Power Train Driveline Problems of Nissan Murano

1. Oil on ground. 2. Leaking seal on transfer case. Can cause drive-train failure. Not safe. 3. Repair in progress.

See all problems of the 2007 Nissan Murano 🔎.

2007 Nissan Murano awd w/ 84k miles. Took vehicle into Nissan dealer service dept. In July for noises in engine area. Diagnosed as bad wheel bearings on 1 side of vehicle cost $600. 00. Returned to dealer approx. 1 month later, again hearing noises coming from engine area. Was again diagnosed w/bad wheel bearings on other side & was told replacement from 1 month prior was defective & needed replacement again. Questioned dealer service dept. Diagnosis, indicating that I also smelled either oil burning or some kind of fluid burning when driving. Without further examination of vehicle, service dept. Recommended a fluid flush, I indicated that the fluids had just been flushed 1 month prior, was told no other problems were indicated when vehicle was inspected earlier that day. Smell of oil or fluid was dismissed by service dept. Received a call later that day from service dept. Indicating repairs to defective wheel bearing & second wheel bearing completed, car ready for pick up $400 bill. Picked up vehicle @ approx. 5:30 pm. As I drove home there was a good amount of traffic & vehicle speed did not exceed 30 mph for majority of trip. Upon clearing of traffic & further acceleration to approx. 45 mph, there was an extremely loud bang that came from what sounded like the engine area of my vehicle, accompanied by a dragging & grinding sound coming from the bottom of my vehicle bringing my vehicle to a quick stop. It sounded like the bottom of my vehicle fell off. I managed to pull vehicle over to safety & next day had vehicle towed back to dealer. I was then informed by dealer that the transfer case on my vehicle had broken, that the vehicle was beyond the warranty & the repair cost is $3,400. This may be a problem in the awd model. There are many similar incidents posted on the internet. This part is defective & needs investigation, had I been on a highway when this happened the outcome could have been catastrophic, please help! don't wait until a true tragedy occurs.

After shifting gear in the 2009 Nissan Murano from drive to reverse or reverse to drive, the car continues to roll in previous gear even with the gas pedal pressed. This is severe on hills and has resulted in not being able to drive the car in the desired direction. This is an extremely dangerous defect. Also-the car enables the key to be removed and car shut off while transmission is in drive or reverse and the car continues to move in either direction even with the car powered off! it does not lock or prevent you from shutting car off - extremely dangerous!!!.

See all problems of the 2009 Nissan Murano 🔎.

Like the many, many other complaints on here as well as other internet sites, I too have a faulty transfer case on my awd. I took mine in to the dealer because I was experiencing a burning oil smell. The replaced the transfer case seal at a cost of $1700, it didn't work, still leaked oil. They replaced it again since the first seal was "under warranty" about a month later, still did not work. Now, as you would expect, I am told the whole transfer case needs to be replaced. They have offered to do so for another $800+ dollars with no labor charge but they also seem very reluctant to do so. I am guessing there is more wrong then what they are telling me and they know they will just see me back in there in a few more months for more repairs. I have spent $4,000 on repairs in the past 8 months and my 2003 Murano has become a money pit. I still owe on it, so I can't afford to get rid of it, not that anyone would buy it. I am done with the dealership which everyone advised me not to go to but I thought I was making a good decisions since they are Nissan, stupid choice on my part. I will never buy another Nissan again, it has been nothing but problems and the really sad thing, the vehicle and a sturdy, good handling vehicle. Nissan is losing a lot of customers in this process by not owning up to their faulty product. I guess when you make enough money, it's no big deal to lose a few hundred of us in the process!.

See all problems of the 2003 Nissan Murano 🔎.

Originally filed under 10284376 . The replaced transfer case has now went out again. Nissan is stating they will not warranty the transfer case unless I install and upgraded switch that is located on the console. This seems to be a design defect and a way for Nissan to correct the problem at the consumers expense. The company needs to be responsible for their products.

See all problems of the 2004 Nissan Murano 🔎.

The cvt transmission went out in my 2004 Murano with 70,000. Prior to it going out I was experimenting unexpected acceleration and deceleration from the transmission. When approaching a stop light I let off the accelerator only to have the vehicle to accelerate before slowing down.

The cvt transmission in my 2003 Nissan Murano has failed (135,000 miles) and the dealer (norris Nissan of ellicott city, MD) says the repair will cost over $6,000. I have read on the edmonds car chat site that there are thousands of similar complaints. This is potentially a very dangerous situation as well as an expensive one.

Purchased this vehicle with 20,000 miles on it, kept well maintained, drove 90% highway miles mostly commuting to care for elderly person. Front struts leaked and failed without warning at approx 60,000 miles, then had loss of power, transmission/driveshaft began "howling noise" and we could smell faint oil smell, took to dealer were told it was the transmission valve body which they fixed under warranty, that they could detect no oil smell or source for same, and that cvt howl was just the normal sounds of that type of transmission. We specifically asked whether there are any known problems or failures with drivetrain assemble components, because we heard of many other strut failures by Murano owners after our struts failed prematurely. We were told there were no reports of any trouble, not to worry about it. The howl never went away, and the oil smell came and went. Sept. 4, we pulled out of our driveway drove about 50 yards down the street and hear a horrible thumping noise, like a flat drive, we stopped immediately and checked, no flat tire. We started the car again and drove a few feet, same noise. We parked the car and had it towed to dealer. We are told the transfer case "grenaded" that we must have been driving it hard (we were going about 10 mph), that it would be $4000 to repair! the tech asked if we had been hearing any unusual noises before the failure, we told him we had, and we had reported it to the dealer when it was under warranty, but they refused to help with the repair costs. I checked on the internet and spent 6 hours reading thousands of similar transfer case failure stories on Muranos with all levels of mileage on them, many had been told, like we were, that warning signs were nothing when their vehicles were still under warranty. The dealer also tried to charge us $2800. 00 for the part, which we found for $1518. 00 from another Nissan dealer. This is a known problem, has caused vehicles to stop in traffic and should be a recall defect. Thank you.

In February 2008 during an oil change, fluid leak was discovered between cvt (transmission) and transfer case. On 2/5/08 dealer made first attempt to repair. They stated that some cvt bolts were loose and were tightened. Vehicle was return to me as fixed (mileage 11303). On 5/12/08, vehicle went back to dealer for scheduled 15k maintenance where they found it still leaking. New transfer case was ordered and vehicle went back in for installation on 5/15/08. On 6/10/08, during a 3 week vacation in british columbia, canada, vehicle suddenly lost power on the highway during busy commute traffic and made clunking noises. Pulled off highway and called Nissan n. A. And towed to Nissan dealer in victoria. Dealer determined that due to human error, propeller (drive) shaft was not properly tightened down during transfer case install and had fallen off the car. Vehicle repaired and expenses reimbursed by dealer in California. In March 2009, oil change again revealed transfer case leaking. Dealer attempted to replace tc seal but found tc damaged due to missing vent tube. Dealer replaced with another transfer case on 3/9/09. This is a known issue common with awd Muranos. I have persistently checked for signs of leaks. Other owners have not been as diligent and have experience numerous failures during operation on the road. This is a danger as vehicle will stall and fail on the road.

Two transfer case failures leaving the car stopped in traffic. Needed to be towed to dealer. Date listed is for last failure only. Dealer replaced the transfer case under warranty the first time. Second time required $4000 payment. No explanation as to the cause of the failure provided by dealer.

This car has a serious safety flaw in that it hesitates from an idling stop. When you press on the gas while sitting with the engine idling the car will just sit there and then lurch forward suddenly. I first had this problem with the vehicle in 2005 or thereabouts, took it to the dealer (wilde Nissan waukesha WI) who contended they could find nothing wrong with the car. This was/is a very intermittent problem which comes and goes without warning, you never know when it will happen. I subsequently took the vehicle back to the dealer several times and got the same story. Eventually the dealership changed hands and the new owner (boucher Nissan waukesha WI, same address and location as original dealership) was diligent about researching and finding the problem. It was diagnosed as a "valve body problem" by the boucher folks. Nissan refused to honor repair claims and costs which were estimated to be around $1500 because the vehicle was "out of warranty" at the time boucher identified the defective condition. I firmly believe that Nissan should have honored repair costs as this is a serious safety flaw in this vehicle which could result in a crash or serious injury if not death of driver. Nissan has taken a very negligent and non caring consumer response position on this matter. The NHTSA should take Nissan to task to repair this serious safety defect in this vehicle before someone is seriously injured or killed because of the defective condition.