Questions and Answers

Quest Got The Surges Q. Hello Vincent: I have a 1998 Nissan Quest 3.0 V6 auto. trans., 43,000 miles. I've had it back to the dealer at least 6 times since new to try to cure a bad problem with engine surging, both while driving and at idle. The problem appears to worsen as the weather gets hotter. The TPS has been replaced twice, and now I'm scheduled to bring the vehicle back in this Monday.

I found this article on your site: Maxima Surging that I plan to show to the service manager. Can it be that the dealership is actually unaware of such a critical piece of info regarding service for this car? The symptom, at its worst, is a kind of surging / bucking that occurs when the car is warmed up. You can be doing, say, 45 mph, take your foot off the gas for a second or two and then ease back on the gas.

It feels like the engine can't decide to downshift or upshift, speed up or slow down. The tach needle likewise goes up and down. Is there possibly something else going on here in addition to (or instead of) the TPS? Any thoughts of yours would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
John

A. To be honest John, with those symptoms I would sure look real close at the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). Those are classic TPS symptoms and this new procedure could fix your problem.

All the dealers get these TSBs from Nissan. In some dealerships they come in and get filed without the technicians seeing them. When I was a Service Manager at any dealership, I made sure each technician got a coy of each and every TSB that came in. This way I was sure that my technicians were up on the latest problems and fixes. It's also possible that with the number of TSBs that come in each week, the technician working on your car forgot about it. It's happened to me.

TSBs are a tool, just like a wrench or a rachet. The first thing I do when I get a car with a problem I'm not familiar with is go to the TSBs and see if there is anything there. They have saved me a lot of time and work over the years.