29th May 2014, 08:52

I too have a 03 Altima, it ran fine for the first few years, but now it burns oil like crazy.

I had to replace the cam sensors as the car would quit while driving, even on the highway.

Lately it's been running terrible, sputtering and losing power, so I took into my mechanic for a tune up and was just told that there is a crack in the manifold, and the converter is breaking down prematurely and causing debris to go into the engine. Code PO300, random cylinder mis-fire. The converter is running too hot and burning excessive oil. Called Nissan and was told that the only recall on my car is the ECM re-programming. The mechanic wants over 2 grand to fix, I will be trading this in ASAP and never buying another Nissan vehicle again. The cost of repairs is always double compared to a domestic car. Very upset, and it seems like this is an on-going issue for most owners. Nissan should be recalling these cars and replacing the motors.

19th Jun 2014, 01:08

There is a known problem with the catalytic converters causing particles to get sucked into the engine on start up, due to the cam actuators changing the timing to reduce emissions at startup. The particles damage the cylinder walls, resulting in a loss of compression. Usually the sign of this happening is oil consumption.

26th Nov 2014, 02:53

I have a 2006 Altima 2.5, and I keep getting a battery light with an emergency brake light only at start up. Had the alternator tested and found it to be faulty. Changed the alternator, problem fixed or so I thought. That alternator turned out to be faulty as well, replaced under warranty. Now the car is back to turning on the battery and emergency brake light at start up. Once the car runs for 2-3 minutes, the lights go off and all seems well. Could it be a bad ground somewhere or another faulty alternator??

15th Dec 2015, 01:53

I have a 2007 Altima. The same thing happened to me. I jumped it, checked the fluids, everything I could think of. Well finally I found out the ignition crank needed to be replaced. Start there; after replacing it, the car started right up!