I have a 2008 Nissan Altima with 100K miles on it. The car starts up and idles in park just fine. However, when I shift it into gear (drive or reverse), the car sputters and stalls. It doesn't sputter and stall until I take my foot off the brake. I am able to drive it just fine if I immediately press on the gas after shifting into drive. I have to shift into neutral when slowing down at stop signs or red lights (less than 5-10 mph). There are no check engine lights on. The check engine light turns on only when the car stalls. I took it to an auto parts store at there was a code that determined the crankshaft position sensor to have failed, but I got it re-tested at the same place, and the code was no longer there - not sure why. Any ideas? There is driving me CRAZY, and I am ready to never buy a Nissan again..

Yeah it sounds like crank shaft position sensor, or the wiring going to the sensor.

I am bringing my car to a mechanic tomorrow. I told them to check crankshaft position sensor, and also let them now wiring to sensor could be an issue. Do you think it could be something with the Torque Converter? I brought my vehicle to a Nissan Dealership, and they told me I voided my extended CVT warranty, because the wrong tranny fluid is in my transmission (it is red fluid in it, but it should be green). Is it possible this discoloration could be due to the oil being old, or possibly off-brand cvt fluid being in there. They think I damaged my tranny by using red automatic tranny fluid, but I disagree. They are a terrible multi-make auto center and did not check anything besides the fluid...

Nissan is pretty particular about what fluid goes in there, but their fluid isn't green. I think it's more of a golden yellow color.
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If you can not stall the car by pressing the gas and brake at the same time, then it shouldn't be a transmission issue... not to say that isn't compounding the issue though.

If your fluid is red and Nissan doesn't know about that yet, I'd drain it and replace it with Nissan CVT fluid ASAP.

I took my car (initially) to a multi-company dealership the other day and that's how I determined that my transmission fluid is the wrong color. I plan on taking it to a private mechanic to determine what's wrong with it, because of the transmission fluid issue. Do you think I should drain and replace with CVT and try towing it to another dealership? Or do you think the multi-company dealership kept record of the fluid color?

Is it possible that there is cvt fluid in my car, and that it just isn't Nissan's brand? I am praying that someone did not top my tranny off with the wrong kind of fluid (the kind not for cvt transmissions).

Another thing that may be helpful is that a couple months ago I noticed a loud metallic clanking noise coming from underneath (possibly) the passenger side of the car whenever I went over small or large bumps in the road. Do you think this could be related? I thought initially that noise had to do with the suspension, but maybe they could be related...?

I tried pressing the brake and gas at the same time while it was in drive, and it did not stall. It rumbles, and as soon as I let my foot of the gas it stalls. If I press the gas quickly, without hesitating, it won't stall. Any ideas...?

I'd probably try the crank sensor first, and yeah, get that red stuff the heck out of there and put Nissan specific CVT fluid in there if you have any hopes of trying to get warranty work on that transmission ever.

I took it to a mechanic this morning - waiting to hear back from him. I have been doing a ridiculous amount of researching. Do you think it could be the MAF (mass air flow) sensor?

I noticed last night while I was driving it that the RPM was acting strange. It would not go past maybe 2000 rpm, and as I was breaking at low speeds the rpm needle went up (instead of down) just a touch. Kind of seemed like the RPM needle was confused... going up and down just slightly. Does that make sense?

It only idles if I am going below 5mph (or less).. sometimes it won't even stall until I am completely stopped, or almost completely stopped at a red light or stop sign.

Its a CVT, the tach is going to do all sorts of weird things based on the transmission's programming.

Would the dealership have recorded that I have the wrong transmission fluid in my vehicle? I am thinking I should get the fluid flushed and just bring it to another dealership. However, I am not sure if the previous dealership I went to (which has Fords, Subaru, Nissan, etc.) would have recorded that. I brought it to a private mechanic and was told it is the torque converter, so my entire transmission has to be replaced...

I am having the fluid tested today to see if the right kind of fluid is in there. If not, I don't think Nissan will cover the transmission for me... Any thoughts?

Yeah I don't know how official the dealership was that told you about the fluid that was in there, but if they do indeed have corporate backing, you might be screwed.
Did you get any print out or anything when you went there?

I don't think so. I believe I only got the keys back.

Actually, I think they may have given me one sheet of paper, but I can't remember what was on that paper

Also, I am getting the fluid tested, and the lab guy thinks the wrong fluid is in there. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. I have no idea when this happened. I've never had the vehicle flushed. Now I have to buy a transmission that I can't afford.

Sucks.