Hello all , I am not big on car mechanics , thought I would run this here to get some opinions .
Murino was in an accident where the wife slid in snow hit a curb and snapped a-arm and had to replace tie rod ends, knuckle ,some other parts.
She was close to home when this happened and she drove the car home . Repair was done to front end and next snowfall we noticed the AWD was not working along with an error that came up any time the tires started slipping . " AWD High Temp, stop the vehicle "
Looks like it may need a differential , dealer states driving the car after the front end was all messed up caused this . Another person at the dealer said possibly if the car was towed this could have happened .. The car was towed after the accident , the driver picked up the front tires put car in neutral and went away . For future reference am I to only tow this car via flatbed ? - Dealer will not cover this under warranty , insurance company fighting with the dealer now to see who will pay for this . Anyone's thoughts on if driving the car with a mangled front right tire could cause this ? Or was this from towing ? Dealer found a large amount of metal shavings on the dif plug .

Wow. I know that with a AWD vehicle the are supposed to be towed on a flat bed only as per the manual. I would bet driving after the accident and the improper tow contributed to the issues your having now. The tow probably did produced the metal shavings is my best guess.

Ken

while still highly inadvisable for a wide variety of reasons (both damage to the vehicle and braking/steering safety), it's better to pull an AWD vehicle in neutral with all four wheels on the ground than it is to tow with two wheels in the air and the other two spinning.

Yes, always use a flatbed only.

Noted , flatbed only going forward. I would have thought the tow truck guy would have said something . Big lesson learned .

hubfreightbob wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:01 am

Noted , flatbed only going forward. I would have thought the tow truck guy would have said something . Big lesson learned .

Tow truck driver probably doesn't own a flatbed or didn't want to bring it out, especially with a woman driver. Why would he say anything? He wants to get paid, not go on his merry way after a wasted moneyless trip only to let his competition get the job.

I'm not a lawyer, but your insurance is going to have one hell of a hard time fighting Nissan to cover this under warranty. How many miles were on the vehicle at the time of the accident? Did you notice any symptoms with the AWD system prior to the accident? Nissan has one hell of a good defense it would seem from your OP.

Your insurance may want to file a claim against the tow truck driver's insurance, but also remember the mechanic who replaced the tie rod ends also could be found liable. This is one hell of a good mess. Hopefully your insurance steps up and covers you in full and then seeks reimbursement on their own without making you wait for a check.

definitely not the drive home, my 2 c is the tow did it.