16th Feb 2011, 08:52
Do not buy a Nissan Altima!
My story: the car does not start. The cam sensor and shaft whatever they call it was changed 3 times. Total cost =1050# The battery was changed to a brand new one. It still won’t start.
I called the company, complained about it, I went nowhere. It is frustrating that the car stops on the highway and that the engineers don't know what they are doing.
But Nissan must have good money bumping to authorities that they still allowed sell this crap!
2nd Jan 2012, 18:39
I have my car, a used one for about 6 years now, and sure I have had my share of problems... After the first 2 years, no problems, but then the car wouldn't start; found out it was the crank shaft sensor. Factory suggests that the part be replaced every 40k miles.
Then 2 years later, found out my alternator had gone, replaced that part.
2 years later, the car approached a little over 80k, crank shaft sensor had to be replaced again.
Now 2 months after the crank shaft sensor was replaced, the car will not start. It's as if it is getting gas to start the starter rolling over, but still not starting. My mechanic suggests that the electronic throttle needs to be replaced, along with the spark plugs that are dirty. I hope this is the last mechanical problem that needs to be fixed on the car, especially since my mechanic suggested that I replace the stabilizer links and front engine mount for an even more smooth ride... HA.
When I have exhausted the 14k that I spent on this car, I will buy a new one... I doubt it will be a Nissan.
14th Apr 2012, 11:27
I really think this site is very helpful. I found out that almost everybody on here has a problem with their Nissan car.
29th May 2012, 10:30
Have the same exact problem as everyone else on the site. The car would turn, you hear it trying to start, but it doesn't. Pressed on the gas pedal a few times, and the car started right up. Mind you, I've had this happen to be about a few times. Then decided to change the oil type to full synthetic (Castrol) and I felt the difference in how the car ran. The car was running a lot stronger, so I drove it for about 5-10 minutes. I then parked the car and turned it off to see if it would turn back on, and the car without a problem started right back up. I'm driving a Nissan Altima 2003 2.5 S.
So I would recommend to put in FULL synthetic, NOT PART OR PARTIAL. Gonna give it a try for a while and see how it maintains.
27th Jun 2012, 10:32
I have a 2003 Nissan Altima. Come January 2013, it will be 10 years old.
I just started having problems with the car. It totally completely shut off on me, while driving on the highway, while headed to church after work. I CANNOT TELL YOU how frightening this was to have your car turn OFF in mid drive on the interstate. Thank GOD I was able to get the car over in the emergency lane. I had to sit there for about 25-30 minutes before the car would start. Got it off the highway, and to the mechanic (while on the way, the car shut off at stop lights) who plugged it up to the diagnostic machine, and advised me of the crank shaft sensor and an oil sensor.
I am sure Nissan is aware of these continuous issues, and this should not be ignored. People's live are in danger with this KNOWN issue, yet they will not fix the problem for FREE, so the driver/customer/families who spent thousands of dollars on these cars can drive safely... RIDICULOUS!
18th Aug 2012, 20:59
I own a 2003 2.5 S Nissan Altima. I and the Nissan dealer have replaced many parts, and the starting when hot problem still occurs. I didn't realize how many people have this same problem.
I too will never buy Nissan ever again. This is my first and last. Too bad, because the Nissan's do look nice. I won't ever buy Infiniti either, because that's just an expensive Nissan with a different badge. Some of you may say that all companies have their problems. Yes that's true, but when the company that built your car can't figure out the problem, then do what I do. Take your hard earned money somewhere else!
18th Aug 2012, 23:15
Hey there. Having the same problem with my car. Just wanted ask you what car did you have that lasted you that long? I think after fixing everything we could find on this car, and still no results, it's time to cut my losses. I just don't know what car to purchase. My Nissan was a rebuilt title, and lasted me 4 years with out any issues.
28th Jan 2011, 01:48
I have a 2006 Altima 3.5 with 42,500 miles on it, and loved it for the first four years of ownership - I had no problems up until these past few weeks.
The first problem I noticed was that my car would sometimes crank for a long time before starting, when I would start it after coming out from work. This would happen about every other or every third day, and I wasn't too concerned because it would always start without a fuss, and the check engine light was not on. I figured that the car didn't like the humidity in the parking garage.
However, last Friday, the car did something far worse than giving an extended crank time... I had driven home from work, and parked it for about 45 minutes before going out again. When I went to start my car, it cranked normally, but the engine threatened to stall immediately - this had never happened to me before. I gave it gas, but the RPMs dropped back down to 500, so I tried giving it more gas, and that still wasn't correcting the problem. After about 2 minutes of revving the engine, the car ran normally. With this being such a terrible event, I thought that the check engine light would come on so that the Nissan dealer could diagnose the problem, but it didn't! I tried all weekend to get the car to have the same problem again, but it started easily each time without any stalling. I decided to take it to the Nissan dealer anyway to see if they could figure out what happened - unfortunately, there were no codes stored on the engine computer, and they could not get the car to act up at all. Their educated guess was that it needed a new cam position sensor, which I decided to replace. I am so phobic about car problems that I was willing to spend the money.
I've had the car back for two days now, and it has been starting normally, even in the parking garage at work... I hope that the problems are really fixed - I still don't trust it, and am worried after reading all of the other similar posts on this message board. I wish that I had never bought my Altima... I should have stuck with buying another Honda!