Never owned a Nissan before.

BringThePain · Mar 25th, 2008, 11:31 PM

I am new around here so be kind

I just got a 94 Altima with 179K miles on it. The thing idles like a dream, the car was perfect... until a tree fell on it. Long story short I got the car for 400 bucks with a tree sized hole through my sunroof and about 2 inches of melt water floating inside the car.

I finally got everything dried out and I drive it now. So far I have replaced the following...

Alternator
Battery
Lower control arm w/bushings. Passenger side
Right front axle
about to completely redo my breaks (waiting for parts)
And a whole roll of duct tape covering my sunroof

Now that you have some background I have a few questions...

1. I have heard the preferred engine to have is the Ka24, but other engines did come in the Altima's as well. How do I know what engine I have? Is there a VIN describer?

2. Under my hood I have a recall sticker... How many recalls were there for the 94 Altima's? If there were any more I would love to go get them done (free stuff is always fun)

3. I have this problem... When I got the car I had the lower control arm (with ball joint) and axle replaced on the passenger side. One of the bushings was bad and I couldn't locate a bushing fast enough so I ended up getting the entire arm. At the same time I replaced my axle as its boot was long gone and dirt was packed into the thing. Problem solved...until I really listened.

The major sound is gone, but I still hear "loud" rattling (like a ball-joint wearing out, but with the sound turned down if that makes sense) but it seems to be coming from everywhere now... not just the right front. Also when I hit a pothole (there are millions in Chicago) my car seems to want to bottom out and then bounce around. When this happens my steering wheel also jerks slightly side to side.

What could that be? The rotors are warped badly and are being replaced as soon as FedEx drops the parts off. The car also needs an alignment as the outside of the front tires is completly bare.. but that couldn't be it could it? Shocks? Struts? Springs? Tires? Poor Alignment?

4. This is more of an opinion question, but how do you all feel about Beck Arnley for parts? They are slightly more money then "value" parts but are still cheaper then OEM. How do you guys feel about them? Do you have a preferred parts company?

Thank you guys. I look forward to years *crosses fingers* of needing Nissan help

Altima SSS · Apr 13th, 2008, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BringThePain

I have heard the preferred engine to have is the Ka24, but other engines did come in the Altima's as well. How do I know what engine I have? Is there a VIN describer?

2. Under my hood I have a recall sticker... How many recalls were there for the 94 Altima's? If there were any more I would love to go get them done (free stuff is always fun)

I think the 94 Altima in the US all came with the 2.4L KA24DE.
Nissan Altima - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you're interested in recalls you can call Nissan Customer Service and they should be able to tell you all that apply. I think there was only a couple that I can remember reading about.