After 7 months of searching for a good, reliable, not too high mileage vehicle for myself and my daughters, with much research and due diligence, I thought I had found the treasure! I purchased this 2008 Nissan Pathfinder with only 116,800 miles on it, sold as "in excellent condition, perfect working" beautiful clean trustworthy vehicle, for $10,500 cash from another mother of 3 who assured me the only reason she was selling was because she bought a new Prius. After doing a 24 step used car checklist, test driving it, running a car fax, and having the vin checked out..PLUS going to the local mechanic who had taken care of this vehicle for years, I believed I had done all the right things, and drove away so excited and happy.

I drove 30 minutes from her home to mine with no problems, however...two days later *having not driven it again until then, on my way out of town on a long drive, I began to hear the high pitched strange, whiny, spinny noise. After arriving to my destination, the noise was worse, and I immediately contracted a mechanic, who thru process of elimination, determined the noise was internal. I then began the long investigation and calling to dealerships in California, only to hear over and over from each service dept that the noise was the timing chain which I now know to be a very very common problem with the Nissan Pathfinder. 2 technical bulletins, a civil case, hundreds of complaints from other Pathfinder owners and 4 different Nissan mechanics diagnosing this to be a common and frequent problem of the Pathfinder, and an estimated repair cost of $1,650.

I am devastated!!! I have opened a case with Nissan Corporation as have hundreds of other owners, but to this date, have not heard back. This problem is connected to several others that my car has only been diagnosed with. I felt I did my due diligence in researching this vehicle, even here at this site, however and apparently, the information on the magnitude of this common problem, I feel was not sufficient enough to keep other people from buying this piece of crap vehicle!!! I have also added another complaint regarding the other MAJOR faulty, dangerous and expensive issue with this car I will need to attend to asap as well. At this point, I bought a car for 10,500 and drove it ONE time!!!!!