CarComplaints.com Notes: Here's a disturbing trend for the 2002 Nissan Altima: the engine starts burning oil like crazy, the catalytic converter goes bad, the head gasket blows and eventually the entire engine needs replacement. Sound familiar? Like a script from a horror film, these Altimas seem doomed to fail around 95k miles.
8.3
pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$1,720
Average Mileage:
99,000 miles
Total Complaints:
6 complaints
Most Common Solutions:
not sure (5 reports)
found catalytic coverter plugged/removed and replaced (1 reports)
Recall For Nissan Altima 02-03 And Others - The circuit board for the crank position sensor or cam may have improper solder causing vehicle to stall without warning, or cause the check engine light to come on or reduce engine power.
My engine will turn off on me, i dont know what the problem is i already bought a new battery, i change the spark plug, i dont know what the problem is all i know is that i cant no longer drive my car becuase im afraid it may just turn off on me at every stop light.
DO NOT BUY FROM NISSAN - we have to take a stand, if not they will continue to make millions. I received a notice in the mail from Nissan that there was a recall on the ECM. At the time my engine light had just came on and I wasn't sure what it was. Since I had to take it in for the recall I just assumed they would take care of it. Well they did at my expense. The said the recall was not related to the engine light being on so I had to pay them to tell me what was wrong. Cat Converter code came up as needing to be replaced. This is a 2002 vehicle, my brother has a damn 1987 Nissan Maxima and he has not had to replace the damn cat converter so I don't understand how the one on the 2002 Altima can go out. I told the dealership to kiss my you know what after they told me the cost to get the vehicle fixed. They also said they would not fix the recall until whatever caused the engine light to come on was fixed. I fought tooth and nail with them until they should me where Nissan specifically says in the recall letter to them, that if the engine light is on, do not fix the recall. Well ain't that some sh*t, how in the hell do you get away with that. Now this wouldn't be so bad if Nissan didn't have this recall: Recall Number: 03V455000
Summary:
ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES, THE CIRCUIT BOARD FOR THE CRANK POSITION SENSOR OR CAM POSITION SENSOR MAY HAVE AN IMPROPER SOLDER JOINT DUE TO SOLDER DEFORMATION CAUSED BY HEAT STRESS ACCELERATED BY THE EXISTENCE OF FLUX RESIDUE DURING THE SOLDERING PROCESS.
Consequence:
THIS COULD CAUSE THE "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" WARNING LIGHT TO COME ON, CREATE A NO START CONDITION, CAUSE REDUCED ENGINE POWER, OR CAUSE THE ENGINE TO STOP RUNNING WITHOUT WARNING DURING VEHICLE OPERATION, WHICH COULD RESULT IN A CRASH.
Now this does not apply to all 2002 Altima's even if you are having these symptoms. I don't know where to go from here and i can't afford to buy another vehicle right now. We need some help with these complaints.
i am in the military and my car is very useful when it comes down to visit my family across country so i have to drive it everywhere i go. First it started with turning off while driving, and now while i'm on deployment and left the car to my wife, it just slows down to 25 mph and it wont go more than that. I barely had this car for 9 months and its giving me all this problems it just makes me mad i thought it was a dependable car but it just makes everything worse.
- gerson,
San Diego, CA, US
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the car cuts off and no one knows what is wrong it has become a huge problem for me because one says its my starter so i change it 600 dollars the car still cuts off as we speak the car is in the shop again the machine can not detect a problem.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
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My dear friends, get way from this car, you just got yourself a box of problems.
I spend around 4,000 fixing this thing, stay awayyyyy!! don't waste your time and money.
- Valerio R., New York, NY, US