1997 Pathfinder won't move

[cindy98989]

My mechanic is at a loss I hope someone here can help.

I went to start my truck and it wouldn't start. I had had a problem once before with the shifter moving with the touch of a finger a year ago which fixed itself and never happened again, so seeing how I had just driven to the store I thought the reason my truck wouldn't start was because the shifter hadn't gone into park. I tried moving it through the gears, tried starting it in neutral and still wouldn't start. It's an automatic. I called AAA to have it towed. When the guy got there I told him it wouldn't start..it wasn't the battery, and he got under my truck and starting moving the shifter back and forth from underneath the truck. Nothing he did got it to start. Before he did that it was clicking into each gear. After he messed with it, it started to slide through the gears without engaging and then jammed into park position and wouldn't move at all. He again messed with it and it was going through the gears again but still wouldn't start.

I had it towed to our mechanic, who tapped the starter with a hammer and the truck started (so it wasn't the gears in the first place it was the starter) but whatever the AAA guy did has messed everything up. The car can be put in neutral and pushed and it will move. But when you put it in drive or reverse the truck feels like it wants to move forward, so even putting it in reverse it's like it's in drive. It's as if you have your foot on the brake and it will not move. My mechanic ran diagnostics on it and no codes show up at all. He has checked all the linkage on the transmission under the car and there are no broken cables, he said everything looks the way it should. My brake lights are working properly, they are not stuck on nor do I have a blown fuse for the brake lights. Emergency brake is not on.

The truck starts fine, you can hear and feel it go into gear when you move the shifter . As I said even when it's put in reverse it lunges forward instead of backwards and won't move. It has been at the mechanics for 3 weeks now and they still cannot figure out why it won't move or why it seems to be stuck in drive no matter what gear it's in. Please if anyone has any idea what I can tell him to check I am all ears. I have been stuck without a vehicle all this time and am going nuts. If it is the transmission, I can't afford to have a new one put in. But my mechanic says the transmission is fine. Not sure if he knows what he's doing at this point or if there is something that he is overlooking and hasnt' checked. I hope someone has some ideas!

[Towncivilian]

Does the shift knob move smoothly through each detent? Does the red marker align with the selected gear? If both of those things are true, the inhibitor switch is probably out of adjustment from that idiot AAA guy. Tell your mechanic to adjust it following page AT-134 of the factory service manual.

Welcome to NICO.

[cindy98989]

The shift knob does work through each detent, I don't remember if the red marker was aligned or not but my brother said it was. Thanks for the quick reply, I forwarded the info to my brother to take up to the mechanic. Will let you know what the outcome is and hope that he knows what he's doing to fix this.

[Buzzman]

Sounds like it's time to have it towed to another mechanic, or even a transmission shop.
3 weeks is WAY too long.

[cindy98989]

We've had a lot of snow here in central NY there were a few days where the shop didn't even open. Plus this is a guy that we know and he works on our cars after hours but 3 weeks is too long and the truck has just been sitting there while they try and figure out what is wrong with it. My brother sent the info for the inhibitor, but they were closed today due to yet another snow storm. I'm just so disgusted with the whole thing. I have a Passat that is now acting up so I can't drive it very far. Basically stuck in the house like a hermit and going nuts! LOL I'll give him a couple more days with this new info and see if he gets it fixed. Then I am going to call AAA and tell them that whatever their guy did under the car has totally screwed up my truck and what are they going to do about it. We'll see where that leads.

[cindy98989]

The mechanic said there are no codes coming up on the diagnostic for the transmission. If inhibitor switch needed adjustment would that read some sort of code? Mechanic said all parts were put back in properly on the transmission. Would they still need to do an adjustment to the inhibitor switch even though there are no codes?

[Towncivilian]

No, it wouldn't throw any code.

[cindy98989]

Thanks again, I'm a female so don't know much about cars. In that diagram, is the inhibitor switch the same as the neutral safety switch and if not, where is it located on the truck. Is it located on the transmission or inside the vehicle under the console? The mechanic is having a hard time trying to figure out where it is based on the information.

[PathyProject]

It sounds like you have a sad sorry excuse for a mechanic. If I were you I'd take my vehicle to a Nissan dealership or to another shop, and get a second opinion.

[cindy98989]

The truck is still sitting up there, they haven't had time to work on it. I did call AAA and told them about their guy getting under my truck and yanking on the cables and pulling a pin out and handing it to my brother which the mechanic put back where it belonged. Told them that there was nothing wrong with my transmission before he started playing with it under the truck and now it won't move. They were going to report it to damage control and someone is supposed to call me. Hoping AAA will now tow it somewhere and fix it seeing how it was their guy that initially messed it up. I really can't afford to take it anywhere else especially a dealer. Getting screwed once is enough.

[PathyProject]

If AAA screwed up your ride then they should fix it, and provide you with a rental car while you wait for it to be fixed. One thing everyone should know about cars is, if you don't know what you are doing then keep your hands to yourself.

[cindy98989]

AAA is towing my car from the mechanic to a very reputable transmission shop today. I already spoke to the owner of the transmission place and told him what happened. They do a free diagnostic and test drive the cars (although they can't drive mine). He said it sounded like a valve that is inside the transmission might be slipping and could be the result of the AAA guy yanking on the cable under the truck. I told him if that is the case or anything else they find that would be related to the AAA guy that AAA will foot the bill. He said he has worked with AAA many times before and they are good at taking care of things like that if it can be shown they were at fault. He also said that because I had no problems with my transmission before that it is probably something simple and the biggest expense would be the labor of taking apart whatever needs to be taken apart.

The mechanic I had it at better not charge me an arm and a leg for what he couldn't fix! An entire month without my truck and I think they spent about 3 hours total looking at it trying to figure out what was wrong. Time to find a new mechanic. Will update after I hear from the transmission guys.

[cindy98989]

Problem solved!!

AAA towed the truck to a transmission place. I had called ahead of time and talked to the owner. Explained to him what happened and he said get it here today and I can look at it. There was a clip inside the transmission that was broken. He said the only way that would have broke is if someone got up in there with a screwdriver or crowbar and tried to pry the linkage free. The tow truck guy was using a long screwdriver when he was under the truck. This clip I guess holds the linkage in place. To replace it, they would have to take the entire transmission apart, but there is a universal clip made especially for this problem which will hold everything in place and fix the problem.

I called AAA back and told them what Terrys transmission said, so the damage control manager from AAA went to the shop and talked to the owner. AAA agreed to pay for the truck to be fixed to the tune of 350.00 plus tax. They were very nice about it. There is a GOD!! We are having a wicked snow storm here so Terry said he would finish up my truck first thing Monday morning because they were all leaving work early. So...I will have my pathy back and it's not costing me a dime. I'm so happy. On Monday I am bringing my Passat there. They do a free diagnostic on the transmission and mine is skipping like crazy. I'm praying it's only because it's low on fluid. The guy I bought it from never had it checked or changed because it was too expensive. If it's just the fluid causing the problem I'll have it done and then move on to worrying about whats causing the oil leak. I was told by my same mechanic that it looked like the cam seals were leaking. A 600 dollar job.
Will be cheaper to have it fixed than to go out and try to buy another used car and have more headaches.

Thank you all for your help in this matter, it was greatly appreciated!!