Ok, me and my buddy were out driving in my baby and we came up to a red light, no traffic around and radar said there were no potential bogeys so i said w.t.h. and put it in manual mode in 1st and held down my brakes. I know that power braking isnt the best but i only revved up to around 1500 and on teh green light i let it loose for teh first time and got my backend spinning really good. After that i was ok, thats kinda kewl didnt take much to get this thing spinning. Then i start to notice that NEITHER manual mode OR full auto mode my transmission will shift into any higher gears!!!!!! Im like ok this sux, i have to merge onto a fairly busy road here..... So needless to say i cant get my car to go over about 35 mph in first, totally killing my gas mileage trying to keep up to speed (10 under the limit) holding up traffic behind me, finally put on my hazards about a half a block doen teh road and stop the car. I turn it off and me and my buddy are talking about how complex the ecu system is in this car and that it hopefully just got confused. I start it back up, put it in drive and merge back on hoping that the worst if over. car gets up to where it would normally shift to second and voila it shifts to second. I was like THANK GOD i didnt just destroy my brand new car. I just need to see how many if ANYONE has had this happen to them with teh automatic tranny, cuz at this point this is the ONLY thing that i found that made me think twice about buying this car. Please post if you had the same or similar situation happen to you.

 

Glad to see that nothing bad happened to your car. Cause almost everything that could go wrong with my car did...

 

Did you notice the AT light flashing or lighting up?

Check your manual. I think it goes into safe mode
or something when that happens.

Turn off the car and on again should reset it.
If not, then there could be a problem.

 

Yes, ive been thru the manual the first night i got the car and understand about the AT check light.

NO it did not come on nor did the vehicle seem to be operating improperly other than that i could not get the transmission to shift out of 1st gear. Everything i am to understand is that the AT check light comes on to inform of a possible problem, not to lock out of other gears, like it wouls still shift gears but warn you to NOT drive the car hard or anything that could cause more damage.

Im assuming so far that no one has had this problem and I shouldnt be concerned since i tried testing to make it happen again and couldnt replicate the problem. I guess it was just a computer miscalculation in the ECU.

 

Okay, update on my original problem. I have recently broken my initial 1200 miles and decided to actually play with my car a little. I turned off TCS same as last time, put teh car in manual mode and lit up the tires really good. Never broke into the red and kept it around 6k or so varying down to 5500 and back up. Anyways, i somehow got my computer to screw up again and lock into first gear. I have done this twice more to makes sure its not a fluke and each time i have locked the transmission into 1st gear.

One good thing though, not sure why it does this, but my "set" light for the cruise control will continually blink until i turn off teh car and back on. I am still concerned why the car is doing this seeing as how i have not done anything to cause any damage to my car to put it into safe mode.

Anyone have any ideas before i go back to teh dealer?

And does the camber on anyone elses car "appear" to look like this.... / \ ??? Its not drastic but it sure looks like they are forming an A shape all around. Is this normal? They have always looked like this and i never put any thought into it until i noticed recently how teh outer 2/3" of tread dont get normally dirty like the rest of the tires after driving over the dry salted roads on my way home.

 

Will check and let you know if it happens on mine as well.

 

Well, my Z is finished with break-in and I did some GTech 0-60 runs. I discovered there is no need to brake torque since the tires spin when you floor the engine anyway. I don't believe in spinning my tires just for the hell of it. I use brake torquing for the sole purpose of increase acceleration. Sorry I couldn't replicate your problem.

See here for my results:
https://my350z.com/forum/2003-2009-nissan-350z-2/

 

I've noticed two things with mine--

If you gun it and let go of the gas -- occasionally it still accelerates as if you still have your foot on the gas--BAD VERY BAD



Occasionally it shifts too late---



2500 miles on it

 

Go to a Lexus dealership and look at the SC430 window sticker - The ones I have seen state something like-- the tires on this vehicle do not last long due to this being a performance vehicle-- why not just say-- we don't warranty your tires at all

 

Okay, thanks for showing concern and trying to replicate my problem. I would like to clarify that my car is always completely normal until i perform this situation. I do NOT break torque the car when i have spun the tires, jsut that first time since it was still warm and dry out. Right now i have a hard time just keeping the tires from slipping due to the extreme cold and all teh road salt and snow and ice all over.

Im assuming that a lot of people dont even look into this forum seeing as how like 40% of the US market Z's are automatic, yet no one here has had this problem like i have. In a few weeks i am going to make a surprise visit to my nissan dealer with a list of the things that bother me or concern me and have someone from service go thru the list with me one by one and find out what is their problem and what is mine.

So far i have had these concerns:

1) extemely loud popping and crackling in the cold after driving my car home, no other car i have ever heard sounds this drastic. Its almost like parts of the block are literally cracking.

2) that stupid annoying creaking coming from behind the seating area somewhere, somebody here siad its the plastic cover on the hatch?

3) damn passenger seat creaks occasionally, hasnt done it for a week or so, but it comes and goes.

4) in nasty weather, i really dont like how the washer nozzles function, i cant get teh upper 1/3 of my windsheild clean no matter how much fluid i spray, and dont even ask about the rear windshield, lets jsut say im keeping windex in business cleaning my windows every night.

5) camber angle of my wheels ALL AROUND seems to be too much for having full independant suspension all stock on stock wheels and tires.

and finally last but not least....

6) wheres my friggin backseat????? (J/K)

 

Automatic Transmission Fail-Safe Mode

The TCM has an electrical fail-safe mode. This mode makes it possible to operate even if there is a an error in a main electronic control input/output signal circuit. In fail-safe mode, even if the select lever is "D" or "M" mode, the transmission is fixed in 2nd, 4th, or 5th (depending on the breakdown position), so the customer should feel "slipping" or "poor acceleration".

When fail-safe mode is triggered, when the ignition switch is witched "ON", the A/T CHECK indicator lamp flashes for about 8 seconds.

Even when the electronic circuits are normal, under special conditions (for example, when slamming on the brake with the wheels spinning drastically and stopping the tire rotation), the transmission can go into fail-safe mode.

If this happens, switch "OFF" the ignition switch for 10 seconds, then switch it "ON" again to return to the normal shift pattern. Also, the A/T CHECK indicator lamp flashes for about 8 seconds once, then is cleared.

 

Thanks. I read that in the manual somewhere when i first got teh car, but my main concern is if this has happened to anyone elses automatic, so far i seem to be the only one that can produce the situation. Like i said before im just torque breaking a bit with teh TCS off and then accelerating off teh light when i let off the brake, and when i let off the accelerator, the car will not shift out of 1st. Its kinda strange though because i have gotten it to do this about 4 times in all now, same situation and all, yet my car runs completely fine and normal if i just give it a lot of gas from a full stop without breaking first. This DOES NOT happen in full automatic, just in the manual mode....

So like before, anyone else have this situation occur in their auto yet????

 

Haven't driven my car but once in the last 3 months. But I never experienced any problems with my AT. I use auto mode 2/3 of the time.
I was just curious if your shifting down to 1st yourself or letting manual mode shift to 1st for you. I read somewhere where someone was saying you should not shift into 1st when coming up to a stop in manual mod.
Also I found no great advantage with power braking on take offs. I think its to rough on the car.

 

How high are you revving it?

 

I'm supprised that you did not ruin your transmission doing that stunt in an automatic. The car was not built to do that. Next time throw it in reverse while you are doing 60mph and see what happens.