I've attached a link that shows what to do to PREVENT further damage. Hopefully you get to it before its too late! http://questdriver.com/node/1269

My ECM went out on the highway, leaving my wife and a van load of kids stranded. My warrenty had run out and the mechanic I brought it to told me it was rusted out and caused a fire in the ECM. This week I found out that the complete under carrage is rusted out. The frame has a design flaw that allows snow and water to sit in a little pocket in frame causing it to rust out.

I hope there is a class action suit soon.

My ECM went out in January of this year and I'm in the Army stationed overseas. So, as my luck would have it nobody in Europe has the software to reprogram the ECM. I've been getting jerked around by Nissan for 4 months saying they've sent the part to the mechanic and they aren't going to cover it because corrosion because of environmental causes isn't covered under the warranty. But another Nissan employee told me that the mechanic would have to say if it was a design flaw or what. The mechanic said it was a design flaw that caused the issue but Nissan is trying to get out of it.

The vehicle only has 77,000 miles on it. Can't get the exact mileage becaue the display went out also......I'm seriously interested in a class action against Nissan. Once they get this POS fixed I'm going to trade it in for another vehicle and Nissan will never get another cent from me.

Such a wonderful post. Very informative. I am very glad to read this article and very thankful to you for your this post cause today I got some unknown information from this post. Very best regards from Dallas Alarm Monitoring for home and vehicle security.

Hi I have a 2004 quest it has started to rev up and down when you accelerate to quickly.
I was hoping someone could shed some light.
Reading some of the posts i am thinking ecm also.

Very quality post. I read all other pages of this informative article and got some huge unknown information. Very good work. Best regards from Fort Worth Car Repair KWIKKAR

This is the exact article which I looking for. I got huge information from this post.
Best regards from : Fort Worth defense attorney Paul Previte

Hi,

I have the same issue with you guys. My ECM needs to be replaced parts and lobuor cost is $1500 plus taxes and i did some research on the internet found few and cost of the ECM. If you guys needs some help tuning your chips I ran chip tuning business near your places. Most of my clients is met on the internet....

Warm Regards,
jason

Mine just went. (Jan 2011) They replaced the holding bracket too because it was corroded. I have read the troubles some have had with getting dealers to replace them. I must say I was very pleased when my dealer offered to cover it under "warranty". 95,000 kms. I was happy since my warranty ran out last August. I did not ask. I just thanked them. Thanks NIssan

ECM replacement is extremely rare in most cases, bad part placement allows for water, debris, and other particles to saturate electronic components. Nissan should place such important controllers in safer places to prevent these issues. In the case that you cannot get the Nissan ECM problem solved through the dealer, I suggest disconnecting the ECM, and placing Dye Electric grease inside the connector, also cleaning out particles within the connector pins, before installing the grease, this should by you some time. Also do some research with similar informative articles from a qualified:

Shop.

pingback from autorepairinmesa.com

autorepairinmesa.com just finish a top secret project;

Nissan Repair Advice | Auto Repair Education

It seems like some of you might have removed the ECM to inspect it. Can anyone provide instructions or pictures on how to remove it? I know where it's located but not sure how to get it out. Also when you disconnect the ECM and reconnect it, are there any issues with starting up the car? I have an 04 with 67000 miles but this corrosion thing is really concerning me. Please advise, thank you!!

would the 130K warranty work for me if i am in canda? I have the same problem...Engine shut of while I am driving...Is this the ECM problem...after the ECM is replace, would the "shut of engine while we drive" go away?

I just got my quest 2004 last month. The engine turn off while I was on the highway and couple times when I was driving locally. I am in canada. Some of you guys say that if the car in under 130K then I could still bring it into nissan dealer for check up or replace EMC? Please somebody help me... It is so dangerous and i am stuck with the van now.

Hi im new to this i have 04 nissan quest 200k on it, i took it to nissan dealer engine light on and transmission not taking off when i hit gas and they told me my ECM needs to be replaced parts and lobuor cost is $1500 plus taxes and i did some research on the internet found few and cost of the ECM it self is about $400 i just want know if i can do it my local mechanic and take it to the dealer and ask them to reprogram it cause $1500 is just too much money for nissan ECM any advice would be helpful my question is should i do it thru the dealer or my mechanic and WHY thankyouuuu.

Hi,

I have a Nissan Quest 2004 and recently it stalled. On testing it was found
that the ECM has gone bad within @56000 miles within 6 years. Though the
warranty says that the ECM is covered for 8 years / 80000 miles the
Dealer - Nissan Falero, Sunnyvale CA is not covering this under warranty. They
are saying that this is corroded and hence this cannot be covered.

I have escalated this to Nissan North America and after 33 days / 5 weeks they
said that corrosion cannot be covered under warranty. There is no corrosion on
the surface or whatsoever but the ECM inside has been rusted. This is clearly
the design fault of Nissan and hence I would like to take this up with the
consumer forum and file a case against Nissan.

I have seen a lot of internet posts with the same issue and hence I believe a
class action suit is warranted. Can any attorney help on this?

What are my options? Can I sue Nissan for delaying more than a month?

Please help and my car is still immobile...!

Thanks in advance,

Raghu

I have a 2004 Quest with 81,000 miles I have been having problems with an intermittent slalling problem and no start problem. The dealor stated they could not duplicate condition. Now the vehicle is out of any warranties and the van is now just shutting off while driving, even on the highway. Very dangerous !!!! I was told the ECM could be malfunctioning (corrossion related) I called Nissan and awaiting an answer from them. I think Nissan should have a recall if so many similar complaints. This is a safety hazard and I have small children. If I lose power on the highway I have no way to steer or brake. What shall I do ?? I think we all should keep calling Nissan and start a class action suit !!!

As the other 2004 Nissan Quest that have the problem with the ECM mine had the problem too. I tried to slove the problem by myself and bougth the ECM by Internet and took the van to the near by Nissan Dealer. I explained everything to them, about replacement and recoding the keys, they agreed with me and said it will take only 1 1/2 hour to be done and $150 for labor. They replaced the ECM and told me the computer was working fine but now the motor was making a weird noise, so they asked me for a $99 extra check up to see what was going on. Third call came and they told me motor was fne the ECM was bad. I emailed the company I got the ECM from about the problem and he said the ECM are all checked in van before the shipped them, and they all are suposed to be working fine. After all this I told the dealer to put back the original ECM so I could pick up my van to decide what I wanted to do, they agreed but I haven't got a call back and they did not inform me that they are closed on Saturdays.(everything happened betwen thusrday and friday morning). I'm thinking the guy in the dealer is punishing me because I did not want to pay the $1200 to replace the ECM by them, since not only the whole thing sounds unprofessional but the left me and my whole family stocked at home for 4 days so far with no posotive answer.
At this point I think I only have one option and that is to hire a lawyer to claim for inconvinience and expenses of fixing the ECM. Any suggestions???

Hi, I having the same problem, and I decided to buy on internet an used part, witch cost me $150. I going to replace myself. Im wondering after I repleced it, if I can reset myself the computer or I should go to the dealer (the one who tried to repleace it for $1200). Thanks

You should follow what your lawyer says. And plus, try to study what the letter is all about.
arizona dui lawyer

Is this a problem with 2005 model years? Everything seems to point to 2004. Please confirm.

I just received a check from Nissan America. They paid for the part and labor to replace the ECM. It took a letter from a lawyer.

I just had my ECM replaced by a Nissan dealership (total CROOKS in my opinion!) and after they replaced it at the cost of $1200, the engine was suddenly misfiring. They troubleshot it for a couple days and said I had no compression on 3 cylinders and would need a new engine at the cost of $3700! After talking to a friend who is a mechanic , he told me several other things it could be, so I had it towed over 100 miles to my personal mechanic (it broke down when I was out of town) who within 30 minutes determined that I DID have compression on all cylinders and instead need 3 ignition coils!! The repair will cost only $800 as opposed to $3700. Come to find out, the dealership makes no money by repairing parts on the engine and would rather just replace the entire engine at 3x the price. Beware of Nissan dealerships! They WILL rip you off! I have dealt w/more than one and have been an unsatisfied customer EVERY time!!

So I spoke with Nissan Canada about the warranty on the ECM and they basically tried to say that it wouldn't be covered because it's out of the basic warranty period. When I pressed them and mentioned that it's part of the emissions systems and as such covered for 8yrs/130,000km, they sort of said "well maybe, but only if the dealership checked it and felt it was defective BEFORE it failed". Now if that isn't a load of BS, I don't know what is but I didn't want to deal with a $1000+ repair bill so I took it into the dealership and paid to have them remove and check it while it was "still" in warranty (cost me $60).

The good news is mine is actually in great condition (I had them show it to me) and I'm not at all concerned about it failing now. I was also able to speak directly with the mechanic about this whole issue and she agreed that it was a dumb place to put it and they they do fail a little too frequently (was well versed on the corrosion problem). She also mentioned that they did not move the box in future years so please be aware of this even if you have a newer van.

I also asked what could be done to prevent this kind of failure (which i think is what many of you were wondering about) and it was also suggested that removing the ECM (which is actually very easy) and either (or both):
1) painting the aluminum base of the ECM with hi-temp paint (like for a BBQ or brake calipers)
2) spraying it with a rust proofing spray once a year
I'm probably going to do the latter but consider yourselves warned if you just leave it alone and hope for the best. This crappy location basically ensures that it is in almost constant contact with water/moisture.

Lastly, I never got a definitive answer on if it would have been replaced under warranty if it had been corroded but they certainly weren't saying that they had never seen this problem before. I suspect that I would have received some goodwill but because this part is in scarce supply, I still would have been without the van for an extend period of time, which would have been expensive if I need to rent a van until mine was fixed.

I hope this helps everyone deal with this major design flaw and hopefully we can save an ECM / ECU somewhere from a premature death :-).

Jimmy

I'm also in Canada and just bought a 2004 SE with 100,000km and definitely don't want to saddled with a $1300 repair for Nissan's poor engineering choices. I checked this morning and it's not brutal but it definitely has some surface rust.

Where did you find out about the warranty for ECM under 130,000km's? My dealer says no deal and I'd be on the hook for the full amount. I haven't called Nissan Canada but would like to have the ammo available if (and when) it blows up. Any help you can give me would be great!

Jimmy

ALERT: if you have the 2004, get the ECM looked at ASAP, if signs of rust or corrosion, get it replaced before you hit 130,000KM warranty mark.

Thanks for the warning here! It would be great if you elaborate a bit on what is the ECM and where it is located on the vehicle for the rest of us folks to check.