CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2004-2006 Nissan Maxima has widespread transmission problems. It starts with the vehicle jerking when shifting, & progresses to full-blown transmission failure.
Maxima owners report spending $3,000 to replace the transmission, typically around when the odometer hits 100,000 miles.
There's a class action lawsuit filed in late 2011, & it is still in the "discovery" stage. Apparently, these things take time ... far too much time.
On my way to gas up my 2005 Maxima SE, I was driving for 30 mins at average 45 mph, when I suddenly heard a knock in front of the car and suddenly the engine was having a hard time compensating with the speed of the car. I pulled over and checked under the hood to see what was wrong and found out there was a burnt smell of ATF. I let the car cool down for a bit about 30 mins and I started and drive the car again but this time, it's jerking and shifting erratically specially downshifting. I have no choice but to call someone to tow me.Â
Again, at my garage, I checked the car for leaks and fluid levels and everything is fine. I called my mechanic friend to further diagnose the vehicle. After he test drive for 15 mins, he finally told me a bad transmission. I explained to my friend, my car is well maintained and hardly used. This is just annoying to know that I need to replace the transmission and will cost somewhere about $4,000. Too bad, this is a premature tranny failure. Nissan - please help correct this issue!!!
I purchased a 05 Nissan Maxima at an auction. I buy them and resale as supplemental income. The trans was bad, shifting erratically and violently, posing a danger to drive in that condition. I replaced it with a used trans and this one shifts bad too. Not as bad, but noticeably so. I can't sell it. I spent close to $800 getting the used one installed. I have $2500 put into this car and no solution at hand. I need help to repair Nissan. You guys cost me money that I didn't have to lose.
Car turned 100000 miles and the transmission started shifting hard when accellerating and decellerating. Had transmission fluid changed and this help a little but I'm back to the same problem.
This problem has been so aggravating that for a while I didn't drive my car. I expect to have it fixed and I'm going to be looking for retribution so add my name to any lawsuit .
- Maurice B.,
Merritt Island, FL, US
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Just recently bought my 2005 Nissan Maxima from a private individual. The car was in excellent shape, according to her. It was kept in excellent cosmetic condition, however, the transmission is not shifting properly. It doesn't want to shift between gears. I drove it from my daughter's house, which is about 7 or 8 houses down from where I live, and it did not want to shift between gears. It felt like it was in neutral. I can not afford to have the transmission replaced, nor should I have to. The Maxima only has 126,620 miles on it. My last car had over 175,000 miles on it and I had no problems with the transmission or any other issues with it other than regular maintenance. Nissan needs to own up to faulty transmissions and cover the cost of replacement.
Very well-known problem with this year/model. Problem was foretold by other Maxima owners in random location (ie parking lots), and they were right. ("What year is your car? '05? Does the transmission shift really really rough? Not yet? Well it will - have fun with that!"). I understand the issue may be a too-small orifice in a valve body? Sounds plausible, but could also be something else. Either way, dealer "officially" denies it is pervasive issue, yet their service techs say it is. Also, non-dealer transmission shops all knew of the issue, and appreciated the business they get from owners. Aamco guy saw me getting out of the car when I got to his shop for estimate - said he knew why I was there.
Also, I bought the car brand-new with less than a dozen miles on it, and always treated it well. So, it is not an rough-operation-induced problem.
Kind of unbelievable that Nissan is still in business after producing such a terrible product. If more people knew what a lemon this car is they would NEVER buy another Nissan. Nissan really won't acknowledge that anything is wrong. Just deny.
Transmission got worse. The slipping, jerking and irritating revving when it gets out of gears. Not to mention the hard knock when shifting from reverse to drive or vice versa.
Bought this car from a dealer in Monroe, LA as a used vehicle with 24,600 miles for my son to go to school in. This past June, he complained that the transmission was slipping and shifting rough. We had the transmission fluid changed along with all associated filters. Still does not work correctly. Have gotten a quote of $4,500.00 to replace with rebuilt transmission. Seems to me that this is overkill for a vehicle that is not that old.
car shifts very hard from first to second with loud bang and jerk, and also when car shifts from second back to first. After driving for 30 to 40 min and a really hard shift car locks into fifth gear and stays until you turn car off and back on again.NOT SURE WHAT DAMAGE IS BEING DONE.
From a standing stop during acceleration the car will jerk through shifting. Going from forward to reverse or reverse to forward there is a violent jerk. When it shifts there is a hesitation and a high RPM rev.
My husband purchased this as a birthday gift to me and it's been nothing but a nightmare. It was purchased from Antelope Valley Volkswagen and because it's used I feel like they basically sold the lemon to a sucker. It sucks to finance something that most likely Needs a major and expensive repair. I think I Have maybe put 8000 miles on it since it was purchased last August. It sits in the garage waiting to be looked at by someone. I HATE THIS CAR.
As soon as I drove this car off the lot, this issue began. My check engine light came on and the jerking would not cease. Of course i took the car back to the dealer, who flushed the transmission, which made the light go off. About 3 weeks later, the issues started back up. It will sporadically stop and the light will go off, then it will start again. The transmission fluid gets dirty way too quickly. And my car is always stuck in 5th gear when it has issues.
I feel unsafe when it decides to slowly accelerate in traffic, or when I need to zoom out to take a turn into the street and my car is accelerating too slowly while i'm flooring the gas. No one should have to go through this!
I had the repairs estimated and it was about $1500 to fix. The mechanic also had FIVE other of my vehicle on the lot with the EXACT same problem. This is ridiculous!
Just a month after buying this car, I took it through inspection. I drove the car, which was operating perfectly, directly to the inspection station which is approximately 15 miles from home. On the way home, it started to downshift hard, specifically when close to first gear. It then started to happen periodically. It is now to the point that it happens every time you slow down. And now, it sometimes bucks when accelerating. Forget about taking your foot off of the gas to slow down; this causes the car to buck so badly that it feels as though you have been rear-ended. I took my car to a transmission specialist who stated that he could not find anything wrong with the transmission, even when hooking it up to an electronic computer to find a code. Upon researching, I found that this is a common problem with 2004-2006 Nissan Maximas and that Nissan knows about it but refused to do anything about it. Sounds to me like Nissan needs to do a recall to correct this problem! When calling Nissan, they want you to take your car in for them to diagnose it, which would be at my cost, of course. And then they would just tell me what I can pay for them to do to fix it.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
On my way to gas up my 2005 Maxima SE, I was driving for 30 mins at average 45 mph, when I suddenly heard a knock in front of the car and suddenly the engine was having a hard time compensating with the speed of the car. I pulled over and checked under the hood to see what was wrong and found out there was a burnt smell of ATF. I let the car cool down for a bit about 30 mins and I started and drive the car again but this time, it's jerking and shifting erratically specially downshifting. I have no choice but to call someone to tow me.Â
Again, at my garage, I checked the car for leaks and fluid levels and everything is fine. I called my mechanic friend to further diagnose the vehicle. After he test drive for 15 mins, he finally told me a bad transmission. I explained to my friend, my car is well maintained and hardly used. This is just annoying to know that I need to replace the transmission and will cost somewhere about $4,000. Too bad, this is a premature tranny failure. Nissan - please help correct this issue!!!
- Town J., Dededo, HI, Guam