Questions and Answers

Maxima Shifting Wrong Q. Dear Vincent Ciulla, I am having problems with my 1997 Nissan Maxima GXE, V-6, 3.0, AT, which I bought a few months ago. About a month ago check engine light came on and when I turn the car on the Overdrive light is flashing for a few seconds.

I accessed car's computer and it showed two problems: with speedometer and with transmission. Then I noticed that when I was driving with the rest of traffic on 65 mph highway my speedometer was showing 80 mph. So I assume, it shows 10-15 mph more than my real speed.

Just a couple of weeks ago I started experiencing one more problem. When I try to accelerate fast, the car seems to have problems shifting from first to second gear. RPM always stay below 2,000, but the car starts shaking at about 10-15 mph and decelerating and it takes a few seconds before it stops shaking and starts accelerating again. It does not happen when I accelerate slowly or at speeds above 20 mph.

Do you think these two problems are related? Do I need to rebuild my transmission? What should I do with the speedometer?

Thank you,
Misha

A. I think all your problems can be traced to the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS). Information from the VSS, as well as other inputs, tells the transmission when to shift. It also provides the signal for the speedometer.

The flashing OD light is telling you that a malfunction was detected and a DTC has been stored. You will need a scan tool to access the codes.

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