I went to my local Nissan dealer with my 2001 Pathfinder (53K miles) because my 'Service Engine Soon' light came on earlier this week. As I expected they said it was an Oxygen sensor. But they also noted that the computer needed to be 'reporgrammed'. They said it would be a 1.5 hour process where they connect the car to a computer that connects to Nissan and downloads the latest engine program. They want to charge normal labor rate for the duration of the download. Has anyone heard of this before? Is this a hoax or something that should be covered? Does it need to be done at all?
We've talked about this once here before. Usually, auto manufacturers will come out with revised computer programming, and install that on the vehicle at no charge to the consumer. Don't pay to have them reprogram it. Ask them specifically what the reprogram does, and why you should have to pay for it. Most likely, they're going to say something like, "it fixes something..." and that right there is reason enough for me, as a Nissan customer, to expect them to download it for free to the vehicle. Besides, isn't your vehicle under warranty still?
In addition, it sounds like they're telling you they're just going to hook it up and walk away, and wait for it to finish. Why should you pay them 60 bucks an hour for a computer download? Tell them to pack sand, or give you the reprogram for free.
If all that fails, tell them Chevrolet takes care of their customers better than this, and will reprogram the computer at no cost to the customer (which isn't a lie). See if they'll do it then. If not, try another dealership.
I called back the dealer and asked them to explain. They said that the ECM needs reprogrammed. I persisted and they said that until it is reporgrammed the 'Service Engine Light' will stay on and as such I wont know if any other parts of the system fail.
After talking to the dealer I call Nissan Customer Care @ 1800-Nissan1 They said the reprogramming is covered under the 3 year 36K bumper to bumper. But not under the 8 year 80K mile Emissions Warranty. They said if the ECM itself was broken they would replace the part under warranty. But that they will NOT reprogram it under warranty.
I called back the dealer and asked them to explain. They said that the ECM needs reprogrammed. I persisted and they said that until it is reporgrammed the 'Service Engine Light' will stay on and as such I wont know if any other parts of the system fail.
After talking to the dealer I call Nissan Customer Care @ 1800-Nissan1 They said the reprogramming is covered under the 3 year 36K bumper to bumper. But not under the 8 year 80K mile Emissions Warranty. They said if the ECM itself was broken they would replace the part under warranty. But that they will NOT reprogram it under warranty.
I think it's BS. Ask them why it needs reprogramming. The computer code didn't just fall out onto the floorboard! What could cause it to "lose" the code to need reprogramming? I continue to think this is a defect from the factory (your ECU producing potentially false check engine lights) and there is a replacement fix from the factory, like a "patch" from Microsoft for Windows. This happens all the time in the auto industry, and most OEs make the updates when the vehicle is in for service, and it's transparent to the customer.
I would really like to hear what they say if you ask them, in particular, WHY the computer needs to be reprogrammed. It doesn't just "go bad" like a sensor.
I called back the dealer and asked them to explain. They said that the ECM needs reprogrammed. I persisted and they said that until it is reporgrammed the 'Service Engine Light' will stay on and as such I wont know if any other parts of the system fail.
After talking to the dealer I call Nissan Customer Care @ 1800-Nissan1 They said the reprogramming is covered under the 3 year 36K bumper to bumper. But not under the 8 year 80K mile Emissions Warranty. They said if the ECM itself was broken they would replace the part under warranty. But that they will NOT reprogram it under warranty.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this??
thanks
Jason
Maybe your engine has developed some carbon deposits and they want to retard your timing instead (as a quick fix) instead of doing it the hard way and cleaning it. (from reading I found ford does that alot on their 3.8)
The other reason may be that the ECU in fact is picking up a trouble code (lets call it trouble code X) it was programmed to pick up originally but later nissan decided the trouble code does not warrent any real problem for the car - so they updated the ECU to ignore that trouble code - i.e. the programing was not 'broken', it was just updated to not display something that was previosly thought to be a problem (triggering the MIL) - make sense?
I guess legally you could try interpret the second case as a 'defect' since the original program was designed to trigger the MIL when Trouble Code X was detected. Later Trouble Code X was determined not to be a trouble code at all - hence the original program had a defect which was fixed in the release they are trying to sell you. In that case I don;t see why you should pay for their mistake - especially since the upgrade requires about 5 mins work
B67, I look at this in exactly the same way you do. In the first case, reprogramming the computer might just be a stop-gap measure to cover up another problem, and is poor dealership practice at best. In the second case (and what I suspect is closest to what's going on), Nissan has updated the computer code to CORRECT A PROBLEM WITH IT, no matter the reason. This isn't a case where something wore out from normal wear and tear (like a ball joint after 150k miles for example). This is (or may be) a case where their computer code was incorrect to begin with, or needed further refinement. As a result, the customer is seeing an erroneous computer code, and is constantly inconvenienced with trips to the dealer, whether they're legitimate or not.
And then they have the gall to try to charge the customer to fix their error. They're "threatening" or "blackmailing" you in a sense. "If you don't pay us to update your computer with new Nissan code, your truck will continue to run poorly." WHAT?? And the slap in the face is they're just going to plug it in and walk away, and charge you 2 hours to do it. This burden should not be put on the customer. I'd be livid.
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Computer needs reporgrammed?
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