drive it started going forward again just felt like I went over a huge bump. Im going to the garage tomorrow for a brake change will that fix this or is it something else?

 

It could be the valve body, that's what controls all the shifts and reverse on autos. Basically solenoids open and close to move fluid around and control things. I have an FX, and was having issues going from drive to reverse. Basically it would take 4-5 seconds for reverse to engage. And if I was slowing down to a light and then got on the gas before stopping completely, it would rev up and then slam into gear. This happened for a few months and a few days ago, I threw a code and my car would no longer shift. It would basically start and stay in 4th. Code was P1764 which is a direct clutch solenoid. So basically there's an issue w/ that solenoid that's causing my car to not engage gears correctly.

My issue fixes itself every time I shut the car off, so it's probably electrical. But if I stay stopped at a light for longer than a few seconds, it happens like clockwork. If I stay on the highway, it's fine. So this weekend, swapping back to OEM VB from the Stillen I installed a while back. The tranny itself is fine, no burnt fluid, no slip during shifts, it just doesn't select gears well.

Low brake fluid/pads can throw the VDC light, but it shouldn't cause transmission problems. It could be an ABS sensor which is in your transmission, but that will throw a code.

 

Hi,

I just got the car back from the dealership yesterday. The transmission was effed up completely. They did the tranny fluid flush first to see if that fixes the issue but it didn't. So they had to replace the entire transmission. Good thing is that I was covered with the Powertrain warranty - 4 months to go until that was done so I guess I can count myself lucky that this saved me $7k in expenses (that is for a new factory transmission at the dealership).

With your symptoms I am pretty sure there are issues with transmission. Call Infiniti Customer relations and get the details on warranty and take it to the dealership asap.
Hopefully you still have warranty.