2007 Nissan Versa Problem

[ehandlr]

Hi everyone. I'm new here :P I have a little problem with my Versa and I'm hoping some of you could offer me assistance.

Basically this morning my wife was driving to work when she came to a stop sign. Attempting to accelerate, nothing happened. She could not get above 20 mph. The overdrive button woudn't work either.

Simply no sound or raised rpm's would happen when she pushed the gas. It took her 3 minutes and a declining road to reach 50mph simply by gravity alone.

We had the car towed to the dealership and they couldn't find anything wrong at all. They are charging us $100 dollars for towing and car rental since we are a "first time offender" like we wanted to put ourself out of a car and run late to work.

Any assistance in this problem would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

[Clipsed]

interesting, only time that happened to me was when I spun out on the freeway, I had to go back into neutral and then back to drive to re-engage the transmission, and it worked fine. Hope they figure it out, but man that sucks. GL and welcome to NICO!

[ehandlr]

interesting, only time that happened to me was when I spun out on the freeway, I had to go back into neutral and then back to drive to re-engage the transmission, and it worked fine. Hope they figure it out, but man that sucks. GL and welcome to NICO!

You know...I never asked if she put it in neutral and back in drive again to re-engage the CVT. Thats almost too simple...because it works now. The dealership drove it around all over.

and thanks...I'm sure with enough complaining I get can get the 100 bucks back.

[Clipsed]

yup! I had a CVT too. If you truly can't get it back, although I would try, think about it like this, atleast it is only $100 instead of over $1000 for a new transmission haha. But it's a new car so it shoulda been covered anyway.

[BunnyBunnutty]

I don't drive a Versa yet but i've had similar issues with other cars and it always turned out to be screwed up spark plugs. The worst was making a left turn with on coming traffic once and all of a sudden my car would only putt and go like 5 MPH (haha!). Thank goodness the driver coming had good brakes.

[ehandlr]

yup! I had a CVT too. If you truly can't get it back, although I would try, think about it like this, atleast it is only $100 instead of over $1000 for a new transmission haha. But it's a new car so it shoulda been covered anyway.

hehe yea I'm thankful that its only 100 dollars...but thats 100 dollars that could go towards my voracious video gaming habit lol. I have priorities here.

[versabundus]

hehe yea I'm thankful that its only 100 dollars...but thats 100 dollars that could go towards my voracious video gaming habit lol. I have priorities here.

Get the money back. You had a driveability problem. It should be covered under warranty. To tell you the truth, when I read that the cvt fluid has microscopic rubber balls in it, I opted for the manual.

[ehandlr]

Get the money back. You had a driveability problem. It should be covered under warranty. To tell you the truth, when I read that the cvt fluid has microscopic rubber balls in it, I opted for the manual.

I'll be making a very strong attempt to. I wont' just roll over on it lol.

[KimberKenobi]

I retardedly ran out of gas because I failed to put more in it...

A guy from my dealership stopped to check on me (when he saw my car ... it is a tad recognizable...) and he took me to the dealership to pick up a gas can, bought me a gallon of gas, put it in my car, waited for me to start up and get on my way...

umm... all for free...

when my door handle mechanism froze and the door wouldn't shut, my dealership sent me a tow truck (even though by the time he got there, the door had unfroze and would shut) and didn't charge me for that and wasn't going to charge me if it had been towed...

You need to get that $ back. That's crappy service.

[marleyfan]

When I bought my V it came with free roadside assistance for the duration of the warranty. Break down- just call the number on the card. The V is one year old this month and I haven't had to use the roadside assistance yet.

[4ntonio]

I think I have a similar problem. Just this afternoon, while I was driving, I discovered that I cannot go above a certain speed. I could press hard on the gas pedal (even floor it), but once it reaches a certain speed, all I hear is increased engine(?)/rev(?) noise but I don't get an increase in car speed.

The RPM gauge seems also to waver around "2"... sometimes dipping slightly when I'm pressing on the gas pedal.

Is there something wrong with my car (S, manual, ABS)? Bought it less than a month ago with only 300 miles on it. No CVT.

Thanks so much for responding~

P.S. Is the RPM gauge supposed to be around "1" even when the car's not moving, e.g., in front of a red light? It doesn't go back down to "O" unless I turn off the engine.

P.S.S. I apologize for my limited vocab on these things. First-time driver. =)

P.S.S.S. I tried switching it to "Neutral" and flooring it, and then back to "Drive" in an attempt to fix it. No can do.

[NewToVersa]

Maybe it's the ABS sticking...

[4ntonio]

Now that you mention it, I did feel something get disengaged while I was pressing on the brake once. Anybody know how to unstick the ABS? Or any other interpretations of what might seem to be my problem? =P

[matttail]

Both of these things remind me of the "limp home" mode I think this car has. When the car's computer decides somethings wrong with the engine it forces the car to stay blow 20mph - but turning the car off and waiting a few min should let you keep driving.

I also agree with the others, you dealer shouldn't have changed you for the towing service. If you can't get the dealer to give you the money back you might check with your insurance, I know mine pays for any towing for free (to the closest dealer). You're paying for insurance anyways - might as well make use of it.

[Vahagn23]

P.S. Is the RPM gauge supposed to be around "1" even when the car's not moving, e.g., in front of a red light? It doesn't go back down to "O" unless I turn off the engine.

Your RPM should not be at 0 unless its off, because RPM means the speed your engine is working at, the rmp should be up to 1k, mine stays around 700 with auto

[4ntonio]

Thank you for your clarification. I thought the "R" had something to do with how fast the wheels are rotating or something.

Do I have a problem then, given how the needle doesn't go above "3" very much no matter how much gas I give it (pressure I put on the gas pedal)?

[Vahagn23]

Do you push your gas pedal all the way in, and make your car go from 0-60 kinda thing? or do you start up slowly, cuz when i start up slowely it never passes 3k, but when I merge into a highway and i really need ot go fast from like 20 to 40 I just push it all the way the RPM reaches 4-5k

[4ntonio]

Perhaps I should bring it on the highway to try it out. (Didn't want to before b/c I'm not sure if it might be dangerous given my situation.) It seems that there's a difference between pressing gradually and pressing sharply.

Thank you for your observation. I'll try it out and let you know the results.

[lain]

man dont know what that could be....thats why i didnt want ABS breaks...just more problems. I can get my car all the way to 7k rpms...shift to 2nd (ekkkk...sounds like a 2nd burn out) hear my suspension cause the stupid tires wont gain traction....then finaly take off in 2nd...and another "cherp" when going to 3rd...the the best way i can describ it.

[nissantech06]

Hi everyone. I'm new here :P I have a little problem with my Versa and I'm hoping some of you could offer me assistance.

Basically this morning my wife was driving to work when she came to a stop sign. Attempting to accelerate, nothing happened. She could not get above 20 mph. The overdrive button woudn't work either.

Simply no sound or raised rpm's would happen when she pushed the gas. It took her 3 minutes and a declining road to reach 50mph simply by gravity alone.

We had the car towed to the dealership and they couldn't find anything wrong at all. They are charging us $100 dollars for towing and car rental since we are a "first time offender" like we wanted to put ourself out of a car and run late to work.

Any assistance in this problem would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

I have had this problem in TWO occurences with customer cars: One, my dad's '06 3.5SL Altima wouldn't accelerate at all. He had to shut the car off, put it in park, and restart it. Eventually the car wouldn't start. The alternator crapped out, causing the Transmission Control Module to go into fail safe mode. If the module sees under 10V, it shuts down. Since the alternator wasn't charging the battery, eventually the battery died and it couldn't be restarted. The RPMs will raise; however, proving it's NOT the throttle body.

Two, I have seen the e-throttle bodies crap out causing the throttle to not open AT ALL. This usually means the RPMs won't raise up and the car WON'T MOVE. I have replaced a couple of these in the past year.

[ehandlr]

Thanks for all of the replies. This has since happened to me 3 more times.

100% way to alleviate the problem is turn the car off and then back on. It works every time. Just putting the car in neutral or park didn't work.

It doesn't matter how I push the gas pedal...whether to the floor or slowly further down, I barely get up to speed if at all.

Once I turn the car off and back on..its business as usual.

Also my starting problems are occuring more and more. Yesterday I had to turn the key 3 times to start the car.

I called back to the service supervisor and he said I can bring it in and he would look at it for no charge, however if he can't recreate the problem on the spot, he doesn't know what to tell me.

So as you can see...I'm stuck here pretty badly lol.

[Urq]

I am very surprised that your check engine light has not come on through all this?

[BillyBeaneBall]

Take it back to the dealer and insist they fix it...

[ehandlr]

I am very surprised that your check engine light has not come on through all this?

Not even once. Thats Nissan's arguing point along with the diagnostic computer not finding anything wrong.

I'm just not sure what else to do...I have an 11 month old son and I'm afraid to pull out in traffic for fear of not having any pick up speed.

[Clipsed]

complain, if they don't find a problem, take it home, complain again, and again, until they figure out what is wrong. If not, take it up with NNA, and file a lemon report after 3 times going to the dealer.

[logicpaysoff]

The Lemon Law works differently in each state. For example, In NJ, one must send a notice that they may have a claim under the Lemon Law AFTER the second attempt to fix, prior to the third. It must be sent to Nissan directly...not the dealership.

Also, from what I understand, there won't be a code under certain conditions if the power shuts down...which may explain why there is no code.

For those who may remember me by the "Versa Veers Left Or Right" thread...we no longer have the car. After 3 weeks, 3 alignments, new tires, new front brakes and pads, and two cross rotations, the nissan "Master Tech" stated the car was "normal"...but, it was worse than before..and had become a virtual road hazard.

We test drove another Versa...2008...braked and pulled left as well.

Test drove a Sentra...braked and drove straight on all of the exact same roads that confounded the Versa. The dealerrship was the hero here...they worked out a very equitable trade for us....Nissan North America's "tech" appears to have no function other than to pretend the problem does not exist, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Best wishes with this issue...here is a link to a lemon law case with a G35 that would actually shut down. Carefully check the Lemon law procedure in your state...but realize they are ALL stacked in favor of the manufacturer.

http://www.lemonlawclaims.com/...m.htm

[RetiredTexans]

A couple of additional options, but they could prove troublesome, are available to you. They are last ditch efforts, but do get some results in the Dallas area. Most businesses don't like the negative publicity that surrounds this type of recourse.

1) File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

2) Enlist the help of a local TV station that has an investigative section.

Make sure everything is documented. Date, time, dealer, person contacted, problem written up, resolution, if any.

You should talk to the dealer service manager if possible since the writeup person doesn't seem to be effective.

Follow the process outlined in the owner's manual as soon as possible before doing 1 and 2 above and not getting positive results.

Take the Versa to another dealership for warranty work. Their service deparment might be better able to find the problem.

Take your Versa to an Auto Zone or any other shop having an OBD diagnostic reader. It will show any codes stored in the computer. This works best if read after the problem occurs. Some codes take a while to be stored due the their nature. My Actron reader shows "pending codes" that haven't set into the computer. I have noticed the Nissan/Versa seems to use fewer, manufacturer code numbers than say Ford or Honda.

Good luck! Some dealers can be pretty slick to avoid fixing problems. Since they are paid by the company, they should be willing to solve these problems unless the reimbursements are low or slow.

[ehandlr]

Update:

well I took the Versa back to the dealership to have them take another look at it since the problem is happening more and more often. Again, they did not find a problem while running the diagnostic tests on their handheld device but they changed the e-throttle body since that was the likely culprit.

They called me to come pick it up so i took my wife there and waited for her to get in the car. It took 2 extended turns of the key to start it. We looked at each other, shook our heads and laughed.

So driving off we pulled to the highway with me in front of her, she pulls out and guess what......SAME EXACT PROBLEM. I had her on the cell phone the entire time, told her to throw on her 4-ways and we did a nice little U turn right back to the shop.

I told her to keep her foot on the brake, don't change gears or turn the car off. I walked in, grabbed the leader of the blue team who was working on my car and told him the same problem is happening right now. He sent a tech out to look at it and I immediatly told the guy to get into the passanger seat. he didn't want to but I insisted.

We took him down the road, put the pedal to the floor...25 mph top speed. He then hooked the handheld diagnostic machine up to it and it spit all kinds of errors out.

So in the end, the problem is intermittant. The problem can only be seen while its happening with the machine. They still don't know what is causing the problem but they have seen the problem and are keeping the car until its fixed. They ordered some part called a "harness" which wasn't explained to me.

I called the corporate office to get the wheels turning on getting my $100 back since they have since seen the problem and understand that they missed it.

Thanks for all the help guys. I will keep you updated on the final result.

[matt_a]

Wow, what a mess. Thank God it did it again where you could let them see it first-hand. Keep us posted as to what happens and GOOD LUCK!

[ehandlr]

No phone call today. Hopefully they are putting it through a thorough testing.