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2001 Xterra surging, intermittent power when steering going over bump

1K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Virgs1 
#1 ·
Hello. I am a new poster. My 2001 Xterra started surging and losing complete power particularly when slightly turning right. Sometimes it will surge, or rpms go up, slip into neutral when going over a bump. The Over drive button no longer works, but it flashes on when the car shorts out. I actually unplugged the white clip at the bottom of the gear selector (automatic) and still that did not change anything. In fact the OD light still comes on during initial startup and when the truck starts shorting out. Then flashes maybe 4 times and stops when I gain regular control over vehicle....then car may drive fine for a minute and many time on straight aways drives longer with no issue. When this happens there is intense rapid relay clicking sound coming from the center of under the dashboard. Just to note, My truck does not suffer the infamous trannie cooler problem. The dealership has confirmed this and has already logged 5 hours trying to fix the problem. They replaced the ignition switch (I think). I say this because I took the cover off behind the steering wheel in an attempt to find any wiring that may be suspect and visually it does not appear as if anyone was in there. In looking in the keyhole, the switch does not look to be new. My suspicion is that the problem might be associated with turning the wheel slightly to the right while going down the road. I can almost force the relays and lights flashing by turning the wheel slightly off center while driving.

None of this will happen when the car is in park or drive in the driveway with the brake on and not moving. The lights that flash are the ones on the bottom right corner where the OD light is. When you get it to do its thing just right, the check engine light will blink so fast you can barely make out the words and relay clicking is intense. Sometimes the CD part of the radio will make the loading sound. Not once during all of this did I lose my radio presets, which tells me it is not battery related.

I can somewhat control the stall by reverting the wheel back to a center position or feathering the gas to restart the car while moving. When it fully dies the headlights, dash, everything radio goes dark. It is a total complete loss of electrical.

Thanks for anything you can offer. Myself and the dealership are at a loss for what may be causing this.

Bryan
 
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#2 ·
new item to add If you slam the door hard enough while vehicle in park and not moving, you can get car to completely stall out. If that does not happen the OD light will at least flash on for a moment or 2. Sometimes the OD part where engine idles up will actually happen, so the rpms go up a bit. Hope this helps you all help me.
-Bryan
 
#3 ·
Hello. I am a new poster. My 2001 Xterra started surging and losing complete power particularly when slightly turning right. Sometimes it will surge, or rpms go up, slip into neutral when going over a bump. The Over drive button no longer works, but it flashes on when the car shorts out. I actually unplugged the white clip at the bottom of the gear selector (automatic) and still that did not change anything. In fact the OD light still comes on during initial startup and when the truck starts shorting out. Then flashes maybe 4 times and stops when I gain regular control over vehicle....then car may drive fine for a minute and many time on straight aways drives longer with no issue. When this happens there is intense rapid relay clicking sound coming from the center of under the dashboard. Just to note, My truck does not suffer the infamous trannie cooler problem. The dealership has confirmed this and has already logged 5 hours trying to fix the problem. They replaced the ignition switch (I think). I say this because I took the cover off behind the steering wheel in an attempt to find any wiring that may be suspect and visually it does not appear as if anyone was in there. In looking in the keyhole, the switch does not look to be new. My suspicion is that the problem might be associated with turning the wheel slightly to the right while going down the road. I can almost force the relays and lights flashing by turning the wheel slightly off center while driving.



None of this will happen when the car is in park or drive in the driveway with the brake on and not moving. The lights that flash are the ones on the bottom right corner where the OD light is. When you get it to do its thing just right, the check engine light will blink so fast you can barely make out the words and relay clicking is intense. Sometimes the CD part of the radio will make the loading sound. Not once during all of this did I lose my radio presets, which tells me it is not battery related.



I can somewhat control the stall by reverting the wheel back to a center position or feathering the gas to restart the car while moving. When it fully dies the headlights, dash, everything radio goes dark. It is a total complete loss of electrical.



Thanks for anything you can offer. Myself and the dealership are at a loss for what may be causing this.



Bryan


Have you checked your battery terminals ? Mine used to not get any power unless I slammed the door hard enough, it turned out to be a broken terminal, I bought some marine grade terminals and replaced them both and haven't had any issues since


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#4 ·
Hi there, we did and they are very tight but have not actually taken them off. Maybe will give that a try, thanks! I took the plastic off everything except the actual dashboard itself out, wondering if it was something in the black case below the steering wheel where the wiper and headlight controls are at. Thanks will try battery 1st!
 
#5 ·
Hi there. Replaced the entire shifter unit with a used one. Still stalling out when I turn right slightly. O/D off button on this shifter does not work, and is not a coincidence as didn't work on original since this started. Yet when vehicle shorts out the OD light with start showing up on dash..then flash a few times when done shorting out if vehicle does not stall. I found He relay that clicks behind the cluster, its sits on the lower metal part of inner dash below cluster when removed. I unplugged it as I know that's the one that goes crazy when shorts out.l but must be another one behind it. You can still here a
Relay clicking and can feel it in the wire that would plug into the relay I described above. Any thoughts? Running out of things to check here ! Thanks! Bryan
 
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