wickchucker

Sucess! The engine in my 03 Altima has been repalced free of charge after I argued my case to the service manager, using the NHTSA Recall campaign and the Federal Law warranting all catalyst systems up to 80,000 miles! Thank you everyone for sharing your information, as it was crucial to my succesful engine replacement. The itnernet is one pwerful research tool!

JDF

My niece just bought a 2002 5 months ago. Beatiful Car. 75,000 miles.
But, what a big scare. 4 quarts of oil in 1 month poured in. Same situation, this was supposed to be the car that took her through college, now not sure it will take her down the street. I want to act ASAP. Please share the steps. I would be very grateful. JD

kellyjames99

I too recently just bought a 2002 altima 2.5s soon after i got it the service engine light came on so i took it to nissan, they did all he nessary recalls on it then diagonsed the problem, they took the o2 senser to check the precat and yes it was disingrating, which CAN CASUE ENGINE DAMAGE, NISSAN told me that my engine is f***ed and that i need a new one .... cough* im 18 years old where do i get 4000$. anyhow...My dad (mechanic) and me took the headers and along with the attached precat, and look at hte exhuast ports and there is no burning oil !!!
then we pulled the 02 senser back out and seen that the senser was roasted from the heat.. i was pissed becasue the mechanic had to pull that senser out to look at the precat ... why didnt he see the screwed up o2 senser ????

so anyways my dad and i cut open the precat took the stuff out of the cat and welded it back up ...which will eleminate of any chances of wrecking the engine...
nissan F***ed up and ASSUMED !!! based on bad o2 senser that i needed a new engine ...
if any of you have that stupid precat on your altima, get some headers and or gut the Cat. they start to break down after 60000 miles 80000 km or so ....and it will destroy your engine .

I would hate for anyone to go through that stressful day i had with nissan !!!


kelly,

JDF

Sounds like there is more than one way to fix a cat. Because my nieces car was under 80,000 miles and the engine light diagnostics machine showed it was a Catalytic Converter problem, under federal law Nissan has to replace the catalytic converter system. Now because then it proves that the cat system particles were sucked back up into the engine therefore scoring the cylinder walls and caiseing the oil loss and eventually compression loss, Nissan replaced the engine too for free. Yes, for free there did the $4,800.00 job. The key points are under 80,000 miles and engine lights sensor reads and catalytic problem.

kellyjames99

mines out of warranty, if the rings where shot then they would be tons of oil in the exhaust ports which there wasnt so, my car engine is fine, my cat wasnt chunking a way it was being blown out the exhasut

jdm50325

Don't feel so bad, my altima recieved a brand new motor at 84,500 miles, today it has 120,000 miles on the body, so ive put 35, 500 miles on the replacement motor, since 2006, I change the oil every 2,500 miles, so far have not had any issues with the motor losing oil, I am very picky with my car maintance. Next year im buying a honda, the nissan will be sold, im sure ill find a local buyer, willing to pay $5k cash for her, ive replaced all the shocks, struts, radiator, drive belts every 10k miles, on its 3rd alternator, four new tires, what i think people are complaining about is not taking care of their cars, my car has very little or very few issues, I only drive 55mph on the highway so I am sure she will last to 200k miles.

my 2cents.

jdm50325

My altima is the 2002 2.5s, one I paid cash for :P

dougD-'02 Altima

Same Problem Here!!

'02 Altima w/ 114,xxx miles on it now.
All maintence done in timely manner.
I am the 2nd driver/owner, this vehicle was leased previously from brand new to 62,119 miles.
3/03 Nissan recall notification began (NHTSA Action Number PE02078( Campaign Number 03V084000)
10/24/05 62,119 miles. Car returned on lease and recall preformed
5/22/07 84,608 miles "Service Engine Soon" light comes on. Nothing found and light turned off.
7/19/09 "Service Engine Soon" light comes on, bring it in and
7/21/09 114,837 miles. Nissan tells me I need a new engine and converter, 5k !?!?!?

I haven't been able to get a hold of Nissan Consumer Affairs, hopefully tomorrow, does anyone have any advice for me? I know I probably wont be able to get anything out of talking to them other than "your warranty is up" and "we can't help you". Anyone know of lawsuits or anything?