2022 NISSAN PATHFINDER Engine Problems
17 complaints about Engine
High Severity Issue
This component has been associated with crashes, fires, or deaths.
This Problem Across All Years
All Engine Complaints (17)
While driving at normal speed, the vehicle unexpectedly shifted itself into neutral twice without any driver input. During both incidents, the vehicle suddenly lost propulsion in traffic, creating a safety risk for the occupants and surrounding vehicles. Prior to and after these events, the vehicle displayed a “SERVICE A/T” message and a check engine warning light. The vehicle has been inspected by a dealership. They identified an engine-related concern (including a failed mass air flow sensor) and an electrical concern requiring attention. However, the dealership reported that they were unable to duplicate or diagnose the unintended shift into neutral, and the cause of the neutral engagement remains unknown. This issue has occurred more than once shortly after purchase of the vehicle. The warning lights and messages have been reproduced by the dealer, but the loss-of-drive event has not. The unresolved transmission or powertrain malfunction poses an ongoing safety concern.
The contact owns a 2022 Nissan Pathfinder. The contact stated that after stopping at a gas station, the vehicle was restarted but stalled. There several unknown warning lights flashing on the instrument cluster. The vehicle was unable to be restarted and was towed to a local dealer. The contact stated during the failure the transmission was in drive(D) and could not be shifted to park(P) or neutral(N). The dealer recharged the 12-Volt battery and had difficulty diagnosing the failure. The dealer determined that the transmission control module needed to be reprogrammed. The vehicle was repaired; however, the vehicle was losing motive power while driving. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle was stopped, turned off and restarted to regain normal operation. The contact stated that the failure had occurred several times. The failure recently recurred with several unknown warning lights illuminated and the vehicle was towed to the same dealer. The contact became aware that in March 2024 another dealer replaced the fuel pump for a previous vehicle owner. The dealer had not yet diagnosed or repaired the vehicle. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 58,607.
Mileage: 58,607
Airbag light just came on today 10/2/25 Electronic emissions control will turn on and off the same day every few months.
Car caught fire when off and parked.
Since purchasing this vehicle new i have had several issues : - While driving on the highway the engine will switch into neutral -One time while pulling out of my drive way I got stuck in the middle of the road because it placed me in park for no known reason. - Sunroof Leaks, - Most recently at 93,000 miles my engine failed and I needed a full engine replacement. They didnt cover this replacement and left it in me to pay for the full replacement. (over $10K) - The Breaks needed to be fully replaced before $20,000.
The engine would shift out of drive into neutral while driving on the road. It one time shifted into park while pulling out of my driveway and left me stuck in the middle of the road for several seconds before it would allow me to shift back to drive. This has been continuous throughout. I reported to Nissan with no action from them. Sunroof leaks At 93,000 miles and regular maintenance (at home) the engine seized and they are saying sludge. I know it has been maintained so there has to be a separate cause. We had routine maintenance, the report from Nissan all along provided no engine issues or no oil pressure issues.
vehicle shut down mid intersection turn. Had to be towed away to the dealership. 5 days later after having "issues" with diagnosing they said it has oil sludge and the engine seized due to this. The vehicle has been maintained and has less than 100,000 miles. I find this very concerning and believe there is an issue with the quality of the engine
My car jerks violently into first gear often. Slow acceleration. Exclamation mark inside a triangle warning light came on and my car wouldn't accelerate over tha 2 miles per hrs. When in park or at a stop light it idles roughly. Rear brakes have been prematurely expired. I have since replaced them
My 2022 Pathfinder had 34,725 miles on it when I left for the grocery store, on the way while driving on the highway I got an alert on my dash saying "check shift level position", which that seemed normal & fine, and vehicle was still driving normally at this point. That alert then went away as I was driving a moment or two later ( however I did get a photo of it). A very few moments later, I was driving along and the vehicle suddenly shifted into N(eutral)! I pulled over, shifted into park, turned off the car, restarted it, and the check engine light was on. However I shifted the car into D(rive) and proceeded to try to get back home, car seemed to be driving normally, but then no, it began again, the car suddenly shifted into N again as I was driving. I tried pulling over and restarting the vehicle again, but the same thing happened again. I decided to have my passenger take a video of our drive home so that it could be easily shown to the dealer what was happening, that way there would be no question of if the dealer could replicate the issue or not. During our aprox 6:07 minute trip home, it happened another 5 times! Once I was home I found that I had a email from MyNissan saying that there may possibly be an issue with my vehicle emmisions system. My husband has a code reader and he plugged into it and it showed a code of P0742, which is ("torque converter clutch circuit stuck on"). So the next morning 10/01/24 I called my dealership and spoke to service and let them know what was going on and that it needed to come in, I explained however that I would not be loaded my 3 kids in the car and making that hour + trip up there driving the car as this is a HUGE safety hazard. I had the vehicle towed to the dealership. The next day the dealer did reach out to me and tell me they plugged into it, saw the P0742 code, but "didn't know what to do with that", so they were calling the Nissan "TechLine".
While driving my son to school, traffic began slowing and then accelerating in front of me. I was driving approximately 40 mph when I took my foot off the accelerator to slow down. Before I had a chance to press the brake, the vehicle shifted into neutral on it own without the shift level being touch and a steady Malfunction Indicator Light came on. At this point the traffic began speeding up and I was unable to accelerate until I manually shifted the vehicle back into drive.
Around 28,000 miles vehicle would exhibit odd shifting characteristics while transmission fluids were still coming up to temperature. Car surges forward while coasting before coming to a stop. Dealership updated TCM software but car still lurches forward while downshifting before a stop.
On numerous occasions while cruising at highway speeds ability to accelerate disengages. There is no ability to accelerate and RPMs drop, car loses speed until transmission and acceleration re-engages. When the car does this you are unable to shift gears to attempt to engage and the vehicle still shows as though it is in drive. Vehicle has gone to dealer service numerous times and they are unable to replicate the issue and allege that there are no “codes” in the computer. They are reluctant to dive deeper into the issue despite the fact that this is a safety issue.
The car showed engine check light and auto start error. I took it to the dealer (Nissan bertera Auburn) and the said one of the ground wires had corrosion and they had fixed issue. i paid for the fix. After driving for 2 miles error came back. Dealer asked me to drive back. When I got back they said technicians are done for the day and I should go to nearest dealer the following day. Car is 22675 miles and still under warranty
Last Nov.10 after my oil change to Nissan Van nuys Dealership within less than a mile, i got terrible experience,The Car was stop in the middle of the road and a red Solid oil pressure light show up on dashboard and The Gear shift from Drive to Neutral and get towed and bring back to dealer and after 4 days i pick up my car and now i can drive it again! But after couple of days and weeks? While i'm driving on freeway, Check engine light, AEB light, and other orange light Shows up on dashboard, i get scared again because it losses power and then i stop slowly on the Curb and read the nissan pathfinder manual and turn off and turn on the engine? Before i bring it again to the dealership i try to Diagnose by myself using OBDII FIXD with and Apple App to know what is the code and why there was check engine light and AEB light and, etc.? It shOws Major driving impact -Control Module P061B-Engine,Torque management system P2637-Engine, Can't measure Air flow P0101-Engine? P0507-Idle air control-engine, and many more?
7/7/22. Per my wife - difficulty starting car. Sounded like battery was dead. It would click and try to start. Finally got it started, put into reverse, and felt some resistance like brake was on but it wasn’t. Put car in drive and it seemed okay. Had to wait for traffic at about roundabout and the car shifted into neutral. I was able to shift back into drive but the same thing happened at the next roundabout..one again, I put it into drive and went 13 miles with no problem. Had to cross a road and while waiting for traffic, the car shifted into neutral but this time the shifter locked up. It wouldn’t shift into drive or reverse so I had to call 911 (Nicollet County, MN for traffic control. I was afraid to shut it off because I had difficulty starting it. I eventually shut it off and that was the solution to the problem, Taken to dealer, could not discover reason for this There are numerous complaints online about this very issue. This is a very serious/dangerous issue. I can forward the info I sent to the dealer if needed.
Transmission cannot go into neutral unless the engine is running... but what if car runs out of gas and the engine cannot run? Car ran out of gas and transmission could not go into neutral to be pushed out of the road. Very dangerous situation.
On January 16, 2022, my husband and I had to be escorted off of the road by a police officer. Luckily, turning off the Pathfinder resulted in resetting whatever occurred. At that time, the vehicle would not accelerate past 20 mph and showing about 4000 RPMs. This happened a few more times in our neighborhood, causing us to turn it off and restart in the middle of the road. Since then, the Nissan dealership has changed the battery, claiming that it was the only computer reading. Within two days of the new battery, it happened again to my husband in Orlando. The dealership is unable to replicate the problem, and my husband and I are afraid as he uses the Pathfinder for travel with business to Atlanta. These "revving" events occur randomly, and the dealership is unable to contact the Nissan engineers until they are able to replicate the problem. It's two days now the Pathfinder has been in the shop with no progress. My husband and I are afraid as this is our work vehicle and only reliable source of transportation.