2002 Nissan Altima 2.5 S from North America - Comments

I just bought a used 2002 2.5 Altima for my son. 100k miles on it. He's put 1000 miles on it and says the A/C cuts off.

Then the top radiator hose burst (3" split); the car would not start after this.

The mechanic says head gasket & or head. What do you guys know? (I bought this used from a dealer with a 30 day/1000 miles warranty). He's had it 92 days and 1000 miles. Any thoughts?

Our 2002 Altima 2.5S is back in the shop today, purchased brand new in Dec 2001 and has less than 50k miles on it. It has the typical reported rough starting and was taken to the dealer because the check engine light has come on more than once. The dealer anticipated engine problems and performed repeated double checks to confirm engine problems. After double checks he stated that the head gasket appears to have a failure and needs to be replaced at a cost of $1000. He discussed the issue with my husband who is a professional engineer and is very familiar with car engines. My husband feels that a failure of a head gasket without extreme heat is very unusual and this was supported by the Nissan mechanic. Any chance that Nissan will own up to a problem with the head gasket or a warped head? If not, we may be trading it in now before it's too late. Feel free to contact us at dcwa123@yahoo.com with any words of wisdom.

I bought my wife a 2001 Nissan Altima; we loved it, but a lady ran a red light and totaled it; the insurance company subsequently replaced with a 2002 Nissan Altima with about 19,000 miles on it. I take great care of all my vehicles. I have all the routine maintenance done on time, and I use the best lubricants, etc. I have had it back into the shop a couple of times for various recalls and they were fixed properly. The car turned over 68,000 miles and the last couple of oil changes I noticed that it had started to use oil.

Then my wife told me that she had started to notice that it was running roughly on cold starts, and the check engine light would come on and go off. So I told her to take it to the dealership to see what the problem was. The dealer informed me that it had a head gasket leak. When the car is cold it will leak coolant into the cylinder head, and coolant in the combustion chamber is not good. Because antifreeze is very corrosive, it scores the inside of the cylinders and causes the oil consumption to increase.

I contacted Nissan customer support and got nowhere. They said all the recalls on my car had been taken care of and there was nothing else they could do. This was my fifth, and the last Nissan I will ever purchase.

One of my co-workers told me about this site; I cannot believe the number of people who have had the same problem with this same model Nissan Altima. The mechanic at the dealership told me that this is an ongoing problem with this model engine. I just don't see Nissan stepping up to the plate to recall this problem. By the way, it cost $1245.00 to get it fixed, but that is not going to solve the oil consumption problem, nor all the converters and oxygen sensors going bad because of all the oil that was burned.

I purchased a 02 Altima 2.5S with 70000 miles last July. I wish I would have done my research on this vehicle. Within a month of having the Altima my check engine light came on. I got the diagnostic and it was a multi-cylinder misfire. I got my spark plugs changed. Everything was okay until Feb-07. My light came back on, I got a diagnostic and it was the same thing. Spark plugs, O2 Sensors, and engine cleaned was done. Everything was fine until June 15th. My car would not start all of a sudden. I had it towed to the nearest Nissan dealer and they said that the engine was flooded. They changed the plugs, coils, and dried the engine out. Two days later car, Altima would start, but cut back off. I had it towed again and after 4 days they could not get the car to duplicate the problem. This happened to me 4 more times and then it was said that the fuel pump needed to be changed. In that time I filed a complaint with Nissan Consumer Affairs and got a slap in the face because the master tech could not duplicate the problem. I was able to duplicate the problem in front of the Service Mgr. and Adviser. I got the labor for the fuel pump for free. 5 weeks later my Altima would not start again. Towed back to the Dealer and another file with Consumer Affairs and BBB. Tech says that it is the gaskets, BBB and Consumer Affairs says nothing that they can do because of the mileage. There has to be something for the consumers of Nissan. We are getting ripped off with no help from the Consumer Agencies. I can be reached at amondez1981@yahoo.com if you have some help.

I bought a 2002 SL in 2004 and have had nothing but problems with it. The catalytic converter went at 80K (under warranty).

The fuel filler tube leaked, the ABS rear wheel sensor failed, the rad leaked, the sub frame was replaced, two recalls, and eats a quart of oil every couple of weeks. Not impressed at all! Last time I buy a Nissan.

I have a 02 Nissan Altima, I purchased it in October of 06. The first couple months,very impressed! When April rolled around everything started. Here starts the stress!!! Everytime I would start it, it would either shake really bad or it would act like it wasn't going to start, lost A lot of power and the idle was always up and down up and down and finally my check ingine light came on. So I took it to the dealership where I purchased the car from and they had it almost all day before they figured out the problem. They said it was a defected catalytic converterwhicj had cause extreme damage. The catalytic converter was breaking into pieces inside and all those pieces was somehow going into the engine.CRAZY!!! I ask how is that possible, I was told there was no seal between that pipe and some pipe that leads to the engine.Luckly, I DIDN'T have to pay 1 cent for the converter,02 sensor and a brand new engine. But here it is only september and I'm having problems again, not the same thing, but something else. Now, when I'm stopped at a light or something my car, sometimes, jerks. Seems to mostly happen when the a/c or heat is on. It's also shaking a good bit, the idling is malfuncting again. What is the problem now?! I really starting to hate this car. I know for sure I will never buy another Nissan again!!!

I have a 2002 nissan altima I file a complain with the nhtsa. com against nissan that what everyone need to do they can handle nissan that can make nissan do recall I have oil consuming coolant loss.

I feel sorry for everyone out there with Altima problems. But I want to say thanks for taking the time to post your issues because I was thinking of buying a used Altima for my daughter. I wouldn't touch the car after reading all of your comments.

Thanks - Tom.

Hello all.

I own a 2002 Nissan Altima 2.5S. Had very good luck so far. 90K miles. Had all the recall issues taken care of early. Always used Amsoil synthetics for lubricants. Changed the coolant every 2 years with Preston extended stuff. Just got back from a 1200 mile trip and the oil level, and coolant level did not change at all. So far so good. We'll see. Hard starting issue was because of recall issue where sensor board needed to be replaced. I thank everyone else for posting their issues, I will keep an eye on mentioned points.

Derek Silmser

Ottawa, Canada.

I have 2003 2.5 S Altima and have had all of the same problems mentioned. We just recently had the radiator and hose replaced; fortunately, we had an extended warranty that covered all but the $100 deductible (otherwise it was going to be $1600 for the repair). However, now that the weather has turned cooler I thought this would have fixed my heating issue, but it didn't. My car still won't get warm until I hit 45+ miles/hour. Any ideas what could cause this? I've also had the coolant drained and head gaskets replaced. Could it be a heater coil or thermostat issue?

Wow! There are so many of you in the same frustrating mode as me! I bought my 2002 Altima 2.5S at the end of 2001 brand new. It has a manual transmission. At less than 82,000 miles, I had to have the long block replaced! It cost me $4482.96! There is not an acceptable excuse from Nissan that will satisfy this aggravation they have put me through other than a class action lawsuit and/or reimbursements for the money it has cost me! Since I am NOT rich enough to immediately replace this piece of junk car, I was forced to borrow the money to pay for the repair, and I still owe this money to this day! In addition, my clutch pedal does not retract! I have had the Nissan Service Dealer replace the clutch kit twice, and it's still not retracting! This has so far cost me close to $1000!

Nissan should do the right thing and get on-line to this site, hear all these complaints, and respond! I am taking this further, such as to the Better Business Bureau and Investigative Reports at NBC. You folks should do the same as Nissan needs a wake up call, such as bad publicity, before they will take us seriously. No other new buyers should go through the same pains we are all still going through. My next car will NEVER be Nissan again. Spread the word!

I have recently purchased a 2002 Nissian Sentra SER the car has run great until one morning when it was cold. After seeing all of the problems I am looking to trade.

I bought my 2002 Nissan Altima brand new. At a little under 100,000 miles started having no heat at speeds under 50mph. Took it to my mechanic who reverse flushed the heater core and replaced the fluid. Didn't work. They said the core is plugged and would cost $700 to replace. Then check engine light started going on and then off. Mechanic said it was a loose fuel cap. Replaced that to no avail.

Took it to another mechanic who also flushed core and changed both thermostats (why there are two, who knows). He found a technical service bulletin that said the heater core gets air bubbles that are hard to burp out. The TSB recommended jacking the front end of the car way up in the air and using a hand-made contraption to refill the coolant without air. The TSB also stressed that the fluid to water ratio needs to be exactly 55-45% to avoid creation of air bubbles in the core. Even after all of this still no heat. in the mean time it started burning oil and fluid.

Finally decided to take it to Nissan. The said it shows a 420 code which means oil is blowing past the rings and fouling the catalytic converter. They said it needs a long block at a cost of around $4,500! When I asked for a detailed explanation of what happened inside the engine, they were at first evasive and then tried to blame me for "only changing the oil every 4,500 miles". Another mechanic friend of mine said this engine has a drive shaft, a cam and another shaft that changes the timing at certain rpms to enhance performance. He said it is a really poor design and there are a growing number of problems with them.

I am going to fight Nissan on this. It is time for Nissan to step up and take responsibility for this obvious design flaw. So much for Japanese quality!

I can't believe that the people that we elect in office would let this company treat the hard working who buy this product. I also have the 2002 2.5 and I am in the process of putting in a new Catalytic Converter (used from parts dealer). After reading the horror stories, I believe I am wasteing my time and money on this car. I guess that I am lucky that no dealer has ripped me off and charged me hard earned money when they know that they cannot fix the problems. I guess it is called greed, Think about it as soon as you step up to the service counter the first sign is not welcome it is $90.00 an hr labor. That is what we get for turning away from the things that made this country great. Looking to unload this hunk of junk.

Hello everyone!

I just bought a used 2005 Altima 2.5L and am already having the starting problem. I am thinking of calling AAA, have my car jump started and go to the nearest dealer. :(

I wish I came by this site before I dropped the check. Kindly advise on what is the best thing to do. BTW I heard that there is a sensor recall.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/26/autos/nissan_recall.ap/index.htm