Q45 Transmission: noticeable jerk from 1st to 2nd gear

[VA99Q45]

I just brought a 99 Q45 with 62K miles on it. The orginal owner has done all the scheduled maintainance at the dealer up to 54K miles.

I have two concerns with this car.

There is a noticeable jerk when the car shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear. Is this normal for Q45? After the 2nd gear, it is really smooth shifting. My plan is to get the transmission flush soon.

My second concern is that there is alot of white smoke comming out of the muffler all the time. Is this a sign of something is wrong with the car?

I am planning to to the followings:

oil changeengine coolant flushreplace fuel filterspark plugsreplace transmission and differential gear oilair filter & ventilation air filter

Thank you for your suggestions.

[DAEDALUS]

Hopefully a flush with Mobil1 Syn ATF will make a noticeable difference. I believe there are also additives you can mix in there, but try the flush first.

[fxjackso]

Have you run the self check on the trans, or had a dealer check it? A bad power cord can cause this symptom. Check this before you do the flush! To replace it, you drop the pan, and that would be a great time to coordinate-

FlushPan dropPower cordNew FilterSeal up and go.

[timatt]

How much white smoke?? Is it white smoke or is it steam? White smoke tends is a symptom of a coolant leak into the combustion chamber. Does the smoke smell like antifreeze??

[maxnix]

Persistent white smoke after warm up is a serious concern.

The transmission should never jerk, even at WOT.

[PalmerWMD]

Q45 have very large exhaust system, between 2 muffles and 3 cats ( or is it other way around? , anyway...) it can take quite a while, unbefore all the condesed water is done "steaming off"..

I myself, in nearly all Q's I owned, in winter I thought I had a head gasket failure ( <real> rare on Q's) but it just takes significantly longer than with most other cars, before a it stops blowing steam in morning.If you drive all short trips, it may always be a white cloud.

[VA99Q45]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

I have not run the self check or had the dealer check the trans out yet. Is the self check on the trans easy to do? Since the transmission is still under waranty, I will make an appointment to let the dealer check it out.

I don't know how to check for a bad power cord. Is this something you can show me?

The amount of white smoke comming out the muffler is equal to three persons smoking at the same time. I could not smell any antifreeze from the smoke. But I did noticed a puddle of water last week. It only happened the first night I got the car home and parked overnight. I thought it was from running the A/C.

[PalmerWMD]

1)The amount of white smoke comming out the muffler is equal to three persons smoking at the same time. 2)I could not smell any antifreeze from the smoke. But 3)I did noticed a puddle of water last week. It only happened the first night I got the car home and parked overnight. I thought it was from running the A/C.

1)Normal but it should go away afetr extended hiway driving unless its real cold.2)Good3)It was your AC if the puddles location was in front of car, kinda just behind the engine, near to firewall.

Fred..

[elwesso]

I have that kind of smoke out of my car, its normal.... Its amazing what this puts out.... Although, it is freezing cold.... It looks really cool when you see this huge cloud of steam coming out after about 10mins of stop and go, and then a redline....

BTW Fred, the G50 Qs have 4 cats (2 precats and 2 cats) and 3 mufflers....

[VA99Q45]

Thank you all for the comments.

I feel much better about the white smoke problem. However, I was driving home this afternoon when the "service engine soon" light came on steady. After I got home, I cleaned the battery termials and the light went away. Is this warning light come on because the terminals does not make good contact or I just reseted the ECU?

[elwesso]

You just resetted the ECU.... Chances youll get it again....

[VA99Q45]

Is it true that you have to remove the battery terminals for hours before the ECU reset? When I cleaned the battery terminals, it only took me 15 minutes max.

If the ECU is reseted, can the dealer tech still retrieves the error code in memory?

[Q451990]

Every Nissan A/T I've driven has more harshness on the 1->2 shift than the other shift points. That being said, a transmission flush, new filter screen, etc. may help it considerably.

Heath

[nuQ]

i had the same thoughts going on about the amount of white smoke that spews out, especially in this cold weather. the Q is not my main car so there is mainly short trips. good to hear that this is not a concern!!!!!

[VA99Q45]

After I changed the oil and oil filter on the car, the white smoke is much less now. Sometime I don't see any white smoke at all. That's kinda weird.

The oil that I used was Mobil synthetic blend. I want to use this a couple of times, before I go to Mobil 1 full synthetic.

Any forseen problem (etc oil leak) with going to Mobil 1 full synthetic with 62K miles on it?

btw, the service engine soon light has not come back yet.

[2000Q]

Trans jump from 1st to 2nd. I have the same problem when I don't let the car warm up for a few minutes before driving. If you warm up the car does the problem go away?

[Q45tech]

The ATF temperature is measured to adjust the shift pressure. The tcu assumes you are using the correct viscosity ATF and it is brand new [not degraded].

Really stressfull on engine and transmission to exercise them much before they are warm as cold lubricants don't lube very well......optimum temps for lubes are no lower than 160F and no higher than 190F....................shifting a really cold transmission is asking for it. But 5 minutes of idling is enough before putting in gear except in Minnesota.

[VA99Q45]

I always leave the car idle for at least 5 minutes before I drive and the problem still occur.

I brought the car to the dealer and let them check the ecu code, test drive it, and do the transmission flush . The tech test drove the car and said it was nothting wrong with the shfiting at all.

The flush only took 15 minutes. I am not sure if they actually did the flush or just change the transmission oil only. I still has that problem off and on. They did not drop the pan or change the filter. They only did the flush, but they add some BG product into the transmission. They also did check the ecu code, but none was found.

I just changed my spark plugs last night and hopefully, the problem goes away. If not, I will drop the pan, change the transmission filter and use Mobil 1 ATF.

[PalmerWMD]

The flush only took 15 minutes. I am not sure if they actually did the flush or just change the transmission oil only. I still has that problem off and on. They did not drop the pan or change the filter.

Danger!when flushing transmission which hasnt been flushed or fluid exchanged for a long time sludge from pan can be pushed thru the transmission with disastrous results.

A filter change w/ pan drop and clean prior to flush will negate this possibility.

This is the reason for the urban legend of transmission's breaking after a flush because if you dont drop pan first there is a rel risk of that.

Many dealer techs just dont understand this.

The good news is:If problems develop they usually develop right away and if yours havent show up yet you are likely in the clear.

Fred...

[VA99Q45]

Fred,

Should I drop the transmission pan and change the filter now?

BTW, changing the spark plugs did help smooth out the shifting. I don't get the jerky from 1st to 2nd anymore. The car run much better.

But right now I am getting occassional misfire or something. When it happen, the car shock a little. It is like someone has just slightly bump you from behind.