My 04 murano jerks and the RPM jumps about 1K while driving at steady speed while RPM is 1000-1500 (speed is between 50-80 km/hr). the jerking doesn't happen while accelerating and I also noticed a slow acceleration from a stop. it is not the poor acceleration before a jump that some people with bad cvt had. I suspect a vacuum leak or bad MAF or throttle body/sensor.
I remove and clean the throttle body with a TB cleaner and performed idle relearn. My slow acceleration problem is solved now , but unfortunately the car still occasionally jerks while driving at steady speed.
I don't have the jerking like you mentioned but I did just recently clean out my throttle body, air filter (it's fairly new) and the airbox from all of the debris in there. I could tell right away that my throttle response, especially on a cold start, just sounds and feels "healthier" than I have previously noticed the car to be. It was all worth cleaning up in my opinion.
I suggest you have the codes read immediately. Any miss or irregular engine spark will create an error code. You can't do much diagnosis in these cars without reading codes.
I got no codes and that's what makes me believe it's not ignition or emission issues. I toke the car to the dealer two weeks ago and they couldn't pull any codes even from the TCM. They toke the car for a ride and experienced the problem I'm having, but they came back saying we can't tell what's wrong with no code and they charge me nothing.
So I had the same issue as well, change plugs, clean the TB but my car still shook at 40 mph and my RPM's was going fro 2k to 1k sparaticly. Come to find out it was my coil pack #2 . Bought a new coil pack and the problem when away. When looking to it further, the interchangeable boot that connects to plug showed some sign of burnt(barely noticeable). I cut it open and sure enough it was badly burned on inside. Check there. Save myself tons load of money.
Didnt have codes but shook like crazy. Went to aamco and they did an engine test(free) and they told me that the coil packets which is the small black box on top of spark plugs was showing inconsistent electrical current from test. Wasnt charge but they wanted to do a more in. Depth test that cost 80 bucks but i didnt do it. With that i just verified which was spark plug 2 and changed the coil pack with boot. Ran about 90 buck at advance auto.
Coils are checked and all of them are fine according to a local shop. I also borrowed three coil from a friend who got 03 Murano and put his coil in the front side and the problem did not go away then I put the my front coils in the back while keeping his in the front and the problem is still there (I just did that to be 100% sure it 's not a coil).
Last night I decided to power brake (or whatever it's called) where I kept one foot on the brake while giving a mild throttle, car on drive of course and the car shakes when the RPM was somewhere between 1500-2000. Still no codes.
Will do it again tonight and try to catch a video.
Check the motor mounts. At this point it doesn't sound like you have a miss, but a bad mount could allow the engine to move excessively and create noise or vibration. The front mount (behind grille, driver's side of engine) and right mount (below battery on passenger side) are probably the most frequent failures.
I'm still trying to figure out why there were no codes if you had a bad coil. That's really odd.
I didn't have a bad coil. Coils were checked by a local shop and they are fine.
But looking at the engine mount is a good idea. Will take a look at these two and the CV axles as well. So far I know CV boots are in good shape, but that doesn't guarantee that axles are fine.
I believe the problem is solved. Found out that I got a CVT overheating issue.
I always allow my Murano to worm up before driving and that's why I didn't notice that my Murano runs fine when cold and the jerking problem only happens once the car is warm.
I installed a CVT oil cooler right in front of the Radiator ( had to remove the grill and the splash guard under the radiator, maybe will post some pictures later ) and the jerking disappear.