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DEAR?DOCTOR: I’m leasing a 2016 Nissan Maxima and a week after driving it I discovered that a rubber seal above the passenger front door was not fully seated in the groove. I took it back to the dealer and was told the seal had to be replaced. It has been over a month and all I get when I call is that the seal is on back order and the last time I called I was told that Nissan did not have this seal in the U.S. and they had no idea when it would come in. Now I know we live in a time where you can get anything from anywhere in the world in a matter of days. I am concerned about this living in the Northeast and winter coming. This could freeze and leak into the interior and make a mess in a new car. How can I solve this problem?
– Tom
DEAR?TOM: The rubber seal should be able to be repositioned into place until the new seal arrives. We use 3M weatherstrip adhesive to attach any rubber seal to the vehicle. I do trust what the dealer is saying about trying to order the seal. Nissan does not manufacture the seals and has to rely on the actual supply vendor for the seal. The 2016 Maxima is all-new and there are no replacement seals available at this time. It could take months for the needed seal. I suggest you take the car to the dealer and have them reposition the seal and secure it until the replacement seal is available.
DEAR?DOCTOR: I have a 2002 Toyota Sienna minivan with 140,000 miles. I’m having a problem with the door locks: They unlock themselves when I make a left-hand turn and when it’s cold outside. The interior light also comes on when this happens. Any ideas?
– Jeanne
DEAR?JEANNE: It sounds like one of the doors, or even a slider or rear liftgate door switch, is not fully seating. Have someone sit in the minivan, ignition key “on” and the doors locked. Then push and pull on all doors and the rear liftgate, too. The door that is causing the problem should become evident as you push/pull on it. You should also clean and lube the bottom roller and roller surfaces on the sliding doors, as well as all of the moving hinges on the other doors. On some vehicles, the body control modules can determine the door in question through the use of a professional scan tool.
DEAR?DOCTOR: I want to coat the underneath of a new car so that the nuts, bolts and brake lines and connections will not rust. I saw a TV show where the host said to coat all of your tools with vegetable oil to prevent rusting. Do you think I can do this to the brake lines, and bolts?
– Jim
DEAR?JIM: Using any type of oil under a vehicle will wash off during the first rain storm or car wash. Any oil-based or silicone-based product will help resist rust on tools. If you still want to help resist rust build-up on your vehicle’s underside, then you can buy any brand of undercoating at the auto parts store. The undercoating will help slow down rust.
DEAR?DOCTOR: I recently had the transmission sensor replaced on my 2012 Kia Sportage, which controls the electronic manual mode to the automatic mode. This resulted in a problem of the automatic transmission going into neutral. After running up to 2,000 rpm at highway speed for few seconds it then goes back to automatic. The dealer fixed it, but the problem is happening again, and unless it shows on the computer as a code, they cannot duplicate the problem. What should I do next?
– John
DEAR?JOHN: The first step is to check the fluid level. Some vehicles do not have a transmission dipstick, so on these types of vehicles it will be checked by a technician. If the fluid is clean and at the full level, then a test-drive with a professional scan tool is the next step. The scan tool will be able to display what is happening inside the electronics of the transmission.
DEAR?DOCTOR: I have a 2011 Nissan Murano with a new battery. When the car was driven everyday there was no problem with it starting up, but now when I don’t drive for about a week the battery needs a boost. My sister owns a Nissan Altima with the same problem. What is the cause of this?
– Arlene
DEAR?ARLENE: The problem is either a weak battery or parasitic drain. If the battery test is good, then the next step is check for parasitic drain. The technician will connect a digital amp meter to check the amount of drain (50 milli amp is the average). Anything more than 50 milli amps will drain the battery in 8 hours. The technician will start checking the current draw by removing one fuse at a time and checking current draw after each fuse is removed. The fuse that ends the current draw is the circuit that has the problem. An alternator can also have an internal fault that can cause current draw.
Junior Damato is an ASE-certified Master Technician.
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