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Last post on May 08, 2013 at 10:43 PM
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Nissan Altima Forum.
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Nissan Altima, Engine, Sedan
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#627 of 683 Nissan 2.5 Engine Problems
by hockeyninja
Jul 16, 2011 (12:08 pm)
I have a 2002 Altima 2.5 with144,000 miles that is having the oil consumption issues that everyone else seems to have. In addition, I had low coolant a couple of weeks ago. I agree about the bad design of the "precat" being so close to the exhaust manifold which is in my opinion, a design flaw that Nissan is responsible for. If anyone has any information on a class action lawsuit against Nissan for this problem, let me know. It seems that is the only way they will be held accountable for this problem. It seems to be getting worse recently. I drive a lot of highway miles on my cars and have never had problems like this with any other vehicle I have had. I thought this would be a reliable car but I'm finding out that it's anything but.
#628 of 683 Nissan Altima 2.5L Engine failures
by blackemeraldzx
Jul 16, 2011 (7:34 pm)
Nissan did not give me anything... I had to pay $4500 for a Nissan dealership to install a rebuilt engine in my 02 altima.... the reason they gave me was that my vehicle was not a part of the recall.. Nissan has lost me as a consumer of their products .. .. that is the bottom line ... my last two vehicle purchases were from Honda ...
If you bought the car new from a Nissan dealership go back there and make them aware of your problems. Call them , Email them, make them aware that if they do not; in some way, rectify, or make some concessions that you deem appropriate as a consumer, then you too will be a EX Nissan customer. Good Luck with your quest. Some people have been re-imbursed by Nissan . I was not one of them.. if you fight long and hard enough maybe they will do the right thing and pay for a new engine ..D
#629 of 683 Re: 2002 Nissan Altima Oil Burning / Engine Failure & Replacements [czander [gooddeal2]
by juliacloclo
Jul 30, 2011 (7:50 am)
This is ridiculous. Anyone who has a computer and does the research elsewhere too knows Nissan is totally covering up a bunch of crap adn they will do anything adn everything to weasel their way out of it. Sure. EVERY car has problems. Agreed. BUT. . Type in Ford complaints. . HYUNDAI complaints. . NADA. . maybe a few hear and there NON LIFE THREATNING TOO. . THEN Type in Nissan oil consumption. . Nissan master cylinder, Nissan catalyc converter, Nissan FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Nissan stops WITH NO WARNIONG IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY. . HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! INTERESTING. . Isn't it? I have an 07 and the dealer actually pulled out the "SLUDGE CLAIM" on me after my car died in the middle of the road IN THE MIDDLE OF A TURN with oncoming traffic and my eight year old in the back seat. The warning light came on at a very inconvenient time, might I add! They said they would not honor the warranty because there was no way I didnt do that to my own engine. This is interesting considering I have had other cars in the past with NO probs whatsoever!! Iv'e evemn owned General Motors bottom of the barrel cars. . No life threatning scary issues! They "cleaned out the engine" Then suddenly a few months later I am unable to break very well and the brake light comes on for ONLY 2 seconds!! I take it in LEAK in master cylinder. Hmmm . They honor the warranty, of course, and fix it. I told them SOMETHING is wrong because of the rotten egg smell and white exhaust. . The bad acceleration. . the clicking when it starts the clicking as I accelerate. . and they said gee we can't find anything HMMMM INTERESTING. . Maybe this is because they lied to me from the get -go KNOWING this is the problem which caused the engine to cease on me?? THIS IS WHAT THE RESEARCH IV'E DONE SUGGESTS. . NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IT'S NOT MY FAULT!!!! I changed my oil. . I just didnt know I was suppose to change it EVERY 200 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the last complaints I read was about a man opulling his wife and baby to safetey when a car caught fire and then in minutes engulfed in flames with no warning. . OMG!?!?! SERIOSLY?!??! THAT Does NOT happen people . Nissan is SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#630 of 683 Nissan Altima Engine
by bree1212
Oct 10, 2011 (6:35 pm)
I'm at the point to where I have to replace the engine in my 02 Altima, but I'm worried once I do this and spend the money am I going to run into the same problems again? I thought the previous owner ran the car out of oil...I was wrong. Apparently this is Nissan's problem and they will not own up to it. I have read article after article on the 02's loosing oil..same thing I'm going thru, but now mine has the smoke to go along with it...So my question is....has anyone replaced their motor and have you had any problems since then?
#631 of 683 Re: Nissan Altima Engine [bree1212]
by aguarino
Oct 11, 2011 (6:01 am)
Had an 2002 and 2003 Altima. Replaced the engine in the 2002 twice with the same problem. The 2003 engine was replaced once. I finally gave up and sold the cars. No more Nissans for me
#632 of 683 Nissan Altima 2.5 Engine
by markb28
Oct 14, 2011 (8:18 am)
Our 03 Altima problems have been similar to the others. Oil consumption at about 90,000 miles. It started at about 1qt. per 1000 miles and by the time my wife had to quit driving it , I had just put in 3 qts. after 70 miles. It was cheaper to drive our 84 GMC truck at 9 miles to the gallon. I had read the Technical Service Bulletin addressing the cat problem and the recall. We bought the car new but were never notified of the recall. I gave the VIN # to the dealer, but they showed no recall for that #. I contacted Nissan Consumer Affairs and they had me get a diagnostic on the car at a Nissan dealer at a cost of $95.00.The results confirmed what I had suspected. The cat was coming apart from the inside and getting into the engine. Because the car was out of warranty, Nissan said they couldn't help me.
After reading other forums, I really didn't have much hope for help anyway. I had to take that $95.00 chance. We had our Altima 2.5 engine rebuilt, and replaced the cat. The total cost was around $3100.00. Looking back on it now, I should have scrapped the car. Tha AC quit about 3 mos. later. Another problem these cars seem to have. The findings were the cylinders were out of round, 4 vaves were broken up on their perimeters, 1 cylinder had no compression at all. When I purchased the new cat, they charged me a $140.00 core charge. I questioned this, stating I had never paid a core charge on what is supposedly a new part. The parts guy couldn't give me an answer why. When I went back to dealer to return the old cat for the core charge, I made the same statement to a different person behind the counter and asked him how long Nissan had been doing core charges on their cats. He said they started in January of this year and that it started out as an $80.00 charge. I told him that the cat is what ruined the engine. I made another comment, that in my opinion, this was a way for Nissan to get these defective parts back. He said "it wouldn't surprise me". He said he was told that Nissan was running tests on them. I figure I have about 70,000 miles before this cat starts taking its toll on the rebuild. Hopeully my financial situation will improve so I won't have the car any longer than that. In 34 years, this is only the second new car we have ever purchased. I will never own another Nissan (this was our first) and would never recommend one to anyone.
#633 of 683 Replaced the engine and have had air in coolant system ever since!
by jennylgl
Oct 14, 2011 (8:35 am)
I posted awhile back about this issue (I've started the blog and the fb page to bring attention to this problem.) and have since replaced the engine.
I also replaced several sensors, including the mass airflow sensor. When I went to pick the car up, it still wasn't quite right and it sounds like there was water running through the glove box (kind of like a fish tank). Since then, I have had the thermostat changed, the water control valve and radiator changed. They have so far refused to acknowledge that there is somethign wrong with the engine or that they caused some kind of damage to the coolant system when changing out the new engine. They claim that the head gasket is fine, but that air has to be getting in from somewhere. Also, I never had this problem until they put the new engine in, so it stands to reason that they have caused some kind of problem. Right now, they claim I need to drive it get the air out. It's been over 300 miles and it's still trickling intermittently. I'm starting to regret not dumping the car when I had the chance. I erroneously thought I'd at least get a few more years out of the car with a new engine and new cats since my failure didn't occur until 90,0000 miles (though I had problems with it before then, it was still driveable). Any thoughts on what could be causing air to get into the coolant system? It is most prevelant when pressing the accelerator, though when there's lots of air, it will do it upon starting the vehicle.
#634 of 683 Re: Nissan Altima Engine [bree1212]
by sjv3
Oct 15, 2011 (9:26 am)
I replaced the engine on my '02 Altima last year after the head gasket and cat were bad. It consumed tons of coolant, wasn't burning oil yet, but all the shops said repairing would not be worth it. Found a shop that installed a Nissan rebuilt engine for about $3500 (much less than dealer).
Two weeks before the 1-yr warranty expired, the new engine started burning lots of oil. Nissan required an 'oil consumption test' that I had to pay for, before admitting the engine was defective. Engine #2 now installed, but Nissan would not cover labor since they did not install it. Looking back, I would have got rid of the car if I knew what junk these engines are.
#635 of 683 Re: Nissan Altima Engine [aguarino]
by absalom231
Oct 22, 2011 (7:31 am)
was the engine you replace a remanufactured 2007 engine or was it the 02 engine? im asking becuase i 've had my nissan for almost 4 yrs and i never had any problems, (transmission was leaking in 09) but i purchase this car from a dealer ship and the engine has a seal of a remanufactured 2007 engine, the car fax shows in 07 the cat and engine were replaced and it runs pretty good. i wanted to know becuase im thinking of trading it in if im goin to end up with the same issues that everyone else is having.
#636 of 683 Re: Nissan Altima Engine [absalom231]
by blackemeraldzx
Oct 22, 2011 (6:39 pm)
I did not enquire as to the year of the remanufactured engine .. it was warranteed for 12 months or 12K miles .. I think .. the problem is not with the engine but the pre- cat ... its built in to the exhaust manifold. On the early model years the pre - cats would fail and get sucked back into the engine which promoted increased wear and increased oil cosumption.. and then catastrophic engin failure. They supposedly corrected the problem by the 2005 model year, so you are probably ok if you have a 2007 model ... and this is only the 2.5 l 4 cyl engine ... not the 3.5L V6 model.. hope this helps, and good luck..Dave.