Carina

I'm glad I found this forum...I have a 95 Nissan XE, 2WD work truck. 150K and has been the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned (since new) - I have not put more than $1000 in repairs in the thing except for normal maintenance.

Last week the check engine light came on. I could find nothing malfunctioning...take it to the shop for them to check it. They tell me it will be 3 hours to check codes because the computer is under the passenger seat & hard to pull. OK. I pick up the truck, they say they found two bare wires & a loose vaccuum hose (I'm thinking one doesn't need a compuer to figure THAT out), they reset the light, and charged me $210.00. Two miles down the road the light comes back on, I called & they said, oh - no big deal, your truck checks out fine, just ignore it. Except big deal because I took the truck in BECAUSE the light was on.... And it was running great before I gave them $210, too.

Oh - and no WAY was the seat removed. I don't believe the carpet was even lifted, & isn't that where the computer is on this truck? They said the code was 55, something electrical...I looked it up online & something about rear solenoid...?

A: Was I ripped off?
B: What else should I look for?

I live near Flint MI, GM country. Many shops here still refuse to work on Japanese vehicles, & the nearest Nissan dealer is Detroit...
Thanks!

br2an

Carina

If the code they they read was 55 you have a right to be p-ssed off. Code 55 indicates there is no malfunction. (ie no problems showing)

Not all Nissans need to have the seat lifted out to read the ecu. (mine doesn't) Then, if you must remove it you only need take out 4 bolts and seat comes right out. (10 minutes if the bolts are not rusted badly) They should not charge more than 1 hour (very generous to them here) to read the codes.

$210 is maybe not a bad price if they were not familiar with Nissans and had to troubleshoot the problem. (trace wiring under hood etc.) I have spent hours on simple things (my own vehicle) and many people will tell you electrical problems can be a pain. However, it sounds like the problem is not fixed. Bring it back and demand they fix it. If they won't, ask for a refund as they are incompetent and shouldn't have taken the job on in the first place.

Good luck;

Brian

Dan-zig

I was definatley pissed
you have to sign and approve of any work done prior to it occurring
did they go over with you? And also again tell them why you came in, and what you expected to be done.

You laws might be different to that of California....so I dont know what steps you should take to rectify the situation

__________________
(^v~)/-

Carina

Thanks you guys...I'm going to call a dealer & see if they can at least tell me what it takes to pull codes from my truck, then talk to the shop. Brian, I looked at the seat - I'm pretty handy and couldn't see why it wouldn't take me > 30 minutes to get it out myself!

I was about to schedule my Saab (a much more high maintenance vehicle!) for brakes this week there...now I'm thinking not, at least unless they can give me a darn good answer. I was clearly lied to about taking the seat out; unless the SM thought the tech who worked on it did. But he said he test drove the truck himself afterwards, so you'd think he figured it out.

I'm not a dummy when it comes to auto repairs, so I like to think I'm not likely to get ripped off - but I'm kind of clueless about wiring & just wanted to be assured the truck wasn't going to strand me on a job 50 miles from home...

One more question though - if 55 means nothing is malfunctioning, then why does it come on at all?
Thanks again!

br2an

That is what I meanth by being p-ssed off. I think they may have inadvertantly cleared the codes before they read them. In other words they most likely did not read the code properly. Here are a couple of site that show what the codes are and how to read them.
http://npora.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=21 and from this site http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=15735

All I did with mine was 1) push the passenger seat all the way forward
2) look under the back of the seat and the led lights and the screw (no switch for me) were facing me on the back of the ecu.

I have a Haines manual with diagrams but it wasn't needed.

If the green and red LED's and switch/screw are visible you could probably read the codes in a matter of minutes yourself. If you reset the ecu by mistake don't worry as the error code will be restored when the light comes on again.

Good luck

Brian

nizmo559

My car did that a couple times in the past. The car ran perfectly fine. What I did was reset the computer by taking off the negative battery cable for a couple hours. Put it back on problem solved. I'm sure if there was something serious the light would have came back on.

__________________
Nissan Infiniti Owners
Fresno, Ca.

http://www.cardomain.com/id/nizmo559

‹^› ‹(•¿•)› ‹^›