My son bought his first car, thinking we got a good deal on a 2005 Nissan Altima. The car had a 155000 miles on it. Thinking that Nissan builds a good product, we thought this car will run easily for another 100000 miles. I guess we were wrong. We learned after just having the car for a couple months, that we are going through a quart of oil every 400 - 500 miles.

After reading about the problems on the internet, I realize that the pre-catalytic converter breaks down and sucks the sandy dust back into the motor and takes the rings out. The more oil it goes through, the more the pre-cat breaks down and so on. It is going to keep getting worse and worse.

I can't believe that after all these years worth of complaints that some how this doesn't get taken care of. At least fix your problem instead of keep selling something that the poor consumer has to take it in the shorts on. People need to quit buying Nissan's till they fix there issues. From what I've read, I don't believe they have it fixed the problem yet. I was actually looking into buying a 2011 Altima, and it sounds like this year has the same issues. And is this only on the 2.5 or does the 3.5 have the same problem too. Does anyone know for sure?

Daughter's car started consuming oil about 2 years ago. It does not smoke out of the tailpipe. Dealer stated that they had engine problems on the 2005 model Altima's. They added that they were changing engines at that time. They no longer cover this problem. I started using heaver oil which slowed the consumption down. Eventually the check engine light came on. Now the catalytic converter is bad and it will not pass emissions'. It is extremely expensive to fix this problem. I can not afford to repair this car.

I had my engine replaced under warranty from Nissan after digging around on the internet for known problems. Turns out that the Tech Service Bulletin (TSB) was specific to the 350Zs, which coincidentally have the same VQ35DE motor that is every V6 that Nissan uses. So I called Nissan and they enrolled me in the oil consumption test and I either passed or failed, I'm not sure which, but I was eligible for a replacement 'Short Block' after I was told that bad piston rings were to blame for the oil blow-by. Here's what gets me - oil destroys catalytic converters fast and not long after, my pre-cats went and my EGR valve, but they refused to admit any ties between the two problems. So anyway, I have always run Mobil 1 oil and changed every 4,500 miles since I bought it with 23,881 miles in Jan, 2008. Then months later, another converter went and they refused to replace it since it was no longer covered under the parts warranty which is either to 12 month or 12k miles, whichever is first to occur. I was livid... Having saved all my maintenance records and oil changes since I got the car in a notebook, I estimate that the replacement engine has roughly 80k miles on it which is nothing really. And I have roughly 3,000 miles on this oil change which I did on July 4th. Since then, I've added 3.5 quarts of oil to the engine.... total capacity is only 4.5 with the filter !! So now the engine is making some awful noises on the highway, especially in 4th-6th gear at 3500 RPM + which is when the variable valve timing engages. No lie, it sounds like a mix between an awful trombone and popcorn in my engine, almost like the engine is being restricted somehow, and I lose every bit of power above 45mph and encounter intermittent jerks as if running out of fuel or something similar. So between those two dilemmas, I'm not happy either. This Altima has been a nightmare having had the Engine, Transmission, Rack and Pinion, EGR Valve and 3-way Catalyst, Alternator, AC Lines, 2- RF wheel bearings, clutch pedal assembly (TWICE), slave cylinder, clutch master cylinder and I'm sure there's more that I missed. But if not for the 100,000 mile Bumper2Bumper warranty I bought with the car, I would have been doomed. I'm just really starting to notice that the dealership technicians are even more half-assed than your typical American mechanic. And the parts that Nissan uses are sheer junk. My Nissan has been a nightmare for the past 4 years, a prime example of a lemon with a trunk full of headaches. The only thing I love to death is the Bose sound system, that's simply incredible.

Get back to me, thanks for reading my Nissan Nightmare, fell free to send me a line - I enjoy the stories out there and were all in this together. Best of luck everyone.

My 2005 Nissan Altima is burning oil excessively. I have maintained it religiously. I loved this car and this manufacturer until today. Nissan has taken advantage of me for the last time. My family and I have bought many Nissans. I called several different dealers when I had issues with my check engine light came on. They said they would charge me $100 to even look at it. I took to Auto Zone and they hooked it up for free to computer and it was the two sensors that were actually a recall. I called the dealers and they acted like there was no recall and they would fix for $600. My dad fixed for me. Then it started burning oil excessively. Now I'm stuck with car I still owe a few grand on and I can't sell to it anyone and not tell them the truth about the oil burning. No One in their right mind would buy a car that is doing that. Please lets all ban together and get our money back with a class action lawsuit. Let's make this right and make Nissan compensate us and correct the lying cheating dealers, mainly Bob Rohrman Nissan of Chesterton for trying to rip off hard working people. Nissan and Nissan Dealers SHAME ON YOU!

Ok... now I have been dealing with this car for too long. It started with the check engine light, took it to the dealer ship said it was a misfire and needed to replace a censor. Then the heater would not blow out hot air. Only when we went a high rate of speed would it actually blow out hot air. Then the coolant started to disappear, as well as the oil. Replaced coolant and oil, replaced oil filter... And now I have a hole in my engine. really upset and then I found this site. Wish I would have found it sooner. And after reading all the post, I'm not even sure I want to replace the engine. If the same problems are going to continue what is the point...

I Bought a 2005 Nissan Altima, 4 cy. 2.5L on June 18th 2010. I started having problems with the crankshaft sensor,the dealer gave me a discount to get this fix because they were aware of the problem DEALER also told me if I get this fix the car would be working fine. I did replaced the Sensor,but the service engine soon light kept coming on.. It reads the same error every time, crankshaft sensor. Recently (07/10/10) my car just made a loud knocking noise blew a big smoke on the highway at 65mph--the fire men and police that showed up believe it threw a rod because it leaked oil everywhere,had the oil changed exactly 5 days prior,I WATCHED....the car NEVER even gave me a signal that it was low on oil AT ALL,who would have thought I had a Oil CHANGE 5 DAYS PRIOR..HOW COULD I BE OUT OF OIL??.. now no car to drive and I'm completely broke being that my down payment was $3000..my savings.

Engine was using oil at the rate of about a quart every 3 weeks and the car had only about 30,000 miles on it. I brought the car brand new. After informing the dealer about the problem, the dealer initially tried to track the oil consumption and wanted to change the oil or add oil to the crankcase every time I brought the car in for them to look at, in spite of the fact that I had been tracking the oil consumption and had written records to prove it. It is my opinion the dealer was trying to run down the "warranty clock" that was soon to expire at 36,000 miles. I had to go through a lot of phone calls and letter writing, but in the end, and I must compliment them for doing this, NISSAN's consumer complaint division told the dealer to replace the engine.