Shifter Problems

tomcattweek · 03-29-2004, 06:26 PM

Bought my Titan on February 24th. The night I brought it home, I pulled in my driveway, came to a stop and went to put the shifter in park. Got up to neutral but the shifter wouldn't go over to the right far enough to go up to reverse and then park. I called the salesman and he told me the service dept was open late that night and to bring it in. So I pushed the truck out of the driveway (embarassing!) and drove to the dealer. By the time I got there and the service guy looked at it, it was working fine. He told me if it hapened again to bring it in.
A week later I was leaving work and this time the shifter wouldn't go over far enough to go out of park. After banging on it a few times I was able to get it in gear and drive home. I left it at the dealer a couple of days later and they said they inspected everything but couldn't find anything wrong.
The third time it happened (couldn't get into park) I drove to the dealer and luckily this time it was still broke when the service guy looked at it. He showed me how to manually unlock the shifter and told me to bring it in the next day. They ended up changing the entire shifter assembly (so they say). That was 6 days ago. Today it happened again. Couldn't get it up into park. So I'll be taking it to the dealer once more for this problem.
Has anyone else had this problem? Haven't seen any posts on it so I'm thinking this is a new one.

Deepwater · 03-29-2004, 11:22 PM

No.. mine seems to be working fine so far. I do have the gate shifter.

bestatchess · 03-30-2004, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomcattweek

They ended up changing the entire shifter assembly (so they say).

Did they show you the old one? I am always skeptical. I previously had a new GMC truck with transmission problems, and kept taking it back to the dealer, but it never got fixed. Finally, the dealer agreed to install a new transmission. Before taking it in, I indexed marked the positions of all of the bolts, and took photographs. When I picked it up, it had the same transmission problems, and none of the bolts had been turned, yet the dealer certified that they had changed the transmission, and also billed GM for the warranty work. When I showed the dealer my photographs and threatened to call the cops, they finally replaced the transmission.

tomcattweek · 03-30-2004, 09:03 AM

No, they didn't show me the old shifter, nor did I ask (probably should have). If they try something new this time (3rd time at dealer) and it doesn't work, I wonder if the lemon law will apply.

tomcattweek · 04-03-2004, 07:39 AM

Well the dealer had my truck all week and didn't even touch it. They called the Nissan engineers and are waiting on a response from them before they do anything. At least it appears that they really want to fix it right this time.

Sabre66 · 04-03-2004, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomcattweek

Well the dealer had my truck all week and didn't even touch it. They called the Nissan engineers and are waiting on a response from them before they do anything. At least it appears that they really want to fix it right this time.

Sorry to hear about your problem, that really sucks. Hopefully it will get resolved quickly. The Lemon Law is a good thing to look into as all makes of vehicles have a lemon occasionally.

Best of luck.

tomcattweek · 04-13-2004, 10:02 AM

The dealer has had my truck for a total of two weeks now and still haven't touched my truck. They are communicating with Nissan on the shifter problem but all Nissan is telling them to do is change the shifter assembly (which they've already done). The service guy said he doesn't know what to do. Is it time to just ask for a new truck? I'm not going to live with this problem for the entire time I own it! If I do pursue asking for a new truck, how do I go about it? Anyone ever use the Lemon Law? Thanks for any help!

smcewen31 · 04-13-2004, 10:52 AM

Not sure how it works up in Virginia but in Florida they were required to put a Lemon Law packet into my owners manual and the salesman briefly went through it when I bought the truck.

Here's the highlights, and obviously this is all Florida Law. Your truck qualifies as a Lemon if

"...if the manufacturer cannot correct one or more defects or conditions covered by the warranty that substantially impair the use, value, or safety of the vehicle..." I would your situation applies.
"...within a reasonable number of attempts..." Defined as at least 3 attempts.
"...during the 'Lemon Law rights period.'" The first 24 months of owning the truck.

They say to keep all records of repairs. After the third attempt on the same defect you must send written notification to Nissan. They then have 10 days to respond from the day they recieve it, and if they don't, you do not have to give the last opportunity for repair. Their response does not have to be in writing but it must direct you to a "reasonably accesible repair shop for the final repair" and the appointment must be "within a reasonable time after the manufacturer has recieved your notification. Once you deliver the truck to the shop the manufacturer has 10 days to fix the defect. If it is not fixed within 10 days you do not have to allow further repair. If the final repair does not fix the problem then the manufacturer must refund/replace.

I think you also have to notify the State Attorney General at some point but I can't find it right now. Hope this helps.

Ashes · 04-13-2004, 11:39 AM

Here is the Virginia Law regarding Lemons...Good Luck!

Quote:

VIRGINIA LEMON LAW Lemon Law Text

QUALIFICATION: 3 unsuccessful repairs, or 1 repair attempt
of serious safety defect, or 30 calendar days out of service within 18 months.

NOTIFICATION/TRIGGER: Written notice to manufacturer. If 3 unsuccessful repairs or 30 days already exhausted before notice, manufacturer has 1 more repair attempt not to exceed 15 days. State has certified guidelines for arbitration. Law specifically applies to leased vehicles.

TrojanDan · 05-31-2004, 02:38 AM

Anything new on this tommcatt? Was the dealer able to fix your prob, or did you use the lemon law?

1Titan · 05-31-2004, 04:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomcattweek

Bought my Titan on February 24th. The night I brought it home, I pulled in my driveway, came to a stop and went to put the shifter in park. Got up to neutral but the shifter wouldn't go over to the right far enough to go up to reverse and then park. I called the salesman and he told me the service dept was open late that night and to bring it in. So I pushed the truck out of the driveway (embarassing!) and drove to the dealer. By the time I got there and the service guy looked at it, it was working fine. He told me if it hapened again to bring it in.
A week later I was leaving work and this time the shifter wouldn't go over far enough to go out of park. After banging on it a few times I was able to get it in gear and drive home. I left it at the dealer a couple of days later and they said they inspected everything but couldn't find anything wrong.
The third time it happened (couldn't get into park) I drove to the dealer and luckily this time it was still broke when the service guy looked at it. He showed me how to manually unlock the shifter and told me to bring it in the next day. They ended up changing the entire shifter assembly (so they say). That was 6 days ago. Today it happened again. Couldn't get it up into park. So I'll be taking it to the dealer once more for this problem.
Has anyone else had this problem? Haven't seen any posts on it so I'm thinking this is a new one.

I am really sorry to hear about the problem you are having with your Titan and problems with resolving this matter with your Nissan dealer. These kinds of things really get me going and is really inexcusable. I don't want to tell you what I would do but due to the fact that you were having this sproblem from day one and due to the time your dealer is taking in troubleshooting this problem I think you qualify for a lemon. This is ridiculous! You may want to consider raising hell!!! Please keep all of us updated and you Take Care!!

tomcattweek · 05-31-2004, 08:21 AM

It looks like it's fixed. I've put off posting an update just to make sure I didn't have any more problems.
Here's what went down.
The dealer had my truck for 2 weeks while I was in Phoenix on vacation, they said they drove it at least twice a day and couldn't get the shifter to fail. I was pretty pissed when I got home and called Nissan to find out what was going on, they were no help, they wanted me to wait while they did some more investigating. I decided to pursue the lemon law. Nissan told me I had to go through the BBB to start the procedure. When I went to the dealer to pick up my truck the service guy was very sympathetic, but said if they don't see it fail, they can't do anything. I got my keys and went to my truck, started it, put it in drive and tried to go back to park for the hell of it and wouldn't ya know, it failed. I left it in neutral, set the parking brake and went in to get the service guy. He came out with the service manager and his master tech. They looked at it for about 10 minutes and said they were going to replace the Interlock Control Unit. They replaced it 2 days later and I've been trouble free for about a month and a half.
Here's what still disturbes me about the whole thing. There is probably only a couple of components that would cause this problem. If they knew they had a customer that was so aggrivated by the situation that they were going to pursue the lemon law, why didn't they at least try something? I work on F-14's and when there's a repeat discrepancy that we can't duplicate on deck, we take an educated guess as to what could cause the problem and change the part. I guess Nissan doesn't think like that.
Anyway, everything is good now and I still love my Titan.

Tom-ADC · 03-11-2005, 12:31 PM

Mine just did that today, I had to use a small screwdriver to unlock the shifter and then once again to get the shifter back in Park so I could get the key out.
Haven't been to the dealer yet.

A2titan · 03-11-2005, 12:54 PM

Seems that this issue is starting to raise it's head. Also seems like they knew of this, why educate on how to override this sucker. I know I can hear mine activating/deactivating when in park hitting the brake and while driving when the trans goes back to first. Kind of annoying, by the sound of it, sounds like a cheap electrical/mech part. Another thread spoke that nissan had this issue in the Altima's before. I don't want some tech spraying WD40 all over though. Does everyone have this lockout noise? Lube options?

Tom-ADC · 03-11-2005, 01:09 PM

Okay fixed mine it was a fuse the fourth one from the top on the right side, its a 10A mini fuse hope this helps someone.
Wonder why the fuse blew though? Had the truck since Jult 2004 but still doesn't have 3000 miles on it.