Jerks to accelerate, struggles to go uphill

[NoelM]

Hello folks,

I have watched a few of Eric’s YouTube videos but I didn’t know there is a forum as well. Eric’s videos have saved me a ton of money and I am here with a lot of hopes that someone will be able to figure out the problem I am facing for a while.

This problem is with 2006 Nissan Sentra 1.8S Special Edition. It has about 103,000 miles on the odometer. I got it pre-owned with 72,000 miles on it in 2010. The service history during that period is not available. Since I got it, I serviced following things that I think may be relevant to the question,
2012-01 and 2015-06 Sepentine Belt replacement
2014-07 Air Fuel Ratio Sensor replacement
2017-03 Solenoid valve replacement

As far as I can remember, the car always had a problem going uphill, but it is getting worse now. Max I can go is 30mph with little over 2200 rpm. I feel though that the car is struggling to go uphill. If I try to accelerate further, the engine raves significantly so I try to avoid going higher than 30mph.

For the last couple of years, I am noticing that the car jerks hard when I am trying to accelerate from zero. In manual transmission lingo, going from 1st to the second gear. Then the car is smooth, does not jerk and speeds up well. If I accelerate very slowly then the jerks isnot as hard but then I am talking of almost 15-20 seconds to go from 0-30. In cold NY weather, the problem is significantly worse till the car warms up. (I idle at least a minute or two before actually get going.)
Initially, I thought its the conventional oil, which stays thicker in cold weather. So last year I used synthetic but nothing has changed. This car has been to two different mechanics over the period of 2 years for these issues. Both say everything is fine but I feel the jerks on daily basis.

The comparison vehicle I have is 2015 Subaru Forester 2.5L

Will be great if someone can give me suspicious items to look at so that I can ask those mechanics to take a look. There is no service engine light.

Many thanks in advance.

Topic

[Charles]

Seems that you are describing an automatic transmission problem. What happens when you manually shift the transmission?

[NoelM]

My car has automatic transmission only. I was describing the feel if it would have been manual.

[Billy]

Best case scenario is a bad ECT sensor throwing off your shift points. I’d start by testing that; after that you’re probably looking at the transmission. Do you have a scanner that can pull transmission codes?

[NoelM]

[quote=”relative4″ post=185976]Best case scenario is a bad ECT sensor throwing off your shift points. I’d start by testing that; after that you’re probably looking at the transmission. Do you have a scanner that can pull transmission codes?[/quote]
Thank you. I will ask the mechanic to test this next time. I do not have transmission code reader. In fact, I didn’t even know such thing exists. I have OBDII scanner but thats it.

[Billy]

http://m.harborfreight.com/professional-obdii-scan-tool

[Author]

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