gratuitous

Something really strange happened the other day with our 2000 Nissan Sentra, and I was wondering if anyone else out there has had the same problem.

The car's battery finally died the other day. After surviving 3 summers in Phoenix heat this was not a surprise to me. I got the car jumped and it ran fine. The car has an automatic transmission. When I put it in drive and step on the gas, it seemed like I was missing a ton of power. I eventually got up to speed, and realized that the RPM's just kept on climbing and climbing. The automatic transmission was stuck in 2nd gear! I tried manually shifting into 1st, but the car wouldn't down shift. I tried putting it back in park, neutral, nothing would get it out of 2nd gear.

I drove the car straight to the dealership. Once the battery was replaced, the transmission shifted just fine.

So I ask you all, what would cause an automatic transmission from working when the battery is dead, but the car is running? I've lost several batteries in cars with automatics in the past and have never experience this problem. Is this a Nissan Sentra thing, or just some freak behavior?

Thanks!

oakleym82

wow that's pretty intense.... to be honest i don't know but i suspect it had something to do with the ECU, maybe you gave it a little shock while jumping??? anyone else hear of this before?

germex

If the battery is toast, then the car is running off of the alternator. Which means nothing is operating on full power because the output from the alternator fluctuates as the engine rpm's change. Probably caused a couple of glitches in the ecu.

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