Dangerous problem with 2004 Nissan Maxima

[aaronkelly]

2004 nissan maxima has intermittant problem. The car will stall while driving without any warning. When restarted car will be in 4th gear(guess) you can move over to autostick and change manually to 2nd but that is it. It will have a loud clunk when you do this. It will not change automatically and it will not revert back to working until car is turned off and left for a few seconds up to 5 minutes. When restarted it usually drives great but problem could happen again in 2 weeks or 2 miles you never know. This is beginning to get very dangerous as you never know when this could happen. I have taken in to Lincoln, Nebraksa Sid Dillon Nissan three seperate occassions without them being able to duplicate problem. It is happening more often now but it is just out of ext. warranty at 108,000 miles. Does anyone have any ideas? They seem to think there is a loose wire somewhere but really don't know. The engine runs great and transmission works fine when this issue isn't present. Thanks for any and all help offered!!

[MinisterofDOOM]

Ugh...intermittent problems like that are NEVER fun. It's hard to say what might be the cause from just that info. My best solid advice is to try and pull into the nearest parts store (kragen, etc.) the next time this happens. Don't shut the car off. Have them check for trouble codes to see if those give any indication as to what his happening.

[aaronkelly]

It did it again today and the service engine light actually came on this time. It coded PO435 and it said camshaft position sensor A bank 2. Does this mean that that specific sensor is the issue and is it user replaceable? I am fairly mechanically enclined. Which specific sensor is it? Thanks for any and all help!!