Seeking other Murano owners with differential/drive shaft/powertrain problems

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ewhalen
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:50 am
Car: '04 Murano

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My Murano is 3.5 years old with 75k miles. I am faithful with maintenance but not at the dealership. I have a mechanic that takes care my vehicle. He has informed me that according to Nissan's own scheduled maintenance the differentials are not even supposed to be checked until 150k.

Last Saturday, while on the highway, it started making a thumping sound. At first I though something was caught underneath. Lucky for me, I pulled into a parking lot. I turned the wheel and had someone look under and whap, something snapped. I had it towed via a flatbed to the local, independently owned Nissan dealer.

Monday morning I called and what a surprise. I expect things like breaks and other things to go bad but the drive shaft to break. They said it is because I did not take care of the differencials which caused an internal bearing to break the drive shaft which is part of the powertrain. Nissan only warrents their powertrain for 60k unlike most other car makers which are 75k, 100k and lifetime. The minimal cost would be $3,700 and only if they didn't find more wrong with it. My extended warrenty expired at 48k.

I called the Consumer Affairs department a week a go Monday and today (seven days later and 20 calls with unanswered messages) received my answer that they will not help me. I have been declined for goodwill by both the dealership and Nissan.

I've had three recalls on this car and the fact that Nissan will not stand by their product, is just too much. I need to know if there are other Nissan owners with similar problems and what, if any options I have.

I am scheduled to meet with the dealership manager tonight but I suspect he is going to try to get me to buy another car especially since I only have 4 lease payments left.

Thank you all for your time and assistance, they are greatly appreciated.


dflosrt4
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:02 pm

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At the dealership i work at if you have done all your maintance with Nissan they usually good will just about anything . Have you done any maintenace with them at all. Considering your mileage I doubt they are going to help you out at all. If you had done your services with Nissan you could use that in your defense. Good Luck

the other mzjones
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 4:41 pm
Car: 2003 nissan murano

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I have a 2003 Nissan Murano SL AWD i use to love this car. As you I kept up with the regular maintenance and she ran great. When the car reach approx 55k, I have had ongoing problems with this car and it now has 59k. While driving the car one day it just stopped driving. I could go forward or in reverse but the motor still was running. Then u I heard a grinding sounds and then liquid drained from the car. I had it towed to my mechanic. I explain what happened and the first thing he said to me is that this year car has this problem all the time. It was my transfer case unit. I had the car towed to Nissan for them to check the car and see if this trouble fell under any some campaigns or recalls since I don't have an extended warrenty. But me thinking with low mileage and this was a major component to the car that there would have to be some type of recourse. I paid them $533.+tax for them to do a diagonistic test. After this test they determined it was the transfer case unit. No warrenty the cost was on me. As their customer service person said it's not cost effective from the company point of view to absorb the cost. So I paid for the unit& the liquid needed to fill it. No less than a week later the same thing happend. Again i had the car towed to Nissan their first response was that I had to be at fault. they again check the car and found that the part was defective. This is the key word they say defective they aren't responsible recall/campaign they cover. They agreed to replace the transfer case unit but I had to pay for the liquid that needed to fill it. Then about two weeks if that it broke again. Now they gave another replacement since it was under warrenty but they didn't have 2003 part in stocks so they gave me a later model, i think 2005. But I had to change my AWD switch and a part of the computer since the part they gave me didn't work with the AWD switch for 2003. Again they replaced the transfer case unit but again I had to pay for the other new components needed. Now about a three weeks later the rear differential is crack. Now I'm $5300.00 in the red with no recourse from Nissan. And looking at another $1200 to repair the rear differential. Speaking with Nissan they just wanna sell me a now car.

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kerrton
Posts: 2201
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:48 am
Car: 2008 Nissan Rogue SL FWD Gotham Gray
Location: Southern Alberta, Canada

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Get them to explain exactly what maintenance you didn't peform that would result in differential and drive shaft failure, especially if you've got the maintenance schedule it doesn't mention anything until 150k.

alain_serhan
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:05 pm
Car: Murano 2006

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I have a second hand murano 2006, i had the same problem with u guys.I was driving, i heard a sound, like if there is smthg stuck in the wheels.After the diagnostic, it was the front differential. My car was only driven for 25,000 miles!!I had to change the gears in the unit, and not the whole differential box. It costs me 1400$ instead od 2700$2 weeks later, same thing but with the rear differential.No one knew what was the cause of these failures. However, a good mechanic i know suspects in the 4wd sensor, he says that this sensor could make the transmission to change from 2 wheel to all wheel when it should not, this may cause this failure.Do you have the AWD switched on on the high ways, with no reason, before u had this problem?

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MoZo
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:11 am
Car: 06 4WD Murano SE

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I have a problem with my 06 4WD murano, it fails to shift to the 4th gear after replacing the battery, dealer checked it with the CONSULT II and gave us two codes: P0744 and P1778. which means replacing the whole CVT.

I don't believe this, I think it's electrical not mechanical, and the dealer said that the cvt can not re-programed.

I checked the air intakes and it's fine.

any ideas?

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kerrton
Posts: 2201
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:48 am
Car: 2008 Nissan Rogue SL FWD Gotham Gray
Location: Southern Alberta, Canada

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Yeah, let them replace the tranny on warrant and start fresh with a brand new transmission without a single mile on it, this is a good thing and won't cost you a cent. Every manufacturer has some part failures, this problem isn't because its a CVT, you'll get conventional tranny failures too. My friend's 07 RAV4 had 3 tranny's replaced before he finally gave up and traded it in!!! There's Toyota quality, but to be fair that doesn't mean all their tranny's are crap, it's just bad luck.

Don't worry, just let your warranty take care of you and be happy the defect showed up early enough that warrany will take care of it.

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MoZo
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:11 am
Car: 06 4WD Murano SE

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the warranty has over, the odo reads 95k.

but anyway, I just bought a used CVT from the scrub yard.I pray it's good.

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BBISHOPPCM
Posts: 1074
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:38 pm
Car: 2006 Murano S/AWD w/ Convenience Package

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If your car only has 25,000 miles on it, and it's less than 5 years old... why didn't the warranty cover this!?!

alain_serhan
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:05 pm
Car: Murano 2006

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my car is a second hand.i think the first owner used to off road a lot, that may broke the differentiel

i_driv_nissan
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:49 am
Car: 2003 Nissan Murano

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I have a 2003 Nissan Murano like yours. I bought in Feb 2007. Since day one, I have had problems. Every years since, I have at least $2,000 in repairs to this vehicle, excluding regular maintenance. This vehicle has been a drain on my pocketbook. On Aug 17,2009, I had the Right front drive axle replaced...under warranty. Today, Aug 19, 2011...two years later, I have to have it replaced again. The Nissan dealer said the threads came undone or something like that. He denied any customers having problems like this. I seem to be having problems with my right side of the vehicle because the right bearings and universal joints were also replaced. I complained that this vehicle is a definate "LEMON". No car should have this much problems. My serpetine belt was replaced by Nissan also a 1-1/2 ago, just 2 months ago had to have replaced again. Nissan's parts are worthless, junk.
I think I am gonna write Nissan a nice letter and ask them to take this piece of junk back. I feel I have been ripped off. Since, 2007 maintenance and repairs have exceeded $11,000. I bought this veichle for $18,000. :cry:
Just a note: I don't drive off road. I drive to and from work.

DiffissuesNissan
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2011 3:58 pm
Car: Nissan Murano

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I have a 2005 Murano and until today I loved my the car. Paid 30K cash drove it away from the dealer hoping to have a car to last me for a long time. I Always kept up with maintenance and took good care of it and did not have any major trouble except for the sun visor and my passenger window not staying up..... I found it a little annoying but I can live with it.. UNTIL TODAY! The rear tire starts making an uncommon sound which just started getting louder and louder so I immediately took it to the mechanic and now I find myself looking for a class action lawsuit against NISSAN. This sound turned out to be some differential crap that is going to cost me over 3K for some mechanical issue I had nothing to do with. Shouldn't this company stand by their brand instead of giving the consumer the "you are at fault speech". The more I read about the issues everyone is having with the differential and the tranny along with the indifference the company has shown the madder I get. I'm hoping to get a response and/or find a class action lawsuit which is long over do. TAKE ACTION!

MO_GUY
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:01 pm

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So many stories sound just like mine...

* @170K KM - transfer case failed. $4500 CAD at the Nissan dealership.

* @175K KM- rear (propeller) shaft U joint failed - the one closer to the transfer case. Since the U joint cannot be changed, I had to buy and change the entire propeller shaft. Dealer quoted me CAD $1300 + tax for the part. Without thinking twice, I went out and bought what Statefarm calls a "quality recycled part" - meaning a used shaft from a junk jard and installed it myself. Runs smooooth.

The rear diff is fine so far. No issues there. There were some metal filings that I noticed during the initial fluid changes but that's normal.

I'm not surprised these things are happening, given the mileage, however, there are SUV's with similar specs that do not have these issues despite the mileage.

MontiCristo
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:55 am
Car: 2007 Nissan Murano

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Ohhh... sounds like the problem I am having at the moment. I am getting a "thump, thump" from under the floor, even at low speeds. I currently can't drive the vehicle any faster than walking speed. Does anyone know if Nissan recognises this as a common fault/problem?

MontiCristo
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:55 am
Car: 2007 Nissan Murano

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DiffissuesNissan wrote:now I find myself looking for a class action lawsuit against NISSAN.... I'm hoping to get a response and/or find a class action lawsuit which is long over do. TAKE ACTION!
Any progress with this? Where are you located?

wireman98
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2015 5:31 am
Car: 2009 Nissan Murano LE

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MontiCristo wrote:Ohhh... sounds like the problem I am having at the moment. I am getting a "thump, thump" from under the floor, even at low speeds. I currently can't drive the vehicle any faster than walking speed. Does anyone know if Nissan recognises this as a common fault/problem?
My 09 Murano left me on the side of the road after the center bearing blew out on the drive shaft. Now I find out I need to replace the whole driveshaft for this repair. That's a stupid way to make something.

stock323
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 9:41 am
Car: 2003 murano SL AWD

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Many a people say ..wanna buy good safe.. get the two cars buy from Honda or Toyota !!
WANN BUY A PROBLEM get a new Nissan
WANNA GET ANOTHER PERSON'S PROBLEMS.. MANY PROBLEMS get a used cream puff NISSAN
that's what we got
puff of smoke from money burned by Nissan product.. 1988 Sentra to this MURANO SL
drive shaft / and transfercase
driveline problems my cousin is having. The truth but it hurts his pocket. Anyone weigh in to help
We need a propshaft!!

stock323
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 9:41 am
Car: 2003 murano SL AWD

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which PDF on the shop manual downloads do I look
the abbreviations don't help..
ACC is self explanatory
but rear driveshaft ?
no hint

jbradford
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2016 7:01 am
Car: Nissan Murano

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The same thing happened to my 2010 Murano, on Christmas Eve, took it to our mechanic and was told we could only get the part from the dealer and that it would be over $3000.00 to repair. We have had no help from the Nissan dealer. Being that we do not have $3000.00 to pay for repairs at the time, not sure what I am going to do. I have read all the other posts and this seems to be a major problem with the Murano.

h8ting Nissan
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2016 5:09 pm
Car: Murano

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I took my 2006 Nissan Murano into the dealer yesterday to troubleshoot what we pretty much knew was a problem with the differential. A little background on the car...The car has been dealer serviced until about 18 mos ago when we bought the car from my mom. It has literally been owned by a little old lady, has 58,404 mi on it. My Mom bought it with 21K on it. (Previous owner buys a new car every two yrs.)
My husband is car guy (can build and fix pretty much anything), so he maintains our cars and has for decades. He has done regular service related maintenance on this car since we got it Jan. 2015. We have put less than 10k on it since we bought it.

So...dealer confirms it is the diff. they want $3000+to replace. I call Nissan North Am. WHAT A JOKE. They make you feel like the most important person on the planet until the regional rep phones you the following day,seems sympathetic then tells you that it's all been submitted for "an internal review, and it's been determined that it is a 'wear' issue and Nissan cannot help you in any way". All this in less than 24hrs. SERIOUSLY??? A differential should NOT go out in a vehicle that has not ever been off-road or abused in any way at 58K miles! They decided the minute I called them that were doing nothing. What a joke.

After going online and doing a lot of reading, it appears this particular model yr had LOTS of issues.We bought this 'little old lady owned car with LOW miles assuming that because it was a Nissan it would last us at least 10 years.

So, does anyone have any advice on what to do now? all the used differentials we have shopped have in excess of 150K for a lot of money. This car has a retail value of approx 9K a trade-in of about 6K and it's ten yrs old. Start shopping for a 'new' used Chevy or Ford, or fix it???

Has there been any suits filed against Nissan for the issues with this particular model/yr. I couldn't come up with anything in spite of the history of problems.

Sorry for the rant. A little bit...ok...a lot pissed off about my car, but looking for some sound advice.

Thanks!


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