Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

When our Xterra developed transmission trouble over 200 miles from home Monday afternoon I felt pretty put out. I was put out not just because I was worried about being over 200 miles from home and in an area with weak cellphone reception with the possibility of being stranded, but also because it was just ten days after getting the car back from the shop from another set of repairs.

"So much for Nissan reliability," Hawk groused. And I agreed. Although repairs other than regular maintenance have been few they have been expensive. The repairs two weeks ago cost $1,400. The repairs a few years ago— when we did get stranded, and it was not just 200 miles from home but nearly a thousand miles— cost just over $2,000. And on top of that $2,000 for the mechanic we spent at least $2,000 getting un-stranded!

How much would this transmission problem cost to fix? I was actually somewhat optimistic about it. The reason was that the problem didn't seem to be with the transmission itself.

When a transmission goes bad, it goes bad in a big way— and is expensive to fix. With this problem there was no crunching or groaning of gears from inside the transmission. When it slipped out of gear it wasn't the torque converter slipping; it was the shift lever physically slipping to disengage it. Likewise, it's the shift lever that physically wouldn't move into position to select lower gears. The problem may well just be in the shift lever.

But still, it seemed like a $500 repair job at a minimum. So soon after the other repair bill, and with the car now at 103,000 miles, we were wondering if it's worth it. Yeah, $500— or even another $1,500— is cheaper than a new car, but if keeping this car going is going to be a stream of this, that, and the other thing going wrong... maybe it's time to cut our losses.

Before I called the dealership on Tuesday I did a bit of research to gain an understanding of what the problem might be. My search hit on a few web forums describing similar symptoms, and one of the posts in them had a link to a really helpful YouTube video showing a fix that requires only a screwdriver, needle-nose pliers, and a bit of forearm strength. Could it be? Would I be able to fix it myself— or would DIY stand for "Damage It Yourself"? Stay tuned!

UPDATE: I attempt a DIY solution... on video!

I've been having trouble with our Nissan Xterra. Yes, this is the car that's had the "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" light on & off intermittently for the last several months. Oddly the light was off this week when the problem became more severe.

The symptom here is that the engine occasionally loses power. The revs drop even if I'm pressing on the throttle. Sometimes the engine catches again after a few seconds; other times it stalls out. Today it stalled out 3 times in the course of about 15 minutes. Thankfully I was able to restart the engine right away each time. Also, I was driving around town on short errands, so if I did need a tow it wouldn't be a huge inconvenience.

It's mildly frustrating to have to deal with this right now. I mean, it's never a good time to suffer car trouble. But my schedule this week is pretty tight. I'd be willing to put it off to next week when my schedule is more flexible except this Friday I need to drive 220 miles round trip for a Covid-19 shot. I'm not going to try nursing the car on such a long highway trip in its condition. There's too much chance of getting stuck a long way from home and possibly missing my shot— which might take months to reschedule at this point.

Which Shop?

Where to take it? was the next question. My first idea was the local Nissan dealer, less than 2 miles from my house.

I know some people say, "Never take it to a dealer." Or, "Dealership is a stealer-ship." Car dealers in general get a bad rap on repairs. They tend to be expensive and don't necessarily have mechanics who are any more skilled than a good independent shop. But I haven't located a Nissan specialist. And last time this car had trouble and we took it to a generalist indie shop, they couldn't diagnose the problem. We had to pay around $1,000 to tow it to a dealership 150 miles away. But hey, at least we got a few cool pictures  towing it over a major mountain range! 😂

But the local Nissan dealer is now closed. A casualty of the pandemic shutdown.

The next closest Nissan dealer is about 15 miles away. That's not ideal. I just keep reminding myself, though, 15 miles is a lot less than 150. But still, it'll take some planning.

I'll drop the car off late this afternoon so the shop can start work first thing tomorrow. Hawk will meet me after work to drive me home. If they can fix it tomorrow— unlikely, but possible— I'll take a Lyft over there to pick it up. In the more likely case they need at least through Friday to work on it, I'll either drop Hawk off at the train station to get to work on Friday so I can drive to Davis for my shot, or I'll go to SJC airport Thursday night to rent a car for my Friday vaccine run and return it Friday night.

Whew. So much to do. Starting with leaving for the dealership... NOW.

UPDATE: $1,400 later....