16th Oct 2008, 23:27
Hi I purchased my car from the cops! It's perfect except for the check engine light. When I turn it over, it starts right up, and maybe a minute or two later it acts like it's running on 50% of its power! It has only 63,000 miles on it. Should I take it to the Nissan dealer; I was told part of its fix is under warranty! What's wrong with my car?
714-522-8438 Wes.
27th Oct 2008, 19:13
I bought my 2001 Sentra GXE after it was leased for two years. Its been through harsh winters and to this day (145000km) has only required a new battery and the infamous dip stick replacement. Other than that I've done the routine oil changes w/filters and other basic maintenance. From the sounds of this message board I may have one of the few good Sentras around. Although, from my experience, I've heard far more good things than bad about the 2000-2006 Sentras.
11th Nov 2008, 14:24
I bought a new 2001 Nissan Sentra GXE in October of 2000. It was an inexpensive car with the standard stuff I wanted at the time (keyless entry, power windows, CD player). My overall impression is not that positive. My wife drives it everyday now and it continues to run but she doesn't drive it very hard. It has just over 90,000 miles on it. It has had the typical stuff done mentioned in many of the other comments (horn, sensors, rotors, etc.). Now the engine is making a growling noise and the check engine light is on...again. If I had to drive this thing everyday, it would have been gone a long time ago. This is the first and last Nissan I will buy.
13th Jan 2009, 16:04
Thank goodness for this comment thread. I inherited a 2001 Nissan Sentra when my father-in-law passed away, and this car has already become a huge pain. It was running very rough at idle and stalled at stop lights, and I would have to keep the car in neutral and apply gas to keep it going. The odd time it wouldn't start, but cranking it for a long time would fix this. The service engine light was on, and the mechanic read the error code, saying it was either the mass air flow, or the oxygen sensor, where two of the four oxygen sensors were reading as bad. I got those replaced, but the problem came back shortly thereafter. My mechanic is a good person, and thus I thought "something must be up with this car".
Some Internet sleuthing led me to the numerous people that share this problem, noting that in many cases this is an ECM problem, and not an O2 or mass air flow sensor issue. I called a local Nissan dealer (not the one that my father-in-law went to), and asked for a list of the recalls for my particular car's VIN number. Of course, all of the recalls EXCEPT for the ECM foam and the engine crank sensor were fixed on the car. I know for a fact that my father-in-law had taken his car to the dealer many, many times in the past, yet this work was never done (and I was told it is always supposed to be checked when a vehicle gets work done on it). Very frustrating.
In the end, I will get the recalls done and voice my extreme displeasure with the fact that they were not done in past visits by my now-deceased father-in-law. This very well could have caused the ECM to have failed, and I am now long past the warranty. Another problem here is that the ECM problem (according to numerous posts by others) can manifest itself as other problems, all of which are very expensive to fix (various sensors), and I am always suspicious as to this problem being considered a fantastic way by Nissan mechanics to bleed people of money. I called three different dealerships to ask if this stalling/idling problem was common for cars of this era, and they all said "not really, it could be a number of things, etc etc", which is a fantastic response for them to go on a wild goose chase. The Internet certainly makes me believe this problem is way, way more widespread than they let on, and that likely they do know the solution!
I shall update this post on the car's status as I fix it. Hopefully it can be of some use!
15th Jan 2009, 23:17
My 01 Nissan Sentra started with a MAF sensor and ended up with a defective ECM. I recently got a hold of a used ECM, but ended up taking the car to the dealer to upload the ECM. They get you either way.
I ended up trading in the Sentra for a used Honda Civic from their used car lot the same day I took it in for repairs. Last time I'll buy a Nissan, future buyers beware!
20th Jan 2009, 09:39
Hi.
I have a Nissan Sentra 2001 GXE Model. Bought it a few months back with 46,000 miles on it. It runs fine and touch wood, have had no issues with it for the 2,000 odd miles that I have been driving it.
Problem is, the Service Engine Soon & BRAKE are turned ON every time I start the car for the last 2 months. Got it checked at Midas whose technician told me not to worry over it. Question is: Do I need to show this to a Nissan Dealer?
10th Oct 2008, 14:20
Well, I traded in my GMC Jimmy for my 02' Nissan GXE 1.8 Liter (Manual), and am now wishing I hadn't. I have owned this car for barely a year, and about 3 months of that year it actually drove, the rest has been sitting there stiff in a parking spot.
Friends kept telling me that the fuel pump was going out, found out it is an in tank pump and no one I know wants any part of that business (and I'm not rich). I had another friend look at it a little bit deeper, we realized that the people at Nissan hadn't tightened down about 5-6 bolts on the car, 2 of which were gone all-together! The part that had no bolts was actually sucking air and killing the engine. So I went to Napa and for 89 cents fixed that problem and it ran fine.
Shortly after (because the service engine light was on) I had it scanned and was told the Crankshaft Sensor was shot. So.. I went back to Napa and bought it and replaced it that day, reset the CPU and was also told to drive it over 100 miles and the Service Light should go off.. well guess what?! IT DIDN'T! However, I took it back to get it scanned yet again, this time it read "Air-Fuel Metering" now mind you, I'm no pro when it comes to cars, but this lady looked at me like that thing spoke a foreign language and proceeded to tell me that she had never even seen this before. She also said that it wasn't fatal to the engine, so a few days later, I go to get into my car after making an appointment with a REAL mechanic, and yep.. you guessed it.. it won't even start!
So as you can see, I am now at my wits ends with this car, all I want is for the thing to pass emissions so I can be completely legal where I live now, and now it won't run at all. I firmly believe Nissan could have done a little more looking into the engine and it's workings before selling this vehicle.