2003 Maxima Qx Would Not Move In Any Gear

Thanks for your confidence, I hope you still think it’s justified when I tell you that for all the time you have waited, you could have installed the rebuilt transmission your Nissan needed and you could have had the use of your car.

There are several scenarios that could have produced the various sounds you heard when your Nissan stopped moving. I suspect that what happened was quite simple: there was a problem on the input shaft that translated over to the torque converter and initial gearing. Then, as the torque converter started to spin up, something bound — possible a gear — and that accounted for the loud snapping sound you heard.

It is possible, of course, that everything worked as it was supposed to until it hit the planetary gearing where the ultimate gearing choices are made, depending on the action of the valve body and/or the solenoids.

With all of that said, though, the bottom line is that it is quite likely that one or more of your tranny’s major systems are shot and the result is that you need a rebuilt installed (when I talk about a rebuilt, I am also saying “new” or “replacement.” Because of the size and complexity of transmissions, it makes little sense to try to replace each transmission subsystem, unless it is one of the solenoid packs or, perhaps, a valve body problem. In those case, the cost of repair parts and labor is low enough — $150 to $500 — so that it makes sense to repair the individual systems. Going beyond into the multithreaded systems the interact and need subsystems, each subsystem can caost upwards of $1,520 to replace and so when you finish replacing one and then, possibly, another, you will find the cost skyrocketing.) To keep costs as reasonable as possible, install the rebuilt transmission for $3,200 and you will be better off. Let me know what you decide and what happens next.