17th Feb 2007, 17:21

I bought Nissan Altima 2003 S on Feb 2007 which had 30K miles on it from a private seller. After a week, the car had its "Service Engine Soon" light lit. I was told by a local mechanic that the ECM is corrupt and its under warranty. Now I am going to take the car to Nissan by next week. All I am worried after reading forums like this is, the Nissan should say the same reason for repair and do it for free because of its warranty. The error code was P0507. Kindly advice me or provide me information on how to handle this, if anybody have any idea about it.

24th Feb 2007, 15:45

My 2006 Altima SE has just over 8K on it. I pulled it out of the garage to wash it a couple of days back then parked it back in the garage. I went to start it this AM and it would not turn over at all. Upon exiting the vehicle I could smell the unburned fuel rather strong.

I decided to let it sit for a while before any further attempt at starting then found this great forum. I took the advice of the poster about pulling the battery terminal off for a bit to reset the computer. I also checked the gas cap, just in case that I had failed to tighten it past the required click.

After a couple of hours I tried again! This time it was trying to hit so I held the gas pedal down while cranking and it finally started up. It ran bad for a few seconds with a lot of gray smoke then idled out. I let it warm up a while then took it for spin, kicking it down pretty good to blow out any excess fuel, vapor or whatever from of the system.

I don’t like this one bit and plan to monitor the situation closely. This problem is obviously a fault with the computer system design in relation to the warm up monitoring, based on this happening after a short move of the car.

I most definitely will be trading this thing in at my earliest convenience and not for another Nissan. Since this problem spans so many model years, it tells me a lot about their engineering process. Thanks For the help I found here..

20th Mar 2007, 05:13

I too bought a 2003 Altima 2.5S. I feel everyones pain. I've had problems just like most of you & I'm in Hawaii. Some days my car doesn't want to start either. And it is not cold here. I bought the car in 2002. I had the crank sensor changed because it somehow had engine oil on it which caused my car to jerk when accelerated & then die out when it felt like it. I had to pay $100 for that service. I changed the starter in 2005 because "they" thought that was the problem. Paid $200 for that service. Then a year later, I had to change the starter again because the "new" starter was bad. Had to pay for that one too because the part had a 1 year warranty & I was a few days passed the expiration. I take my car in faithfully for oil changes, tire rotations, etc. I take my car in for all recalls. For the past month, my service engine soon light has been on. I called "them" & they said I have no recall on my car, they already did it. A few weeks later, I get the recall notice about the service engine light soon on. They still insist that my car doesn't need it because they already did it. And would like to charge me $150 to diagnose the problem. When all they do is plug in their little computer & read the code. RIDICULOUS!! That takes less than 5 minutes tops. I've been a loyal Nissan buyer. We also have a '05 Frontier. And before these 2 cars, we had a Sentra. But my first car was a Toyota. I think I'm about done with Nissan & will go back to Toyota.

29th Mar 2007, 09:44

I have a 2002 Nissan Altima 2.5S that gave me trouble until the dealership that sold it to me paid for me to have the engine replaced (their salesperson falsified my income on the loan application, they were trying to avoid a lawsuit). One of the cylinders went out and the engine was flooded with oil. I guess Nissan is doing a good job of hiding all of these problems. I say that someone should start a lawsuit and all of us who have had these problems should get on the bandwagon with them. I just found out today that my air conditioning compressor has died. My next car will be a Benz.

16th May 2007, 15:34

I just got the call from the service department...you'll never guess, that's right it's the Cam Sensor. It seems this is a real problem with the 2003 Altima's. If you know someone who owns one, let them know, if the car cranks, but won't start, it's the Cam. Save yourself the $89 diagnostic and buy the part and have a local mechanic put it on...it's a lot cheaper. It cost me $153.00 to have the dealer do it.

7th Nov 2007, 11:24

2004 Altima 2.5S with 44K miles. Car died while coasting in a parking lot and had very difficult time restarting it. The "Service Engine Soon" (SES) light came on. The manual states that the SES indicates that there is an emission problem.

Took car to Midas and they ran a diagnostic check and he said the code on the computer indicates that the Crank Shaft Sensor is bad and needs to be replaced. Called Nissan and asked if the Crank Shaft Sensor is covered under warranty. They said no because it is not part of the power train (60K miles) but covered under the emissions (36K miles). I personally think anything that will kill an engine while driving should be covered under the power train.

Did some research and found out that the 02 and 03 Crank Shaft Sensor was recalled, but not the 04. My 04 did have a recall for a computer upgrade. I'm upset because Nissan obviously knows there is a problem, but are still manufacturing these subpar parts.

Midas replaced the Crank Shaft Sensor, but the SES light was still on and had trouble starting. Took it to the dealer, they ran a diagnostic check and said the codes indicate the Cam Positioning Sensor and the head gasket could be bad. They replaced the head gasket that was covered under the power train warranty, but the SES light was on. They replaced the Cam Positioning Sensor and the car now performs adequately. $114 for the Crank Shaft Sensor and $252 for the Cam Positioning Sensor. A lot of money for such an easy fix.

Nissan has lost any future business from me because of a known flaw that they refuse to recognize.