Stalling after start - Fishy sounding dealer response.

[jmccormick02]

Hello all--

First post, although I've been watching the Rogue forum ever since I started checking them out in November of last year. About 3 weeks ago I took home my shiny blue Rogue SL AWD. Love the car... But...

I just blew most of my savings and put myself in debt for a brand new car, this seems like a wise thing to do based on my current situation. Given the expense I've incurred, I think my new car should be pretty much perfect.

After cold, less than 20 deg f. nights (and even once after a cold day) in Connecticut I have a stalling issue. I start the car, wait about 10 seconds and put it in gear. Most of the time, the engine sputters down to a low RPM for a few seconds and then works itself back up, and occasionally it altogether stalls out, necessitating me to put it back in park and restart. Usually it runs fine after that, twice it has stalled again directly after.

After the first couple of times this happened, I called the dealer and took it down. They puzzled over it for a day, and then hastily did an idle relearn and told me it's all they could come up with after calling into the Nissan tech line. The day after I got it back, sure enough it happened again, this time as I was pulling into traffic.

I immediately called the dealer and brought it back in. After 2 days of trying, they just called me and said that according to Nissan "a Rogue should idle for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before shifting into gear and driving". This seems a little absurd to me. I've never owned a car that I let idle more than 10 seconds before driving.

Has anybody else had this issue? Is the dealer blowing me off? I'm pretty close to going down there and raising hell. Any thoughts, feedback, or soothing poetry would be much appreciated.

[1unar3clipse]

After cold, less than 20 deg f. nights (and even once after a cold day) in Connecticut I have a stalling issue.

After 2 days of trying, they just called me and said that according to Nissan "a Rogue should idle for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before shifting into gear and driving". This seems a little absurd to me. I've never owned a car that I let idle more than 10 seconds before driving.

So you never EVER warmed up any of your previous cars before driving them?Even after they sit all night? in the cold?

Has anybody else had this issue? Is the dealer blowing me off? I'm pretty close to going down there and raising hell. Any thoughts, feedback, or soothing poetry would be much appreciated.

Warm it up for 2 minutes, despite it being new the oil needs to go back into a state that it will flow easier AKA Heating up from the motor, not to mention the transmission needing to warm up too.

ugh did you read your owners manual?

[jmccormick02]

Thanks for the warm welcome, always nice to be greeted with sarcasm and flame. Say "ugh" a few more times.

Haven't picked the car up yet, but you bet I'm tearing through the owners manual to see if there's anything in there. I'm not saying I immediately throw the car in gear and tear off down the road at top speed, I've always let it idle a few seconds and then driven conservatively until coolant gauge reads up to temp. Isn't that why cars have cold start circuitryand fuel loops?

If this is a general issue, wouldn't the dealer have known that from the start? It took them 2 days of tinkering and research to get me that answer.

[Lightforce18]

Well in Winter I never put my car into park unless the Idle hits 1000 RPM's. The car isn't warmed up, so I dont want it to stall. IVe had this happen before in my maxima. Turn the car on in winter, put it in reverse and it dies. The car just needs to warm up das all. Nothing wrong with ur rogue.

[Kirk in Iowa]

jmc,I agree with you. The car should run right after it is started. It may or may not be a good idea to do so...but that certainly wasn't your question.

As you see, I live in Iowa, and it has been cold lately. My Rogue is garaged, but sits out all day at work. Dispite being well below zero, I've never experienced the problem you describe.

The model is new enough that the dealer techs may not know what to do with your issue. It doesn't sound like it's a common problem.

So here's what you may try. See if you can get an outside temp when the car does it and does not. This may send the techs to a particular sensor if there is a cut off temp when it does it or doesn't. Maybe it gets worse depending on how cold it is, but get as much detailed info as you can.

Also, there is another web site http://x.nissanhelp.com/forums/index.php that may help you. It lists dealer service info and other good stuff.

By the way, welcome to "Rogueing", and let us know if you come up with a solution.

Kirk in Iowa

[jmccormick02]

Back from the dealer, they didn't really have anything to say about it. The service guy didn't really have anything to say, but was more than happy to give me the page of the owners manual with the paragraph about letting it warm up highlighted.

I went and leaned on my sales guy a little bit, mentioned how even base model Rogues from Canada come standard with block heaters, and he responded (rather quickly) that they're not even available in the US. I was thinking I might be able to talk them into giving me one, but they bounced me off pretty quickly.

Thanks for the link to the tech forum, I'll keep an eye out to see if anything crops up. As far as a pattern, only on nights where the temp was below 20 is it really a serious problem. Precipitation and moisture don't seem to be a factor, the stalling seems to be a function of the temperature and how long the car has had to cool off.

Thank you for the proper welcome, I honestly have to say that I'm in love with the car, and other than the stalling and the weird "my CVT makes my engine run too slow so it shudders" issue occasionally--which I understand is kinda inevitable--It's a great car. Great sound, bluetooth works great, fun to drive, traction EVERYWHERE. Altogether a positive experience, but the stalling is as you can imagine a bit of a downer.

[Cristen]

I don't use the block heater on mine (is there one, I don't know but I hear its standard for Canadian Rogues) and the other day it was close to -30 celcius. I started it up, turned on my butt warmer, setup my satellite radio and then left. No problems. That didn't take me 2 minutes. I don't think I've ever let it warm up 2 minutes before leaving. Honestly no matter what it says about warming up your car, I don't think brand new car should stall, period.

[jmccormick02]

I agree, I just don't know what to try and make my dealer do nor how to get them to do it.

[flybooey]

jmc,I agree with you. The car should run right after it is started. It may or may not be a good idea to do so...but that certainly wasn't your question.

Ditto...

I have experienced stalling just once thus far and it was below zero F I think. I plan on picking up a block heater the next time i go up to Toronto, and also get DRL's hooked up too. I have never let a vehicle warm up for the sole purpose of preventing it from stalling or fear of it stalling. I don;t even let my diesel jetta warm up...well because it just won't without drivning it.I will be keeping an eye on the circumstances the next time it happens to me.

[Bababoosky]

I know this sounds silly but give it a try:

Check the tightness of the battery cables. When I picked up my TSX I had the same problem, cold or hot. I would start the car, let it run for a few seconds (sometimes shorter, I am a Volunteer Firefighter, and have to get in and go sometimes) put it into gear and the car would sputter, or stall completely. Apparently the vibration from changing gears or the fan engaging would cause the wire to shift and lost connection.

I know it seems like a long-shot, but take a look

Good Luck

[flybooey]

Anything is possible.....I know cars have left the dealer w/o oil in the crankcase.

[dflprd]

Welcome!

I live in Florida and seem to be having just the opposite happen in my new Rogue. I have had my car for 2 weeks, however, I was deathly ill and was unable to enjoy it until this week. My car is garaged overnight and seems to run perfectly when I jump in, start her up and go in the morning. But when I start her up to get home at night after work (she sits in the sun all day) I have to let her RPMS get down to 1000 or less otherwise she runs high rpms all the way home. It usually takes about 2 minutes to get the car driveable to go home. My husband is a mechanic and thinks it is just my driving, but I drove stick for years and have lived in Florida for years and it just doesn't seem right. I am giving it a little time and will be bringing her into the dealer if it continues.

[jmccormick02]

Check the tightness of the battery cables...

That's an interesting idea. I will check it out today.

Damn thing did it again yesterday, I wasn't sitting there with a stopwatch, but I waited for the CD player to pick up and play a WMA (those who have the bose setup know it takes a while, maybe 12 seconds), and then a few more (maybe 10 more) seconds....

[Kirk in Iowa]

It would be interesting to have the dealer hook up the computer after having the car over night and see what the system is doing as it is started for the first time.

They could compare the readings to a Rogue that is not doing this and possibly point you to a reason.

Then they could be heros and tell Nissan, "if you ever see this, here's what it is"

Kirk

[TwistyO]

I've had it stall also(twice) from starting then putting it into gear. I figured it was from the cold, although I don't think that's a good excuse. With todays technology, a bit of cold shouldn't make the car stall repeatedly. I own VW's, and they actually recommend you drive after starting the car, even in the cold, not stay idle.

I also have the issue of when I start it, and back out of my driveway, I really have to step on the gas, alot. I'm on a slight incline, but it's really weird. But perhaps thats for another topic.

[Derango]

I also have the issue of when I start it, and back out of my driveway, I really have to step on the gas, alot. I'm on a slight incline, but it's really weird. But perhaps thats for another topic.

If it's cold out, it takes some time for the engine to warm up and it won't accelerate as fast until it does. Happened to me in every car I've owned/driven.

[Msdarkdiva]

This has also happened to me (twice). I thought it was because I switched from starting the car, to putting it into reverse too quickly- where I'm located we've been suffering through very cold winter temps and record snowfalls.