The Nissan Path

I know this is going to sound strange, but this is exactly whats happening. It takes forever to go into drive. Fluid is clean and at the level its supposed to be. At first I thought it was doing it when it was cold, but it does it when its warm/hot too. It goes into reverse fine. And will normally engage pretty quick if I put it in 1st. Here's the strange part. If it has a full tank of gas, it goes into drive fine. Once it gets to half a tank or less, it starts not wanting to go into drive. Wtf??? Could the weight of a full tank be pressing on a wire or something and then with less weight not be making good contact or something? I'm stumped! Its a 2001 LE 2WD.

Anyone?

Did you try changing the trans filter? Proper length dip stick?

Haven't done the trans filter yet. Dipstick is right. Its just so strange that its fine with a full tank of gas.

When the tank is around 1/4 full, try loading a bunch of weight into the back of the rig, in order to simulate a full tank of gas. 1 gallon of gas weighs around 8 pounds. Does it go into gear better when on a steep incline? If the vehicle is rolling forward, will it go into gear easier? Pinched tranny cooler lines?

Haven't tried adding weight yet. Incline doesn't matter. Rolling doesn't matter. Cooler lines look fine. If I put it all the way down in first it will sometimes go fine, but if I move it up to drive theres nothing.

The vapor recovery for the fuel system works on engine vacuum. Some vehicles have vacuum lines that help control the transmission. That's the only link between those components I see other than electrical, which would be scary. If you have a vacuum line problem, it would be effected by the fuel level, thus disabling the trans.

Unlikely that this is your cause, but it an unlikely problem that you have, so....

starman8tdc wrote:The vapor recovery for the fuel system works on engine vacuum. Some vehicles have vacuum lines that help control the transmission. That's the only link between those components I see other than electrical, which would be scary. If you have a vacuum line problem, it would be effected by the fuel level, thus disabling the trans.

Unlikely that this is your cause, but it an unlikely problem that you have, so....

What/where would I check for this?

Not sure on what you would check on the vacuum lines. Check your service manual to see if there is a vacuum line to the trans, and trace it maybe. Have you tried resetting the computer by disconnecting the negative battery cable overnight?