2004 Nissan Maxima 3.5 from North America - Comments

I recently purchased a 2004 Nissan Maxima. I love the car, besides the fact I have had more problems with it in the last few months than I did with my Oldsmobile Alero in the last 4 years. This is extremely frustrating. I have always assumed Nissan's were dependable cars. I know I purchased it used, but the problems I am having should not be occurring at 90,000 miles. Really disappointing.

TRANSMISSION - I just had the transmission replaced (not a cheap repair). I did not purchase an extended warranty (which yes is my fault), but I only expected minor problems, if any, considering the low mileage. Yes on a Chevy or Ford I would expect these problems possibly at these miles, but a Nissan?

The transmission was slipping so bad it about threw me through the window and almost caused me to get in an accident getting on the freeway. It downshifted so quick, it was like slamming on the brakes.

The problem, as I have seen other people note as well, was extremely tempermental. You never knew when it would do it.

I bought my car from a 'reputable' Nissan Certified Dealership. They did not want to accept any responsibility either, saying I bought the car 'AS IS'. Nissan Certified? 200 point inspection? BS!!! After several months of fighting the issue, they agreed to pay for half. I just picked my car up today, and it is still clunking when I downshift. Its supposed to have a new transmission. Not happy at all with the results.

This Nissan Maxima has caused me more stress and cost me more money than any car I have ever had.. and I have only had it 3 months. I bought Nissan hoping to avoid these things... and instead all I bought was a problem. I am thinking I am going to take this up with Nissan, but from the sounds of everyone elses results, it doesn't look like that will get me anywhere. I have lost so much money $$$, time, and my sanity.

I spoke with a Transmission specialist who said he has seen this in several Maximas, and that it should not be happening (of course he only told me this because he is not employed by Nissan). He said it is a manufactored defect... that something ruptures in the transmission causing friction in the fluid and causes the hard shifting. But of course to get the dealership to pay half, I had to have it repaired through them... and its still not working right.

I feel Nissan should look at this issue with a little more regard, as it seems this is a common problem.

If you buy a used Maxima, make sure you have it looked at thoroughly!!! Common problems with the Transmissions... very expensive repair!!!

I'm sorry about your experience. However you should not have expected any less. 2004 was the first American made Maxima, and unfortunately quality has been compromised in most model years since. Maybe 2009 will be better?

I have the same problem. Just got my 2004 Maxima SE 6 months ago with 54,000 miles on it, and after two weeks I noticed the hard shifting, so I started looking into the problem and I found that all these people are having exact the same problem.

So I went to the dealer, and they told me yeah, it's a bad transmission, but since you are under the 60,000 miles guarantee, we are going to replace it free of charge.

So cool, got the new one, but guess what, it is doing the hard shifting all over again. This definitely is a defect and the best we can do is file a complaint at WWW.NHTSA.GOV; it only takes a few minutes and is the only way the government is going to know that this is a defect that is costing people their hard working dollars, as well as risking their lives.

I purchased my 2005 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SE brand new in April 2005. (Financed over 5 years).

I have had too many issues with this car. I had to have a special brake kit put on my car because my brakes were not working right, 2 wheel bearings torn apart, new catalytic convert replaced, AC hose replaced, all 4 engine mounts replaced and a transmission replaced. All of this and many smaller issues occurred prior to 60K miles. The following is a history of one of my biggest problems that I’ve had with this car.

In November of 2007, I started to notice that my transmission was hesitating to shift into the drive gear but after a couple of seconds it would finally shift into gear, however, with a slamming force. At this time, it was only occurring several times a week. A few more weeks went by and it started to occur more frequent. Unfortunately, I would only be able to take the car into the dealer if the problem was acting up at that time. Otherwise, the dealer would just turn me away because they wouldn’t be able to duplicate the problem.

Finally, on 12/17, I took my Nissan Maxima to the local Nissan dealership to have it looked at. After a couple of days of investigating by the Nissan dealer, they finally realized that there was an “internal failure” within the transmission. At this point, they told me they would have to completely remove the transmission and install a remanufactured transmission. I had 58,346 miles on my car so the transmission was still covered under the power train warranty (60,000). Nissan told me it would take a week to a week and a half just to receive the transmission. Nissan provided me with a car rental for 17 days. I wasn’t able to pick up my car until January 3rd.

A few months went by without any issues with the car. In the February to May time frame, I took the car to Nissan a couple of times because the transmission was acting up again. Both times I took it in, I had the technician inspect the car right then and there. Both times, all they told me was that they “couldn’t duplicate the issue”. During this time, the issue with the transmission was only occurring once or twice a week. The issue didn’t start getting worse until August/September.

I finally got frustrated with the issue that I took it back to Nissan to have it looked at again. On the morning of Oct 22, I took the car back to Nissan because once again because the transmission was still hesitating and slamming into the gear. Later that day, Nissan called to tell me that I had to replace the 2 front engine mounts (front and upper right engine mounts) because they were cracked and torn. Nissan said this was the cause of the car hesitating going into gear and also slamming into gear. Once I heard how much it was going to cost me to get the 2 engine mounts replaced (approx. $750) I decided to take it to my own mechanic to install the 2 new front engine mounts.

On Oct 25, I took my car to my mechanic and had 2 new engine mounts (genuine Nissan parts) replaced. On Oct 29, the problem with the hesitation and slamming into gear was occurring once again. Instead of taking the car to Nissan, I took it back to my mechanic to have it looked over. He told me the 2 rear engine mounts were also torn and cracked and that I need to get those replaced. On Nov 1st, I had the other 2 engine mounts replaced (genuine Nissan parts). My question was why didn’t Nissan notice that the 2 rear engine mounts were broken when I took it to them on Oct 25th? Within a week I ended up replacing all 4 engine mounts. I was hoping that this would be the final time that I would have to take my car in for this issue. I was wrong!

Just a few days after I had all 4 engine mounts replaced on my car I noticed the hesitating and slamming into gear was acting up yet again. On Nov 11th, I called Nissan to tell them of my issue and that I was going to bring it in that evening so that I can show the Service tech as well as the Service Manager what exactly was going wrong with my car. I brought the car in to the Nissan dealer at around 6-630pm and told the Service rep my story behind the issue with my car. I even spoke to the Service Manager and took both the manager and the rep outside to my car and actually showed them that when I shift (from any gear) into the “drive” gear there is a delay and then it slams into the gear. I did this several times and the Service Manager even acknowledged that he felt and saw that the car was slamming into gear. His exact words were “Wow, yeah, that’s not right”. I asked that we have a Service tech to come out at that time so that at least we get someone who will be working on the car to actually see what was happening when I try to shift into “drive”. I was told that all of the Service techs had already left for the day. I told them that I wanted them to take as long as they can to find out what exactly is causing this issue. I am tired of taking time out of my busy schedule to bring in the car countless times and not get the issue resolved. I left the car overnight so that their Service techs could work on the car the following day.

The following day at around 3:30pm I had to call Nissan to find out the status of my car. The Service rep told me that he had his guys working on the car and they were not able to find anything wrong with the car. I told Todd again that the issue doesn’t occur until the car is hot. He had the nerve to tell me that maybe it is something that is normal. I immediately told him that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a transmission slamming into gear is not normal. I told him to keep the car overnight again and make sure the techs run the car until it’s hot so that they can see the problem. I called Nissan back about an hour later to tell Todd that I will just pick up the car that evening and bring it back on Friday, Nov 14th (I had to take a day off from work to bring the car in again) so that I can show the Service tech and the Service rep that the car is slamming into gear (again).

I brought the car in on Friday, Nov 14th, and made sure to drive the car around before to make sure the issue was present so that the techs and Nissan would be able to see the issue themselves. I had the Service rep and their head technician come out to my car and I showed them yet again that the transmission was slamming into gear. Both the rep and technician agreed that they felt the transmission slam into gear. They then took the car in the back to check it out.

After about an hour or so, they brought it back out and came to a conclusion that there was nothing wrong with the car and told me again that the hesitation and slamming going into gear was normal. The tech showed me how the transmission shifts in another vehicle on the lot (Nissan Quest). It was nothing close to what was happening in my Maxima! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from these people. I had the Service Manager, Service rep and technician telling me there was nothing they could do for my car because the transmission was “normal”. I made sure that I had them put in writing that there was nothing wrong with the car.

Since December 2007, I have taken my car into the Nissan dealer a total of at least 6 times for the SAME problem. To this day, the issue is still occurring and it’s never been resolved.

This is completely ridiculous to have to always bring in the car for this same issue. Since all 4 engine mounts were replaced less than 2 weeks ago, I have no idea what else it could be besides the transmission. I have already started to look elsewhere for another car because I am so tired of dealing with this same issue over and over again.

I purchased my 2004 Nissan Maxima in 2003 straight from the showroom floor. I also noticed the hard shifting and took it back to the dealership.. when it was under warranty 4 times for this issue. I was told that it is the way that the car operates and that it really was not an issue. Now... my car is no longer under warranty... I paid if off in November 2008. My transmission has to be replaced. The dealer told me it would cost between 3,000 to 4,000 to replace my transmission. I truly believe that the hard shifting caused my transmission issue. I was told by the dealer that I did not need to purchase an extended warranty since Nissan is such a great car. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER... This will be my last Nissan...

Please listen to what I am about to tell you. First off, I have a 05 Nissan Maxima SL, and my transmission did the exact same thing also (whiplash galore), it scared my kids to death.

After investigating this issue I had my tranny opened up and found out that it was just my transmission solenoids were bad, all 5. The dealer of course will say you need a new transmission. but you most likely don't. The dealer calls this item a transmission valve body $900.00 or you can get after market for 1/3 of the cost!!! Look into it.