Undrivable motor surging....

[andy_george]

Hopped in our 2014 NVP this morning to head to work. Immidiately noticed a surging between 1500 and 2500 rpms. It wouldn't get past 2500rpms. Max speed it could hit was about 40mph. It was a very abrupt up/down throttle.

 

Checked for any obstruction in the intake, filter, and up to motor. All clear. I'll check the mass airflow sensor when I get home.

 

Really hope it's easy to detect and fix. Last thing I need is to have it loaded on a flatbed and taken to the dealer 80 miles away over the Christmas holiday.....

 

Any ideas? I'll keep ya'll posted....

 

-Andy

[Decades]

Andy,

  Is the check engine light on?  Any other lights?

  I've had two problems with mine: I drenched the underbody and ended up getting the "CRUISE" light staying on and the "SET" light blinking, and had no acceleration- apparently the wiring harness connection on the transmission got wet and put me in a limp-home mode (3rd gear?) because the vehicle speed couldn't be determined from the transmission.

  The other is more recent (this past weekend)- I've just put 18k on mine, and the transmission had started shifting hard from 1st to 2nd; got it flushed at a Nissan dealership and they found material in the fluid, plus the fluid was burnt.  If it is the transmission, it will eventually throw an engine code.  I was getting codes for 1st, 3rd, and 4th by the time I stopped driving it- I've been monitoring transmission fluid temp, and it never has gone above 1/3 of the way up on the display, but if I remember correctly it is usually more like only one to 3 bars.

  My transmission problems were worse once the vehicle warmed up, and from your description (and location) it sounds like it was cold- did it change at all once it warmed up?

[andy_george]

Thanks for the ideas. Mine seems worse when cold. It was more driveable than I had thought, so I could make it to the dealer this morning with it. It shifts, but it's just like it can't decide where in the revs it should be. Like the torque converter is slipping, grabbing, slipping, etc. And the cruise light works, but it won't set, it kicks itself back off immidiately.

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn it's an electronic issue with the tranny or something in the ecu. I'll keep your experience in the back of my mind, and I'll let you know things as I do.

[andy_george]

And no, no warning lights are on, other than the tpms light, since I have my winter wheels on. No light on really surprises me given how erratic the motor behaving...

[Decades]

Andy,

     Don't think it is in the owner's manual, but the transmission dipstick is on the passenger side of the engine, on a tube above the oil dipstick with a black cap that you will need a (I think) 10mm socket/wrench to get off.  the dipstick is a couple of feet long, and has the marks on it for cold and hot.  You may be able to tell if it is mechanical in the transmission by the smell of the fluid or color.  Mine had the friction plates and the band burnt up.

     I am much less sure of this: I think the wiring connection that sends the speed sensor information from the transmission is the one just aft of where the dipstick tube goes into the transmission (It has a green connector) on the passenger side.  I have enough room where I can crawl under mine but I still have a hard time reaching the connector without touching the exhaust and have only wiggled it to check tightness.  There may be another connector that is actually on top of the transmission; I was under the van with the Nissan technician when he checked the connectors that ultimately fixed the electrical problem in October, but he also checked a bunch of other connectors under the van and in the engine compartment.  If someone on the forum knows for sure, please respond and I'll delete this information; I don't want to mislead or have the wrong info on here.

    Also, I've read that you don't want to use brake cleaner to clean your MAF sensor; there is a special aerosol spray for it if you are going to try to clean it.  If you have a stock, non-oiled air filter and it is intact, I don't think that this would be dirty.

[axulsuv]

Sounds Like a accelerator pedal position sensor issue . First key cycle it failed , second key cycle it went into limp mode . Surprised you don't have a check engine light on ... They are fly by wire ..

Glenn 

[andy_george]

Very long story very short...... Took the van to elhart nissan in Holland. They ran tons of tests, checked harnesses and wire continuity, had a Nissan rep. On the phone to help diagnose etc.

 

Culprit? I replaced the rear brake lights with LEDs. The center high mount bulb had a transistor, which sent a *tiny* power pulse back to the ecu and mucked everything up. Basically it was making the abs go crazy and made the brakes pulsate constantly.

 

So I got stuck with a 4 hour shop charge for a $4 light bulb:(. Dang luck:(. The shop manager (Ron Savage, a super cool, honest dude) took all the bulb info and said a service bulletin would be sent to all Nissan dealers to help diagnose next time an owner tries to improve and already fine tailight;)

 

Told my wife that I once changed a motor in a road racing motorcycle in an enclosed trailer while going down the freeway, and now I can't change a light bulb without screwing something up. Getting older sucks;)

[808_NV3500]

I just wanted to say thank you andy_george for this old post!  I mysteriously had the same problem with the engine surging and hesitating while accelerating. I changed my taillight bulbs to LED but I didn't drive the van for about a week after I changed them so I didn't connect it as the cause.  Never in my wildest imagination would I have suspected the LED taillight bulb to cause such erratic engine behavior! What was strange in my case was after about 10 minutes of driving/warming up, the problem would slowly go away.  If you let engine cool off and start driving again and the surging would come right back!

 

Thank you again, this post certainly saved me hours maybe days of diagnostic time/parts and probably dealer labor after I probably would have given up!