So I got my nissan at 82k the only thing I needed to replace was basic stuff, like struts, brake pads, radiator, got a tune up, new tires new bearings, new egr solenoid. However my car randomly starts to shake and eventually idles if I'm at idle. As soon as I press the gas it stops shaking and drives fine. Also around 40 mph if I let go of the gas it kind of jerks back and if push the gas while its moving it jerks forward. I have no idea what the problem is. Also my hose going from my engine to my air filter rotted out and I have no clue where to get a replacement any ideas? for now theres a cork in the female hose of the air filter

I got my 01 Altima GXE in 2013, at first idled rough, replaced motor mounts, was fine til Feb 2015, I've noticed when at a red light, it's loud shaking noise inside the car, when in drive, I put it in neutral and it stops. Can't hear noise/rattling sound from outside of car. It's very annoying. I'm have brakes checked tomorrow, 3/6. I'm definitely going to ask about intake manifold gasket, etc, that I've read a lot of people mention on here.

Thanks for this site, hope all goes well for yas, I actually like my Altima but when I'm able to upgrade, newer one, I'll be checking here or some websites for reviews. Great to know.

This is 2001 Nissan Atltima was bought new and it has been used by wife for local driving only and it has only 43000 miles on it. It started to have the same "Shaking at Idle" problem as others reported a few weeks ago when stops at a stop sign or red light. The engine runs very rough. First I thought it was the blower motor resister because it was bad and the fan only run only on high but replacing it did not fix the problem. I totally agree with others that a class suite against Nissan or Nissan should have a recall on this problem. This will be the last Nissan for our family. D@mn F@@king Nissan!!!

Luck we have a good friend knows car and takes care of our cars for many years. We own this 2001 Altima from new as our first family car until we got a Toyota van in 2005. My wife still drive this car to work and shopping. Generally, this car has been running well until late 2009. My wife told me it smelled odd and some times shaky. We have our mechanical friend done regular maintenance very well. He replaced valve cover gasket at about 50,000 mile. In the Spring 2010, it showed the idle fluctuation while the car is not moving. My friend tried to diagnose the problem and help me clean the throttle body. The AC help compensate idle a shot time and it idle rough again. Like the others experienced, it runs OK but idle rough at red light and stop. Bad or dirty Idle valve was the initial guess. He is still not quite sure. Since it doesn't bother while the car is moving, my wife continue driving and rocking at stop for few month to reach 87,000 mile. Lucky me, I found this website while I was looking for idle valve parts. I told my friend about the same problem you guys shared. He came to my house to spray carb at manifold and found the engine vacuum the spray. Then, I called the Nissan Dealer for intake manifold gasket parts and ask them 'Is this a common problem?' They responded ' Your car is going to 10th year.' I am not sure about the suggestion from the other gentleman regarding fiberglass heat shield or some issue design. It seems Nissan's engine doesn't last longer than Toyota and Honda. According to Nissan Dealer and my friend's comment, it is ageing gasket. Never heard any statement and solution from Nissan Corp. about this problem. 83,000 miles and 9 years? If you will have pay dealer 1K to replace the $20 part. You will probably go with Toyota or Honda. All of my friend's Toyota never experience major problem for more than 15 years and 200,000 miles. It took my mechanical friend more than 10 hours to replace this intake manifold gasket. It is not an easy work. This is to share with the other Nissan car owners and especially the owner of Altima.

The second this this is happening.

The first time it happened when the mileage of the car was 25000 miles. There was a cylinder misfire. Cost me $600 then.

Now recently again at 59000 miles my car has started to shake while I am stopped on a signal. I had gotten a fuel injection service done but that did not help. Now I am told that cylinder 4 has a misfire due to a leak in intake gasket.

I think this is an issue with most Nissan models in 2001 not sure about other years.

Is there a way we can file some complaint with Nissan to get this money for fixing this manufacturing defect?

I am so glad I found this website! I just recently purchased a 2001 Altima and had high hopes for it. It ran great and had a lot of options that I was very interested in. And then it happened.... Just my luck I am in town and stop at a red light and my car starts going crazy and idling weird. I mean it was so embracing! The man beside me in the other lane was staring and I didn't know what to do or what could be causing this. When I first purchased the car the check engine light was on but i was assured that it was a computer problem which I could live with, but about two days before the shake and bake began the light went off. And since the shaking started it has never returned. I praise this website because now at least I have a general idea of what the problem is and I can try to fix it before it gets worse, dagon manifold gasket. I have to admit that even with this problem the car is a wonderful car. But regardless!! If I had been aware of the problem before hand I honestly don't think I would of purchased the car! Should of went with a Honda!

First car I ever bought; sure enough this happens. The car shakes like crazy when in idol. So I put it in neutral and it shakes less but still shakes. I had not even had the car for long when it started. I have added about 10,000 miles on it since the problem started and I got it checked out once. He said the throttle body has a leak and the head gasket has a leak. I even talked to a guy that works for Nissan that said that they tried something new with this model and something about a computer is not programed correctly. So i really don't know what to believe. I am just going to run it till it dies cause I cant afford to fix it, and when it dies I'll be out of a car. When I can finally afford a new car; I'm making sure it is not a Nissan. The fact that they do not recall this problem pisses me off.

My wife has a 2001 altima that's stilll in the shop as I speak and just replaced A cracked intake manifold gasket,spark plugs,wires,and maf sensor and I am looking at 1000 bucks and rising,....The initial complaint started as occasionally shutting off,to idling too low,to hesitating on acceleration. This is a design flaw on nissan's behalf,I originally took it to Nissan and they said the shutting off was from a defective fuel pump.

After that we had the fuel pump replaced and the problem came back..This is a total nightmare because my wife is not working and it's really taking money from us that we don't have, the car only has like 89,000 miles on it and has been well maintained and has never been driven hard,,,Nissan makes the japanese automakers look bad and I'm more than 100% sure that it's poor engineering on Nissan's behalf....It's time for a class action lawsuit and nissan needs to do better business or stop selling lemons..At this point I understand why some auto makers are having problems because of this kind of crap........

Car started with a slight rough idle while sitting at red lights, eventually the RPMs started jumping between 400 and 800, and in the end the service engine light came on. The code behind this was P0171, or engine running lean. Like many others I needed to have the intake manifold gasket replaced. At 100,000 miles, I'm not overly disappointed by needing to have work done on the car. I'm just disappointed by the way Nissan Service Centers are using this to over charge owners. With a part that costs less then $20, its amazing they can look to charge you $1000 for the labor. I understand its a lengthy process to change this part, but with all of the people complaining of similar problems, you'd think they have plenty of practice at fixing the problem.

If you end up having this problem, I recommend taking your time to get a few quotes on the replacing the gasket. They range greatly from service department to independent service stations. Its ok to drive with this code and problem. I found that the AC helped to even out the RPMs and rough idle at red lights. If Nissan doesn't plan on doing anything to fix their defective parts, atleast we can do our best to ensure that they don't get our business in their service departments.

As others have mentioned, if you have a service engine light on, take it to AutoZone or PepBoys and ask to use their code reader. Takes all of 2 minutes to plug it in and check the codes.

My car started shaking like crazy when i would back up, stop at red lights, or in general idle. First estimate I got from Nissan was $800 to install and fix the problem. Local mechanic told me it would be $600. I looked around and talked with an older friend of my family and he said exactly how much is the part...I said I dont know. I called the local parts store it was a Whopping>>>>$9.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? No!!!!!!!! Nine whole Dollars. Supposedly its a B to install though. I was lucky enough to find a mechanic that works from his home and was willing to install for only $250. Thank God for a Recession>>>>otherwise, he said he would have not charged that little. So yes a whole NINE dollars for this immense labor charges to fix my 2001 Altima.

Same. Rough idling started randomly about 2 months ago and is getting worse. RPM's fluctuate at dead stop. Also shakes when in reverse. Turning on the A/C seems to lessen the shaking. I've already commissioned about $700 worth of guesswork at 3 different mechanics before I read these posts. No way I wanna dump another grand in this mess. Guess it's time to trade in.

Update from Jun 12, 2009: Same. Rough idling started randomly about 2 months ago and is getting worse. RPMs fluctuate at a dead stop. Also shakes in reverse. Turning on the A/C seems to lessen the shaking. I've already commissioned about $700 of guesswork at 3 mechanics before i found these posts. No way I wanna dump another grand in this mess!