Hey everyone I drive a 2008 nissan sentra(98xxxmiles). I commute 100 miles daily and have an issue that occurs only when it is snowing. Regardless of how much snow is on the ground, everytime there is decent snow fall my car will randomly buck. feels almost as though my transmission slips for just an instant and then regains control. for a while, i had to study this issue before i could fully wrap my head around it. I took the car to my shop and they could detect nothing wrong with the car, which is definitely not the case.
i suspect that there is an issue with a sensor or an actuator involved with the overdrive that is having the issue. but i could be wrong. does anyone having any thoughts or knowledge such a sporadic problem
There Are No Nissan Dealers And No Nissans Anywhere Near Here. I’m Trying To Find Information On 2008 Sentras In My Source, But It’s Not One Of The Choices.
Is A Sentra The Same/Similar As Another Model ?
Some choices are Rogue, Versa, Altima, Maxima, Xterra, and some others I think are trucks, but no Sentra. Is one similar ?
CSA
the sentra is smaller than an altima and larger than a versa. otherwise they are pretty similar. altima usually have a larger engine. versa have a 1.8l 4cyl. my sentra has 2.0L 4 cyl. most altimas have a 2.5L 6 cyl
model of my sentra is a 2008, S, 2.0L, 4cyl
are you refering to a transmission shift at an unexpected time? is it due to tires slipping?
I would consider to be a sort of bucking. almost like its about to slip out of gear, maybe a miss but my suspicion is that the overdrive maybe toggle off then on again. but for the most part road condition plays little factor, its just having snow falling that causes the issue.
Does it have traction control. If it does you could turn it off and see if it helps.
there is no traction control feature that i know of. There is a limited slip differential option in the specv but i do not have it
Can you turn the overdrive off and see it that is causing it. Are the tires all weather or snow tires?
turning off overdrive is a push away, ive tested this and it seems to fix the issue. The problem is that dumps my fuel economy, so I don’t do it for long enough to prove it out. thats how i came to the conclusion that a O/D switch, sensor or, actuator for O/D maybe the issue
The O/D switch no longer mitigates the issues. In fact after trying a few times it seems more troublesome when OD is off. I guess I wont have to worry about it until next winter though. Ill probably take a close look at the air intake system in the near future
This sounds very much like how traction control would affect your car. If you have ABS brakes it is very possible you have traction control too. It might have even come as standard equipment on the S model Sentra.
When traction control detects a wheel spinning it kills the motor briefly to reduce power going to the wheels. This can be an abrupt event and it can feel like bucking. When the wheel spin is over the power comes back on abruptly too in some cars. Since the car seems to run fine otherwise I’d suspect traction control is incorporated into the car and is causing this behavior. Nissan may not call it traction control, they may call it stability control; but if you have stability control then you have traction control as part of the overall system.