draco

On occasion I will have the cruise control set on my ES300 for 70km/h. It will be travelling fine and then at certain points it feels like the car is vibrating almost. I initially thought it might have just been some rough road I was driving over and that's why it felt like the car was shaking. I have since disproved that it was a rough road as it does this even on a smooth road.

It is inconsistent and when the cruise control is off, and I keep the car at 70km/h it doesn't do it. Any other speed with cruise control set doesn't do this. Has anyone experienced this before? Can I reset the Cruise Control ECU?

Rollin'ES3

Hmmm..I don't see how the cruise control can cause something like that to happen.

Unless the cruise control is accelerating/decelerating on its own?

llcoolpass

i know what is happening to your car. the speed you are referring to as far as my training is 43 mph. most likely, your torque converter lock up clutch is not engaging properly. this is either because of insufficient pressure [90% of the time from insufficient fluid , also known as fluid level too low] or because of a really heavy load or lots of wear to the parts. check your trans fluid level as per the proper automatic transmission fluid level check procedure. it is NOT the same as for checking the motor oil level.

mmatheny

Aha - both of my Altimas had a certain speed where just barely hitting the accel will kick it out of the lockup and back in, really irritating, but Nissan assured me it was working correctly! Anyway, those cars have been resurrected by someone else, and out of my hair!

llcoolpass

that certain speed was about 42 mph. I know all about what you mean by annoying. the trans wasn't matched to the engine [gearing] very well. same EXACT trans and gearing as used on the maxima and trucks. so, benefit was that it was smooth and strong, sad part was expecting the altima's KA24DE 2.4L to carry the heavy *** altima [3,088 lbs[base weight] compact 4 cyl] up hill at 42 mph at 1300 RPM or so in fourth gear in lock up

anyway, this guy's problem is not normal on the es 300, as the lock up clutch appears to be working poorly due to improper fluid level, fluid condition, worn clutch/TC, etc

draco

Thought I would bring this back from the "dead" so to speak. Anyway, I had the car serviced a few weeks ago and it has been running fine up until tonight. I only noticed tonight that again we have the same problem. I suspect during the service that the auto trans fluid had been topped up. Toyota did advice that it looks like I might have a leak on the trans pan seal.

Anyway to experiment while it did this vibration / shunt thing (by the way shunt feels like it's pushing the car forward - like a shunt but nothing is happening as far as revs ior speed is concerned). I took Overdrive off to put it back in 3rd gear (while cruise was still on to keep the same speed - 70km/h) and the "shunt" stopped. The shunt would also stop once cruise control was disengaged (either by brake or pull back of the cruise control switch).

Might it be that the leak in the gasket is causing this to occur (i.e. stopping the clutch from fully engaging?). If so why does it only do it at 70km/h and not at 80, 100, 60, 50 km/h??

Is the trans pan gasket a cork (it's a 3rd Gen - I believe from what I have read the 2nd Gen 92-96 were cork but the 3rd Gen isn't??? Is this correct? Anyone done a DIY on this yet?