I currently own a 2000 Nissan Frontier SE Crew Cab.All I can say is this vehicle is a ticking timebomb and Nissan does not stand by their product.In the last 12 months this is what has gone wrong.Please note that we have maintained this vehicle with regular service and do not go off-roading with it.
1) Latch on pickup door wears out.
2) Exhaust manifold needs to be replace at owners cost.Good ole Nissan issued a service bulletin back in '01 about cracking.Dealer didnt bring it up until warranty expired.Called Nissan - too bad, dealer blew me off.
3) sway bar links - bad
4) wheel bearings - bad
5) Now the ball joints are shot.Cant just replace them. You need the whole assembly X2. Quoted a non-dealer price of 2600.00.Forget it.
6) Torsion bar inserts bad - another 250.00
7) Hard code for Knock Sensor malfunction - bad connection? Cant even try to fix it because its buried so deep under the intake manifold - estimated cost to repair 500-800.00.
All in all this vehicle sucks.I notice alot of service bulletins but few recalls and the jerks at Nissan dont stand by their product.
Just wanted to save anyone the misery of this vehicle if they are interested in buying one used.
Dude, it sounds like you just had a bad case with Nissan. Look at all the other owners of Nissan Frontiers, they all love them. You know no matter what the product is there is always a bad one in the bunch and you just got that bad one. I know it sucks but the same thing happened to me with my last car from ford. I had a ford escort zx2 and the transmission fell out of it one time and I replaced it and it costed me 1800 dollars, then almost 2 years later, when the warranty was out it fell out again. Then the O2 sensor would go out. The alternator went bad, the clutch was always bad, would never stay in gear, the camber alignment was off, so I was always replacing tires. I know how you feel but all in all Nissan Frontiers are good trucks
Last edited by nwatts12984 : Sep 8th, 2005 at 03:05 AM.
I was dealer quoted under $500 for a complete set of control arm assemblys for my Frontier ( bushings for some reason were not included) and can't imagine there being $2100 in labor to install them. As far as the endlinks go, the factroy ones do suck. I replaced mine with a set from Energy Suspension that are much beefier and only cost me $18 at the local speed shop.What are torsion bar inserts? I snapped a torsion bar in my 98 and the whole bar was only $85 from Nissan.I have over 220k miles on mine and will say it is the best vehicle I have ever owned ( I bought it new). The original clutch went 205k miles before it neded to be replaced- and it's always been used for pizza delivery.
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1998 Nissan Frontier XE/2wd/5spd 1 owner, 264k miles
1985 Olds Cutlass, 350 Chevy, owned for 14 years
WANTED: 1968-1973 Datsun 510 or 1991-1994 Sentra SE-R http://www.myspace.com/junkyardengineer
Service bulletins are not recalls, just bulletins for Nissan technicians to go by in making repairs when they come across certain symptoms. It's to help technicians in making proper diagnosis and repair faster. It is not for the general car buying public. Not all vehicles that are mentioned in the TSB will experience the problem. Recalls are different. These are for major safety issues that a vehicle may have and the manufacturer is required to inform the public about it, and repair at no cost. But, certain recalls are not forever. If you ignore a recall and do not bring in the vehicle for a long time (there is usually a time period that the manufacturer will specify that the recall will be in effect for), the manufacturer/dealer is not obligated to repair the vehicle free of charge.
You don't really need to replace the knock sensor, unless you happen to be living in an area with especially bad gas. The engine will run just fine without replacing the knock sensor.
As for the bushing, definitely get a second opinion. Thats way to high of a quote.
Sway bar links are very cheap to replace. Although I don't see how they will go bad in the first place, unless the vehicle got into an accident.
Front wheel bearings you could replace easily. Rear wheel bearings will require special tools or a hydraulic press.
And I am curious about the torsion bar inserts. How did whomever diagnosis this find the torsion inserts bad? What sort of symptoms did they exhibit? Same for the sway bar links. How?
Sway bar links are very cheap to replace. Although I don't see how they will go bad in the first place, unless the vehicle got into an accident.
Actually, they used too thin a metal for the discs or washers that the bushings tension against, and they crack around the nut, then the washer eventually breaks the center out and goes away. I have had it happen 2x- 1st time was at 10k miles! I eventually cut them off and examined the remaining washers, and half of them were ready to fail too. It looked like they used some cheap shock washers instead of what they should have used.
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1998 Nissan Frontier XE/2wd/5spd 1 owner, 264k miles
1985 Olds Cutlass, 350 Chevy, owned for 14 years
WANTED: 1968-1973 Datsun 510 or 1991-1994 Sentra SE-R http://www.myspace.com/junkyardengineer
hmmm, first time I have heard of that happening. Seen alot of different Frontiers and haven't seen that sort of thing happening. I guess it is a good idea to invest in some aftermarket swaybar link urethane bushing kit. At least those come with more beefier washers. And aren't ridiculously expensive, like some genuine OEM replacement parts.
LOL! Ok its funny because i have replaced everything that you have said here...i lowered the truck and therefore needed new sway bar end links...a total of 18 dollars. New wheel bearings (inner and outer) cost me 50 bucks with a tube of bearing grease. ball joints are fine. I replaced both exhaust manifolds (a total cost of about $500 with new gaskets) at my own discretion because i redid all the exhaust. The only other things i have noticed is my leaf springs are cracked, the A/C doesnt work, the windows rattle because of the dinky plastic clip on the window rail. Oh well...i hate air conditioning, i always have my window all the way down, and i took out the broken leaf on both sides and it lowered the back a tiny bit. I cranked my torsion bars to lower the front and i am not sure what you mean by torsion bar "inserts".All in all I have been very happy with this truck seeing as it was my dads since new. It has almost 190,000 kms and is still going strong. So i have to disagree with what you said about Nissan not standing by their product. I have had nothing but good service from the dealership and even though they charge out the ass to fix things, when those things do get fixed that is it. You dont end up with 5 more unrelated problems cus some idiot didnt put a vaccum line back or somthing.
How many miles does your truck have? My 200 SE Crew has 120K miles. A lot of that stuff could just be worn out.
I think that he only shame-on-nissan item would be the exhaust manifiold.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpetuch
I currently own a 2000 Nissan Frontier SE Crew Cab.All I can say is this vehicle is a ticking timebomb and Nissan does not stand by their product.In the last 12 months this is what has gone wrong.Please note that we have maintained this vehicle with regular service and do not go off-roading with it.
1) Latch on pickup door wears out.
2) Exhaust manifold needs to be replace at owners cost.Good ole Nissan issued a service bulletin back in '01 about cracking.Dealer didnt bring it up until warranty expired.Called Nissan - too bad, dealer blew me off.
3) sway bar links - bad
4) wheel bearings - bad
5) Now the ball joints are shot.Cant just replace them. You need the whole assembly X2. Quoted a non-dealer price of 2600.00.Forget it.
6) Torsion bar inserts bad - another 250.00
7) Hard code for Knock Sensor malfunction - bad connection? Cant even try to fix it because its buried so deep under the intake manifold - estimated cost to repair 500-800.00.
All in all this vehicle sucks.I notice alot of service bulletins but few recalls and the jerks at Nissan dont stand by their product.
Just wanted to save anyone the misery of this vehicle if they are interested in buying one used.
__________________
2000 Frontier Crew Cab SE V6 2WD Auto
I have a 2000 Frontier 4X4 with over 150,000 miles that has had only one problem, an internal seal failure that resulted in oil getting into the time belt compartment, causing it to slip (no damage-it just stopped running). So that was just an early belt replacement. Otherwise, it runs like a champ and I don't even baby it.
2000 Nissan Frontier SE - Lemon
Linear Mode
