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Sedans Nissan Altima Nissan Altima Engine Failures
495 messages, Last post on Nov 06, 2009 at 9:53 AM
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Replying to: laura19 (Jan 27, 2008 7:13 am) Owners can contact Nissan at (800) 647-7261 or NHTSA at (800) 424-9153. Reimbursement is possible but you need to report it to Nissan first, then take to Nissan Dealer, then send in receipts for reimbursement.... 2006 - NISSAN RECALLS NEARLY 100,000 VEHICLES .... According to Edmund's Inside Line, Nissan has recalled 96,800 2006 Altimas and Sentra SE-Rs because of a risk of engine fire. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the 2.5-liter engines in the cars "may experience excessive oil consumption as a result of improper performance of the piston rings," a condition that could lead to an engine fire.NHTSA said if engine oil is not maintained at least at minimum levels, engine damage is likely and a fire is possible. |
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Replying to: tinan39 (Apr 16, 2008 8:55 pm) but anyway, your wasting your time with lawsuits, and especially tv. There is nothing to look into. its a poor design to put the cat so close to the engine. nissan is under no legal obligation to build an engine that lasts more than xxx amount of miles. building a crappy car doesn't make them liable for damages. unless it's under warranty, and isn't a safety issue, they arn't legally liable to do anything, though it is in their best interest. and there was another recall on it. the few people who are experiencing the problem proabably either didn't have it done, or it wasn't done properly.
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I have patiently read the previous 260 posts as well as other posts on the internet in various forums and suffice it to say, it can be very depressing owning one of these cars. I only found these threads after my own daughter experienced an issue with her car that was exhaust related. She purchased her 2002 Altima back in March of 2008 with 112,000 miles on it. She researched the model here on the internet and never came across these issues, only when I added 'exhaust' to the search did this problem show up. So why did I find this group? A week or so ago, her car started making an unusual sound that was definitely exhaust related. It was only noticeable when accelerating from first gear, was not present in idle or reverse and didn't seem to be present in second or other gears (unless you had to pass someone and jumped on the accelerator). This sound could be duplicated by putting the car in first, standing on the brakes and accelerating, sounding like a 'whooshing' or muffled sound. Standing behind the car, you couldn't feel a lot of exhaust coming out the tailpipe and in fact, one of the tailpipes seemed to have no airflow or negative airflow. We diagnosed it as a plugged muffler with back pressure coming out at the manifold. We replaced the muffler and the problem was still present and in fact now, it seemed that one of the two tailpipes actually had suction instead of exhaust. This is when we discovered these threads as I was looking for suggestions and help. I showed these to my daughter (a college student using this car for transportation to and from college) and told her to take it to Nissan the next morning on her way to school. We printed out all of the posts and information about the safety recalls, etc and she was at least armed with information. Since she purchased the car in March, she really didn't know the history of the car so this was a good time to pull it up at Nissan. They showed her the recall procedure for the manifold/cat/exhaust had been performed at 28,000 miles. They charged her for a diagnostic procedure and determined that she had scraped the bottom of her car, enough so that the bracket that holds the exhaust pipe in place between the 2 cats was severely bent. They indicated that the noise she was hearing was coming from the junction at the bottom of the exhaust connection where it makes the bend to the back of the car as this had separated a little because of the scraping of the bottom of the car. They managed to get this back together, but there was still a noise, although not as bad. She insisted they check out the pre-cat and they agreed. They pulled it off and found it in good condition and putting it back together replaced the seal bearing. They cranked it up and the noise was now gone. Evidently the seal bearing was dislodged or something in her incident. The good thing about this was that I wanted to make sure that her car wasn't about to self destruct and wanted to catch it early if it was and Nissan confirmed that it was fine. I personally recommended that she consider a Nissan since we own a 1995 Maxima with 225,000 miles on it, and while showing some age, it is a very reliable/dependable car. It doesn't get serviced as often as it should, but the oil looks almost new when changed even after 5000 miles, so our experience with Nissan had always been a good one. Over the years, I haven't had to replace much on the Maxima other than normal wear and tear, of course, when you had to fix something (like an alternator), it was always more expensive than domestic cars. Sorry for the long post, but after reading them all and others on the net, while this appears to be a problem for some, no one seems to know if it's a problem for all or how many cars are really affected. Yes, we don't want it to be ours, but if 5% are affected, what do you do to insure that yours isn't one of those 5% if you choose to keep this car? Is this a matter of 'not if but when'? Is this inevitable? Nissan doesn't seem to think so as even their own writeup indicates 'under certain conditions'. They stated to my daughter yesterday that the recall that is mentioned in here doesn't replace the pre-cat and if you read what they will do, it states they inspect it, replace oil filter among other things. They are basically looking to see if the pre-cat is an issue or not. Even though her recall procedure was done at 28k, it's now been done again at 116k. So, is there anything anyone can do to make sure their car isn't one of the ones that ends up getting complained about on here? ED, I read your posts and I swear, I thought I was writing them for a moment as the similarities were scary to a point. Is this a matter of putting on your calendar to periodically check the pre-cat and if so, how often? Is there some indication that a problem is occurring before it's too late? It seems to me that once it starts using oil (a noticeable sign), it's too late. It would be nice to know what the signs are that it's going bad before it actually kills the engine.
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Replying to: jd10013 (Apr 17, 2008 3:41 pm) |
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Replying to: lnesomdove (Apr 25, 2008 5:46 am) the sure fire, 100% guaranteed solution is to remove, or hollow out the pre-cat. there is a second cat farther down the exhaust, so you'll pass any emission test. |
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Just an update: I just picked up my new 08 White Frost/blond leather Altima for my  that I had only for 2 months! Documentation is a wonderful thing. NissanUSA offered the new car at no charge, so I took them up on it! I hope that the problems that occurred with the little Precision Grey one  were isolated and a freak of nature. Hopefully and prayfully this one will perform as it should......  Thanks for those who posted responses...that means a lot to this newbie. This is a great site...keep up the great work! 
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Replying to: lnesomdove (Apr 25, 2008 5:46 am) First, you have to be sure that the engine is not too far damaged, and using too much oil. Once it is using more than a quart per 1000 miles, it is probably too late. My daughters 2002 Altima was using about 1 quart in 1500 miles when I worked on it in Decenber 2007. The first Cat blew itself clean and the second Cat was plugged up. Now it is running fine with both Cats hollowed out and a new head gasket. I estimate that it is now using 1 quart of oil in about 2500 to 3000 miles. We don't have an emmisions inspection here in Florida, so we can run it that way. To keep the "Sevice Engine Soon" light from staying on, I put the "$5 02 Cheater", mentioned in previous posts, on the second oxygen sensor, and it works fine, keeps the light off. That's the way to keep the engine running fine, if yours is not too far gone. If the engine is too far gone & using too much oil, nothing will fix it but a new engine. If you start to get the problem and the engine is not too far gone, and you live in an emissions testing state, you would need to put on a new Precat/Exhaust manifold at the very first sign of the Cat going bad, before the engine is damaged. A new Cat will NOT fix a damaged engine. Owners and buyers Beware, Check that CAT at every service and check the oil level often, at least once a week. This is a known problem, so look out for it! Good Luck, E.D. in Sunny Florida |
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