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.
3.8
definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
32,578 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
06/29/07 my car sputtered through the intersection of 33rd and highland drive. I then pulled into a bakery on 3100 South and highland drive when I got out of my car I was overwhelmed by the smell of gas. There was a trail of gas behind my car and a large puddle under my car. At this point I did not know what to do, I was afraid to start my car so I asked a gentleman at big O to come and look at my car to see if I could start it. They said they would not start it not knowing where the gas leak was at. I then called the dealer ship and they did not suggest driving the vehicle but having it towed down to the dealership. The tow company picked me and my car up at about 8:50. The gentleman turned on my car and backed it out of the parking spot to put it up on the tow truck. The moment my car was turned on it began to leak gas. It looked like someone had turned on a water faucet and it created another large puddle of gas in the parking lot. Once at the dealer ship. I explained to shane and nick what was going on with my car when nick said, " I know what is wrong with it. It happened to another car this week. But that one caught fire" he took my car back into the shop and about 20 minutes later come back out of the shop and showed my grandfather and myself what had happened. The gas line had "fallen off and the gas was soaking into my back seat." It had created a tar like substance on the tank and on the foam of my seat and the seat was soaked from the gas. I left my car with the dealership all day for them to attempt to clean the seat and get rid of the gas smell. Around 6pm that same night I went to pick up my car with my roommate. We were about 10 feet from my car when we both could still smell the gas. Needless to say with the weather turning from summer to fall and getting colder the gas smell is getting worse and the dealership does not care about the health hazard and will not replace my back seat.
Fuel fill pipe connect to body has rusted on Nissan Altima with 47K miles (2002). I believe there is a recall on another Nissan product for the same issue. This currently is causing car to fail emissions, however I would believe it is a safety risk as well. This car is currently early production of redesiged Altima, could potentially be part of first identification of issue. In trying to order the part dealer has indicated there is a backlog for the part. Would indicate they are having high demand in resolving this issue.
It has come to my attention that the Nissan 2.5 liter power plant has issues with intake butterfly valve screws that have became loose and are sucked into the engine resulting in stalling and severe damage that could cause grave harm or death. I myself have not experienced this however there is great knowledge and a current recall for some of the 04-05 Nissan Altima models. I am a current 2002 Nissan Altima owner and this issue has me concerned to the point that for my own safety I am going to have all of the 8 screws lock tightened so I can feel safe when driving. Please see the discussions on this issue as it is a common problem(one found >20% had missing screws): www.B15sentra.net/forums/showthread.php"T=86248 and www.nissanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?T=192671 and www.nissanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?T=192671 people have to use these instructions to repair this issue themselves just to feel safe here: forums.thevboard.com/viewtopic.php"T=64780 they have a current recall (04-05) why not older models with the same problem? www.nissanhelp.com/ownership/bulletins/Nissan/2005/ntb05-058.htm
Car would not start. Extremely strong gasoline odor in car. Large puddle of gasoline under car. Gas line came off gas tank. Fitting had vibrated loose. Replaced fitting and reconnected gas line. Luckily no fire and the car was not moving at the time. Friends with same year and model car experienced the same problem while driving.
Defect rotor: I have being driving my Altima 02 for 2 years. Three weeks ago (22 month), at less than 17000 miles, I took my car for a brake check because it made a lot of noise. The technician at performance Nissan dealership found that both rear rotors and pads need to be replaced and the front rotors needed to be cleaned and machined. It surprised me since it is such a short period of time and mileage. By the way, I placed a order for rear rotors from a Nissan dealership in tx. They told me they have to place a national order to find the part, and I have to wait for a unknown period of time for the part to come in. So everyday, I have to walk to work. Rusty gas intake pipe: There is a hole at the intake above the left rear tire, so mud and water came in during snow weather, then the intake mouth became rusty.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Holladay, UT, USA