I started having a wierd grinding noise when decelerating in 2nd gear, brakes or no brakes. It got worse so I took the truck to a local transmission place - they identified the noise as coming from inside the transmission, said they could not service it, and offered to install a refurbished one for around $4000. No thanks. Took the truck up to Norris Nissan West in Elicott City, MD.

The day after I dropped it off, they called and said the grinding was coming from the front brakes - no pad left and metal-on-metal. I told them to do the brakes - they did the pads, resurfaced the rotors, and cleaned out the rear brakes. They also did all the recalls I never brought the truck in for and replaced the engine belts. Cost -> $615.

I picked the truck up, sure enough the grinding is still there. I called fairly unhappy but not too suprised (I really thought the brakes were not the problem). I drove it up the next day and since it was an intermittent grinding they wanted me to test drive with a tech for him to hear the noise. I did and he did and I left the truck with them. They called the next day - $2400 for a complete overhaul of the transmission. I agreed and four days later, it was done. They also did the clutch for $200 (they had to remove it to do the overhaul so it was really just parts). I picked it up and it drove fine that day.

Next day I pull out of the garage and I can't shift from 1st to 2nd once the truck gets going - I had to pull really hard to get out of 1st and really, really, hard to get it into 2nd. This problem went away after the truck was running for ~2-3 minutes. Thinking this could be the new gears and the new clutch, I drove like this for a week and a half, decided it wasn't getting better, and called Norris again. I brought it up, picked up a free rental car, and they called the next day - the gear oil in the transmission was too thick - Nissan had a service bulletin saying 75w90 and nothing thicker. They replaced it and all has been well (finally) for the past week.

So, Norris Nissan West misdiagnosed my problem (after I told them another shop said it was the transmission) and then used the wrong/too-thick gear oil. Am I really pissed? Nope - I actually think highly of them. Throughout this ordeal, they were all very concerned with how things were not going well. The service advisor (Donna) was very helpful, called every day, and was quite disturbed about the misdiagnosis and the too thick gear oil. The tech knew what was going on and the overhaul he did on the transmission feels like good work. They screwed a couple things up, but they did everything they could to do it right. If you need service, I recommend this place. I'll be bringing my truck back.

I will have to give them a try the next time I need a dealer to do something. I sure as hell won't be going back to Tischer.