Manual mode transmission

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Vince
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Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:00 pm
Location: New York City

Manual mode transmission

Postby Vince » Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:04 am

I have a 2008 Pathfinder. When I switch the transmission to manual mode, the display shows 4th gear. My wife's 09 Altima goes into 1st gear when shifting to manual mode. Spoke with the dealer about this and they said it is normal for the Pathfinders.

Anyone else experience this? I have 30,000 miles already on the truck, and want to get this looked into before the warrantly runs out.


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AZ_Path
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Location: Phoenix, AZ

Postby AZ_Path » Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:38 am

Mine is the same way and I'm pretty sure that is the default setting. There's nothing wrong with yours.

I'm not exactly sure how the Altima works, but on the Path, the number displayed is not necessarily the gear you are in. Have you read your instruction manual for an explanation?

The number displayed is the highest gear you want the tranny to shift to. When you put it in manual mode it defaults to 4th gear meaning the truck will not go into overdrive (5th gear). The tranny will operate as an automatic just using the four lower gears. If you shift it down to 3 it will only use the lower three gears etc.

If you're trying to put it in manual mode from a stop so you can upshift through all the gears you will have to downshift it from 4th to 1st.
Last edited by AZ_Path on Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Vince
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Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:00 pm
Location: New York City

Postby Vince » Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:21 am

Thanks for the explanation. Thought something was wrong with the transmission.

kramer
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Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:33 pm

Postby kramer » Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:39 pm

I have an 08 Altima and when switching to manual mode it goes into whatever 'gear' is appropriate for the vehicle speed at the time. Keeping in mind this is a CVT transmission...

coom1986
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Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:29 pm

Postby coom1986 » Tue Aug 11, 2009 6:28 am

Yup its completely normal for the transmission to do that..when i first put it into manual,,i thought it would automatically go to the gear you were in,but even if your in 5th (over drive) and put it into manual it automatically goes into 4th..I think its a feature incorporated for towing needs

lshin4482
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Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:03 am

Postby lshin4482 » Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:41 pm

i have a question. ok so it goes automatically in to 4th. but when i come to a complete stop, it wont let me shift down to 1st. is that normal? is there something i am missing or should i get this looked at?

coom1986
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Postby coom1986 » Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:35 pm

You should be able to downshift when you come to a complete stop..The shifts sometimes are really slow though..

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mar1
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Postby mar1 » Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:37 am

the altima has a CVT so its not actually shifting, just positioning the cone of the gear onto the appropriate spot.

the pathfinder switches to 4 at any speed when you go to manual, but in reality the "4" only means the max it can shift to.

slow down to a complete stop and it will still say 4, speed up and ull notice it shifting from 1st until it reaches 4th gear.

in the altima, put it in 5th and try to accelerate, the car will barely move as if its a manual 5th gear.


also manual put in 1st and accelerate to max, the altima will autoshift to 2, the pathfinder wont.

safety feature for offroading


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