On Tuesday, my 7 week old Z would not start. I jumped it and it ran fine, but as soon as you turn it off, it would need another jump. So I called my dealer, but guess what--the dealer is undergoing an ownership change and no longer has any nissan techs and might not even sell nissans anymore. great. But hey its a Nissan and under warranty. So I took it another nissan dealer. At the end of the day they call me and said the battery was defective and replaced it, but now the ECM no longer works right so he has to order it, so they are keeping my car. So I call back the next day wondering if the part is in yet, and they tell me that they have to get it from their "master" warehouse in L.A. and because of the labor day weekend it won't be in til next Wednesday (today is wednesday!)!!! So I have no car for 9 days. I'm already tired of bumming rides off my friends. I asked the service advisor if they could hook me up with a loaner car. He asked if I had the extended warranty but I didn't so he kinda just brushed me off saying he would have to check with his manager or something.

So now I don't know what to do. I guess I can follow up today and ask again for the loaner car, but that doesn't look too optimistic. Since I only have the basic warranty that came with the car, am I only going to get a loaner car based on how nice the manager wants to be to me? And does taking a whole week for a new ECM to come in a reasonable length of time to wait? This is bordering on ridiculous. This sucks.

 

Man that does suck...glad I got the extended warranty. They really should give you a loaner car or atleast credit for a rental. Maybe contact Nissan Motor Corp. ?

 

Yeah, I'm really disappointed that the dealership I bought the car from is no longer available because I am confident that they would have been nice enough to hook me up with a loaner since I knew the F&I guy and the salesman really well. I've never called Nissan's Consumer Affairs before and it would seem premature. The Warranty booklet labels that like a last resort, it encourages me to contact the dealership manager first, then the dealership's consumer affairs manager, and up the chain.... but I don't want to do all this if its just a waste of time....

 

Im a bit at a loss of why a faulty battery requires a new ECM...

I know in my truck, if the battery died, the ECM would lose its memory, meaning it couldnt hold idle, and itd run a bit funny.

but it always got its memery back after about 15 minutes of running.

I typicly had to do brake stands at red lights since if I let off the gas itd die.

also to start the car, had to give it some gas. as I said, it wont hold an idle, nor will it start it.

just some things to maybe try... things they might diagnose as a bad ECM.

hope that helps.

 

Well I'm not the one working on the car. I only know what the nissan tech tells me. *shrugs*

 

That is so much BS. You should be able to get a car from the dearship. I don't think extended warranty matters, the car broke down because of the falty batter, which means it's not your fault. Push hard on them and tell them that you are calling Nissan Consumer Affairs. They just don't want to give a car and if you don't push them they will BS you some more. When you get your car back check the milage too. I have seen posts on this forum that guys were getting their cars back with like 15 additional miles because some dumba$$ mechanic took it for a joy ride. I hope it works out for you.

 

They're not obligated to provide a loaner, according the language of the warranty. Some dealers do and some don't. It sure would be nice if they could help you out, though. Call NNA. They might provide something for ya...

 

update:

I called the service advisor again and basically guilted him onto my side and he got his manager to pay for a loaner car. I'm now mobbing around town in a 2003 silver Dodge Neon. whoop whoop.

man, i'm dying for my Z back, but at least I have transportation for labor day weekend.

 

At least you got a classy loaner car! ;-) jk

Hope you get your ride back soon.

NissanCar

 

I have to agree with ares. I had the same situation with my dodge ram pickup. I left the interior lights on overnight once and had to charge the battery. The truck would start but would die if I let off the gas. So I just drove it on the highway for 20 miles and it was fine after that. There should be no diff with the Z. Anyone out there that has a dead battery should give this a shot before letting their Z sit at the dealership for 9 days.

 

After jump starting the Z, it would run fine. It had no trouble Idling. I'm no mechanic at all, but I think its a stretch to compare a Dodge Truck's ECM to the Z's. The Z has a lot of other features such as the TCS, VDC, Throttle-by-wire, & security system that are directly and/or indirectly tied with the ECM. I'm more inclined to theorize that when they were exchanging batteries they let some wires or terminals cross and fried the ECM....i dunno...

 

Don't take this the wrong way but the old twin turbo's had a warning not to jump the battery due to it might effect the ecu.You might have jumped the car incorrectly, and the dealer sucks they could have had the ecu before the next day if they wanted. If I was you SLAM them on the survey. Oh and their is a box to check if you don't want them to know who you are. Best of luck!

 

I hope they get it worked out soon, but it sucks being without a car thank god they provided you with one Neon or not its a car!

 

well, it is good that they gave you a loaner. the dealership that i bought the z from made me sign a form in the beginning that they do no provide loaners.

actually in hawaii, i have not come across a dealer that does give out loaners except for the higher end companies like lexus, mercedes, infiniti, bmw, etc...

i got the loaner car reimbursment option with liberty mutual for $9 a year in case my car is ever out of commission for a period of time. havent used it yet, but it is worth it.

 

Yeah the Service Advisor said he convinced his manager to hook me up with a loaner by telling him how patient and understanding I had been since I wasn't jumping on his neck or throwing a temper tantrum like a lot of people do.

And mpowers, you actually could be right that I may have jumped the car improperly at first and messed up my ecm (because it took me a few tries before I could find a good enough ground), but I am not telling the dealership that!

 

Luckily, I live next to one of the top service centers, here in Lexington. The lot sells & services Mitsus, Nissans, and Infiniti's . . . if I were without my car for more than 2 hours, they would give me a loaner! They just asked that I mark excellent for their questionnaire and voila! If you mark anything other than excellent, it doesn't help them in their ratings . . . so why not make the customer happy in all aspects.

 

final update:

Well, there's a happy ending I guess. I got the car back earlier than expected today on Friday. The final damage was: Z in the shop for 4 days, new battery, new ecm, & new O2 sensor (which they blame as the cause of ****ing up the ecm). It was all warranty so no money out of my pocket.

 

well alls well that ends well. they took care of things in the end, if they went without a fight, it wouldnt be any fun eh?