G20 Auto Transmission

[jr92591]

My 1999 G20T automatic transmission seems to start off in second gear. I can make it go into first gear by stopping and restarting the engine. It does this in Drive and when I manually shift it. Anyone have an idea? Is it major or is there some sensor that is malfunctioning.?August 30, 2009 update: I have an update to this problem: It has been about three weeks since the transmission problem started and yesterday We solved it. During this period, the car was also starting like it had a weak battery with the engine turning over slower and slower until yesterday it would not start or even click when the trying to start the motor. I substituted a known good battery to see if the battery was at fault and the substitute worked fine. A new battery was installed in the G20 and solved the slow start problem but more importantly, solved the transmission problem. It seems that the weak battery was not allowing some relay or sensor to function correctly in the transmission causing it to take off in second gear rather than in first. Since my grandaughter was driving the car the last few weeks, it took longer to know the battery was failing. She thought the slow starting was OK. I hope this explanation may help other people who may have similar problems. Thanks to all the folks who wrote suggestions.
Modified by jr92591 at 4:44 PM 8/30/2009

[RED_DET]

Have you checked the fluid? Any check engine lights?

[jr92591]

Fluid level is OK and looks clean. No check engine light has come on.

[RED_DET]

Maybe time for a rebuild or another transmission. The auto is known for issues.

[ABNRML4U]

Umm, How many Miles on the G20? maybe over 100,000+ My Girl-friend has a 1999 and she has over 200,000 Miles and she had to take the trans out of the car around 110 -120,000 miles then after she got it fixed she haven't had any problems at all and the Nissan is still running strong B/C I drove it on Friday night.

[jr92591]

It has 125000 miles on it. I just hoped there would be something short of replacing the transmission. Since it seems to reset when shut down and restarted, I thoulght some sensor or electrical switch might be involved.

[nametakennow]

So it doesn't do this the first time you take off, only after driving awhile? Any pattern to when it starts to launch in 2nd?

[jr92591]

There is not a pattern to the problem. About half of the time this will happen. When it does, all it takes to reset to first gear is to stop and restart the engine and then it will go to first. It malfunctions when it is cold, hot. first trip of the day, third trip of the day, etc. Is there any way to troubleshoot the problem? Would a diagnostic test provide any clues? I understand there are relays and sensors involved.