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99 altima slipping

i have a 1999 altima gxe and have had pretty good luck with it, i'm very regular with all required maintenance. Recently the car has been jumping into second gear. by jumping i mean that it seems the transmission revs too high as it shifts between first and second, so it seems to shift very hard as it goes into second. this may be "slipping", please forgive my lack of terminology expertise :) - what is curious about this is that it only happens when the a/c is running. someone suggested that the a/c clutch could be going bad, but i don't know. - what i'd like to know is, when i take it into the shop, should i have them do an a/c service, or some kind of transmission check? - the transmission was flushed and filled about a month ago, and the fluid level, smell, color were all good just today. Any help greatly appreciated. thanx.

Reply to
spiccolli
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When the A/C is on the Computer that controls the engine will take some steps to ensure that the extra load from the A/C compressor does not stall the engine. This consists of adding a little more rev to the engine, on the order of 200 RPM, this can be seen best at idle. When you take the car to the mechanics, tell them the problem, and let them figure out where it is. Let them do thier job, they may know something right away, but it's best you let them start from your description of the problem.

If the transmission shifts fine with the A/C off, then the problem will not be anything in the transmission, mechanically at least.

Possible problems could be a faulty Idle Air Control Motor (goes by several names IAC, EACV, ISM), ECCS (ECM) failure, or maybe a motor/tranny mount. If the mount is too loose then the motor could be moving too much when the A/C demand kicks in, and the shifter cable could be getting pulled causing unexpected changes gear selection.

Reply to
MegAltima

thanks for the reply MegAltima, it turns out though that it is the timing chain - mechanic said that the timing was off by 20%. He said he cranked it over as far as it would go (19%), but says that this will most likely continue to get worse. I just can't believe something like this could happen literally overnight - 20% is a long stretch. They quoted a new chain installed for $1500US - does that sound right? - any idea how this could happen? - is there anything i can do to help prevent this from getting worse? - thanx for your help :)

Reply to
spiccolli

That price sounds about right with labor charges, if you have a friend or can do it yoruself though should be much cheaper. But if you dont have exp I wouldnt tackle this.

Reply to
Talon

thanks Talon. how does the timing get so far off? - what can i do to prevent this from getting worse? also - are there any other engine parts that may have been affected? - what should i look out for? thanks for your help

Reply to
spiccolli

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