Doing "Reflash" on Nissan Maxima
16 Answers
Either the check engine light is illuminating due to a software error in the controller which is falsely setting a code, or your catalytic converters are clogged and need to be replaced. If they are telling you that they need to do a "reflash," that means they are going to reprogram the controller that monitors the catalyst efficiency, which is most likely your Powertrain Control Module (PCM), in order to compensate for the fasle illumination.
thank you Jonathan for replying. So should I be worried about the catalytic converter? The light is not on now so it is intermittent.
What year is you maxima and how many miles? All of these are factors in whether or not the cats are bad
2001 maxima gxe 112,425 miles all highway miles meticulously maintained every 3 to 5,000 miles
Sounds more likely that the cats are clogged and not the reflash. Are you experiencing any driveability concerns?
Could even be your downstream oxygen sensor. What are they going to charge you for this reflash?
All dealerships warranty their work for 12 months/12k miles so if this doesnt fix it than theyll be diagnosing it for free. Id say let them try. At the very least youll know your PCM is up to date...
ok thanks Jon. Have it scheduled for tomorrow so I should know more than. thanks for all your help:)
Did the reflash help. I'm thinking of gettng mine done due to that and my gas mileage sucks, I get about 250 in the city and I have added a coldair intake, new flowmaster catalytic converter, all O2 sensors ,spark plugschanged, throttle cleaned and new wires. Im currently getting fuel pump and filter changed. Any suggestions?
no, if fact I am very angry with Nissan. They checked the car's software (reflash) to see if it was up to date and it was, instead of trying to find out what was wrong, the tech cleared out the software that was already up to date and reinstalled the software. That way they could charge me for something. I have recently talked to a master mechanic who is Nissan certified and he said not to worry about it unless you live where emissions are regulated. He told us that no harm will come to the engine, it (catalytic converter just burns excess gas) so other than the light being on and being annoying I am not going to do anything about it. the scan code for mine was for the catalytic converter so anything else I would be worried about.
Id me more worried about the fact that now that the check engine light is on, if another code sets regrdless of the severity, youll never know.
Hi Jon, I am confused. Are you saying that because they cleared out the software that was on there that something else may have been there but now I wont know?
If the check engine light is on for the cat issue then if another problem were to come about, completely unrelated to this, that requires the check engine light to illuminate then you wont know because the light will still be on for the cat concern.
I have to replace the two downward sensors and they want to do a reflashing...do you recommend getting it reflashed first in case if it isn't really the sensors?
