I was leasing a 2000 Pathfinder through John Deery Motors. Two months before the lease expired I suddenly and unexpectedly developed a problem with the transmission. It 'slipped' on me a couple of times on my way to work one day.
I stopped at the very first service station that I could find (about 15 miles) Once I got there I checked the transmission fluid level (I used to work at a service station so I know to leave the vehicle running when you check the level of fluid in an automatic transmission) I found it to be just over a half of a quart low but for too many reasons to list here I found it prudent to put in the whole quart of fluid.
It did nothing to improve the problem. Not wanting to do any unnecessary damage to the transmission I call a tow truck and had it towed to Deerys. A couple of days later I got a call from their service department informing me that the tranny way shot and that it would be needing a new ($3400) one.
No problem here for me I thought because the vehicle was still under warranty (3 Year 36,000 miles) I had it for 2 years 10 mos and had just over 32,000 miles on it. They told me that it was not covered under warranty however because the reason that the tranny went out was because of abuse. They told me that the tranny was overfilled with as much as 3 QUARTS! I told them that their mechanic was either real stupid or a real liar or both.
I don't know this to be the case but it would not surprise me if they were trying to 'double-dip' me and Nissan.in other words charge both of us for the repair. Even if that is not the case they lied to me by exaggerating the amount of overfill and besides the tranny had the problems BEFORE I added a HALF of a quart too much. I wonder if there is pressure on them from Nissan to uphold all of the good reliability ratings that they have recently been getting?
I never picked the vehicle back up. I don't know what became of it but I sure am not going to pay for something that was covered under warranty.
Jack
Cedar Falls, Iowa
U.S.A.
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