failed CVT

[BarryG]

My transfer case arrived this afternooon........should be ready late Thursday. After Dave's experiences. I definitely want to pick up the car during the day and make sure there are no ugly suprises for us....

BTW, according to service manager there was no crack in the case. They did not like how the seal fit after it was installed and decided not to put it back together---- sounds a bit hokey to me.....

[Dave N]

It could be possible that there is a problem with the design of the case in this area. Perhaps the tolerances are too wide and there's a small group of us that have experienced leaks because of this.

I hope I didn't overstate my situation - but I'm sure that most will agree that it seems as though the dealers could be doing a better job taking care of their customers. I'm more angry at the fact that they didn't even clean up the underside and verify that the problem was fixed (plus making sure everything else was working correctly) before giving the car back.

I'll be glad to get it back, I'm having withdrawls.

Dave

[BarryG]

Dealer called........car is finished.....no leak.....will pick up in daylight tomorrow......wish me luck

[Dave N]

I picked up my Murano yesterday. Along with the new transfer case, they installed along with new switch/control module as per the TSB (although I did not get any revised pages for the owners manual).

So....after getting in and checking everything out we leave the dealer's lot. A block and a half later - the Service Engine Soon light comes on. Unfortunately we got there right at closing so there was no going back to them at that point. I called and left a message with the service writer to call me when she gets the message and let me know when I can bring it back to have them pull the code and determine what's wrong.

After getting home, I pore over the engine bay checking to make sure everything was reinstalled properly. It's really disappointing to see how poorly they treated my Murano - there's no mistaking that this engine has been out of this car. There are several areas on the radiator where something pressed against it, mashing the fins to the point of being blatantly noticeable. While not a concern for overheating, it'll take it's toll on resale value if I ever go to trade it in. Also, at least one electrical connector and my trans dipstick have broken retainer clips. I can understand it if the car was at least 5 years old and had 50,000 miles on it that the plastic will become brittle and break, but with only 10,000 miles and not even being a year old - this just shows that the "mechanic" didn't care to do the job right. There were several harnesses out of place (not snapped back into their retention clips) as well.

Now this may sound like nit picking, but it concerns me that if the easily visible stuff like this shows that he hacked his way through the job, what about the other areas that cannot be seen??

I also noticed that I've got greasy foot prints on the driver's door sill, a grease spot on the carpet and greasy finger prints on the shifter (naturally....my car has the Cafe Latte interior). Again, stuff that I will clean up myself, but it's another sign of sloppy work.

I'm weighing my options. I want to maintain the higher road here, so I feel that I owe it to the service manager to let him know about all of this. However I'm considering a call to the general manager of the dealer and perhaps even Nissan's regional manager. I don't want to shoot to the top so quickly that it affects my credibility, but I'm growing impatient with having to go back again to have something related to this work looked at and fixed. Most likely, I'll point all of this out to the service manager and let him know that my next call will be to the general manager/regional manager. That way, he knows up front where I'm headed with this....

Oh, and the transmission seems to be leaking again too...

[GripperDon]

So Sorry Dave.

[Dave N]

Update:

I took my Murano back in yesterday to have the SES code retrieved. After an hour of waiting, I'm offered a rental car and told that the code came back as a faulty O2 sensor. Plus they were going to detail the car to get rid of all the greasy footprints and finger prints left inside of the car, look into the radiator damage (I told them I wanted a new one), and look into the transmission leak (I visually confirmed that the leak came back again and told them that you can smell it burning off the exhaust pipe as well ).

Later in the afternoon, I got a call that it was ready to be picked up. The service writer told me that they replaced the O2 sensor and that the tech said this was what I was smelling because the faulty sensor was causing a rotten egg smell. I told the service writer that I never complained about a rotten egg smell, I was smelling the same burnt fluid smell that I've been noticing all throughout the ordeal. When asked if anything was done to resolve the transmission leak, the response was no - the tech solved the problem with the replacement of the sensor. There's little question in my mind that the sensor was damaged during one of the two transmission pulls.

So when I arrive, I take up the discussion with the service manager. First about the radiator, he's hesitating on replacing the radiator (claiming that they'll cause more damage replacing it - how's that for saying that your mechanics are incompetent). We sideline this discussion and move onto the issue of the leak. Again, the manager is saying that the problem is solved. I asked him to put it on the lift so I can show him what they seem to be overlooking each time. Once up in the air, I point it out to him. At this, he says that he's going to contact the regional rep because they don't know what else to do. I told him that I'm going to start pushing the Lemon Law issue because this problem hasn't been fixed.

Also during some of the small talk in between the transmission topic, he brings up that he can't keep taking my car in to fix the problems I find as a result of his mechanic not doing his job. Reading between the lines, he's telling me A) not to bring my car back anymore, and B) they don't care about putting the car back together properly. In response to his statement, I told him that it's not unreasonable to expect my car to be returned to me in the same (nearly new) condition as when I dropped it off, minus the transmission leak. He couldn't argue that point. If I brought the car in with damaged radiator fins, broken connector locks, missing attachment hardware, etc... I wouldn't expect them to fix that stuff. But this was the first service the car has seen aside from the oil changes (which I've done myself) - so none of these problems existed before they did the work.

Sorry for ranting....I'm waiting for the Lemon Law paperwork to arrive in the mail. I'm also trying to see if I can get in touch with the Nissan regional representative directly and explain the problems I've been experiencing with the dealer. Throughout all of this, I've maintained a cool demeanor and not raised my voice in hopes that this would get me farther than if i became really irate. It may be too soon to tell if this strategy is working, but I'll stick with it to the end.

Throughout all of this, we still love this car and, if presented with the opportunity, would get another one. The incompetence of this particular dealer's mechanics is what disappoints me the most. I may consider making the hour long drive to a "certified" dealer to see if things will improve.

I'll keep everyone posted (but I'll try to write shorter updates )

Dave

[GripperDon]

Dave you sure have had more than a share of troubles. the dealer is the jerk of all time. Sorry

[zofsuvs]

Originally posted by Dave N
I may consider making the hour long drive to a "certified" dealer to see if things will improve.

What exactly does it mean for a dealer to be "certified"?

[BarryG]

Sorry, Dave .........

[Dave N]

Originally posted by zofsuvs
What exactly does it mean for a dealer to be "certified"?

I saw some mention of it elsewhere on this site. There are some dealers that receive a type of excellence certification that indicates they have scored better in customer satiisfaction and appear to treat the customers better. When I looked at the local dealers to me, the closest one that touts this award is about an hour away.

I wouldn't be so disappointed if this dealer had made more of an attempt to do things right. I'll step down from my soap box now....

Dave

[zofsuvs]

Thanks, Dave, I'd never heard of this. I recently moved to another state and have been trying to decide which dealership to use when called for. I'll now take the certification into consideration as well.

[GripperDon]

I copied my post from the 1600 changes in europ thread, The new Tranny coolers got me thinking.

"I guess those boys may be on to the CVT failures, the Tranny temp is too high for the seals, belts etc. If that the case us boys in Arizona may be in for disproportionate failure rates."


Here is another recall.

[KSmurano]

Dave, here is the write-up on the dealer I purchased my Mo from.
This Award is a very important to them & they even mentioned it before I made my purchase and they would do everything in their power to keep it.

State Line Nissan
10401 Madison Ave
Kansas City, MO 64114
Tel. (816) 942-4007


Nissan Owner First Award of Excellence

The Nissan Owner First Award of Excellence is the highest award presented by Nissan North America to our Dealers. This award recognized Nissan's top Dealers from across the nation who were able to meet the high standards of achievement for the Owner First Award of Excellence. It recognizes those Dealerships that embody the philosophy and vision for Nissan—that is, to endeavor to provide our customers with an outstanding ownership experience, from the showroom through every aspect of the dealership. Basically, putting our owners first.

•Scores for Dealerships were measured on a multitude of criteria including Nissan's Owner First survey, which was sent to each of our customers following the purchase of a new Nissan vehicle or service on their current Nissan

The Nissan Owner First Award of Excellence dealers are recognized for consistently living up to the high standards of excellence!

[Dave N]

KSMurano: Thanks for pulling that up. I couldn't recall the exact title of the award.

I thought it was very interesting (and I think Nissan's regional rep would to) that this current dealer initially asked (almost begged to be exact) for me to indicate that they fixed the problem in one visit. Apparently that counts for about 50% of their score. This was after the second visit when they replaced the transfer case. I think he realizes now that there's no hope of a favorable response to the survey (if I ever get one).

It made me stop and consider that had I compelted the survey and said it was fixed in one visit, what would happen if I went after the Lemon Law? Would Nissan pull out the survey and say - what do you mean 3 attempts? We have a survey that says that you made one attempt....

And so it goes....but we still love our Murano.

Dave

[GripperDon]

I bet you could count on it.