warranty woes

Dec 20th, 2002, 11:57 PM

I have a 2001 pathfinder and live in Yellowknife, 1500 kms. away from the nearest dealer in Edmonton, where I bought it. The salesman assured me I could get warranty work done in Yellowknife. Now that I have an "service engine soon" light on, they tell me I have to drive to Edmonton for them to look at it if I want it under the warranty.

Apparently, Nissan Canada has a strict policy that no warranty work is to be done outside of dealers. The salesman at Mills Nissan didn't mention this. I know its not likely a common problem, but I needed a place to vent. #&*#^&^% salesman!!!

Dec 23rd, 2002, 01:07 AM

It's not just a Nissan Canada issue, it is all of Nissan and other manufacturers. There must have been some sort of miscommunication. It is OK to have service work done elsewhere, but not warranty work.

Look at it this way, suppose you built cars in your spare time. One of your buddies but one and it broke down on him. You know that car like the back of your hand, but he's not bringing it back to you because he move away from your area. Instead, he is sending you bill after bill to pay some shade-tree mechanic to replace every part under the hood until he finds the problem. How long would you do this? A repair that you could have made in 20 minutes is taking some knucklehead weeks to fix. And on top of that, he is using $hit parts to replace good ones. By the time the car makes it back to you, everything is aftermarket, nothing is operating within specs, parts are hooked up wrong, parts are siliconed together, not even the air filter fits right.

Now since you are the car manufacturer, this "buddy" of yours wants his car fixed for free......maybe you should have told him you wouldn't pay for work done anywhere else.

There....now I have vented. Thank you

Dec 23rd, 2002, 10:46 AM

I understand why they would want to do that. The irritating thing is that the salesman assured me that it would be no problem getting warranty service elsewhere, with prior authorization (and that prior authorization was easily obtained, and that they used our local repair service for other vehicles they had sold to people here).

2002JustBlue · Dec 23rd, 2002, 08:57 PM

Jan 19th, 2003, 12:53 PM

Sorry, most salesmen ont have a clue about service work unless they come ask us. Your particular check engine light cannot be serviced by anyone other than a nissan dealer who has the proper software and hardware to interface with your computer sysytem. At that point they can figure out what the problem is. I work at Sherwood Nissan( brand new Dealer) and I am sorry that you were given wrong information

Mr.Mike! · Jan 19th, 2003, 02:59 PM

I did some web surfing and from the first link below, apparently autozone can scan the system.

http://www.mypartshop.com/newparts/t...sages/692.html

Perhaps ask some other boards & threads and run some searches on how to check what the check engine light and service engine soon light mean. On my 94 truck there is a screwdriver trick that you do to the ECM that will flash trouble codes.

Or perhaps, you need to check ALL of your fluids. If they start to get low, it will pop on a dash light. If your brake fluid is getting pretty low, that is also a sign to check your brakes (standard wear and tear item that is not covered by warranty. If you know what you're looking for, great. If not, see if you can barter with your neighbor see if he (or she) will give your pathy a once over in exchange for a 6 pack of pop or beer. Thats what I do for all my neighbors. Mmmmm, free food.

Besides with it bieng a 91, perhaps it is time for the 30,000 mile service.

(just another general link)
http://forums.vmag.com/suvpathfinder0200/

Hope some of that helps.

Mr.Mike! · Jan 19th, 2003, 03:02 PM

Oh, I forgot the page about the ECM (computer) trick. There is a screw on the computer that you will need a screwdriver for. This is all for the older vehicles, but perhaps they are using the same stuff for the newer vehicles. Couldn't hurt to try.

http://www.batauto.com/Nissan/

himilefrontier · Jan 31st, 2003, 12:18 AM

Going to Autozone is relatively worthless since they don't have a sophisticated enough tool to really get in there and diagnose the computer.I had them check my truck(98 Frontier)and they told me the code says the idle is low.I already knew that,but their scantool is too primitive to check the functions of the sensors. Plus,your vehicle(since it was built after 1996) is OBDII,and most of the factories are not giving out the diagnostic information for their vehicles computers to anyone who is not a dealer-including private garages.Sorry I can't offer anything that might help.