1997 Nissan Primera Precision from UK and Ireland - Comments

Severe knocking noise from the front suspension at only 14,000 miles. Believe this to be the front suspension links. Nissan dealership say all Primera's have this severe cracking noise from the front suspension whilst in normal driving situation. Any comments out there?

Rattles from door casings, dash board, and window mechanism.

Reverse gear difficult to engage.

Other than these unacceptable faults, the car appears to be OK.

I regret selling the Golf for the Nissan, believed Nissan cars were good, this is certainly not appearing to be the case in our experience.

The car was previously owned by a mature gentleman and only driven in a gentle manner and treated carefully.

Handling is good.

Air-flow through the car is very poor, unless with high fan settings, this is very noisy so is not used very often.

Cabin is fine in terms of layout, all controls fall to hand easily.

Good fuel economy.

Believe there has been a lack of engineering development work if as dealer suggests, front suspension clunks are normal at 14,000 miles and are getting worse!

I have had 20+ new cars in the last 10 years (two car family) and have become reasonable at judging one make against another. The only ones to date that have been superb have been VW, Mercedes and the best ever - the Audi range.

I'm not surprised you're having suspension problems. This is a known fault that affects nearly all Primeras since 1997. Nissan do not agree that it is a major issue and hence refuse to issue a recall notice. However, I took legal advice through Trading Standards and had my top/bottom links replaced free of charge, even out of warranty. Try to give them a call, they are most helpful. Have a look at my review: SE "Absolute heap of junk"

I'm VERY happy so say that I have just sold my bone-shaker Primera for a measly £3500 with 60k miles just to get shot of it. Please note that these links seem to go every 15-20k miles.

Good luck with your Primera if you're keeping it!

I've got the same on a 1992 Primera. Apparently is the link at the top of the suspension unit.

Brand new ones can knock too - some do, some don't apparently.

It's not an MOT fail here, just annoying at slow speed.

One thing I have to commend Nissan for is the brilliance of the engine with it's chain driven cams. It's so good they are still using it 10 years later!

No problems with our '97 Primera, we're very happy with it.

I have just bought a '98 2.0 GX, and I noticed that there is considerable tyre noise and road noise from the front. apart from that, the Primera is a great car.

I've got a gx1600 my problems ar road noise one of my wippers sqeek and my central locking unlocks on its own every two to three weeks first and last time I buy a nissan.

We have recently bought a Nissan Primera 1.6 precision, we straight away noticed a wobble on the car, as we knew it was in need of a new tyre we put it down to that, but now as the tyre has been replaced and we are still wobbling like a buckled wheel we are worried that the problem might be slightly more serious. There is no noise accompany this wobble, but has anyone got any ideas as to what the problem might be. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks Pete.

I have just bought a 2001 (Y) 1.8 Nissan Primera S from an old-established local dealer. 36,000 miles, immaculate condition. Nice interior, good climate control, adequate power, not bad economy for a 1.8 petrol, good cornering on B roads. The only problem: sometimes it sounds as if I am towing a lawn mower. Healthy suspension sounds on rough roads, but worrying clonks on smooth surfaces for no apparent reason. This is delaying the usual familiarization process. I am always listening for noises. I have taken the car back to the dealer three times and he has offered to let me exchange it. I am still wondering whether I should take up this offer. The rest of his stock is not too exciting right now.

My mum has a 1997 primera here in zimbabwe. it was an import from england. the front suspension makes a very disturbing sound. the mechanics this side said it is the suspension links, but unfortunately we can't find them. any helper?send info. to fadzyshuro@yahoo.com.

Seems this suspension link is a common problem, My 99 Primera 2.0 Sport has just had an advisory at the MOT for the top suspension mount "worn but not yet giving excessive movement" so it would seem that I will have to pay out for this to be done in the next 12 months, Nissan want nearly £300 a side to do the job, so I won't be taking my Primera to them!

My car is 9 years old and done just over 100K and otherwise its very good, I only rarely hear any knocks from the front suspension, so I would say no, it is not a normal thing to hear clonking from the front suspension - unless this joint has become worn, then get that wallet out!

By the way, poor cabin air flow is down to the pollen filter being clogged with debris. It's located behind the glovebox in the Air Con housing. You remove the glovebox by undoing the 4 screws at the top (including the 2 that hold the latch on) and the 2 that you can see at the bottom with the glove box closed, then pull the glovebox out - don't forget to pull the bulb out of the light at the top when you remove it. Directly behind you will see the air con/heater matrix housing to the right of the blower motor assembly and there will be a vertical, thin rectangular piece of black plastic with one single cross head screw at the bottom in the air con/heater housing. Remove this screw and push the plastic retainer upwards and remove it, then slide the pollen filter out, it is mounted vertically - it will be absolutely full of dirt/dead insects/leaves etc so take care to remove it carefully.

New filters can be obtained from Nissan for about £15 - Halfords do not sell them for the Primera P11 97 onwards and P10's 90 - 97 I don't think have them, although I could be wrong. Insert the new filter the same way round as the old one, there is a small plastic tab on one edge of the filter to aid doing this - the fluffy side of the filter should be facing to the passenger side and the fins should be vertical. Refit the cover and the glovebox and presto, you get great ventilation again - its amazing that most people never change this filter (and nor do most service departments (penny pinching)) and then wonder why their cars steam up all the while.

Primera top links are designed with some intentional free play, probably because if it was tight then the 30 degree offset top part of the multi-link suspension could cause a lot of friction and sticking with suspension movement. This free play means they can be noisy on certain road surfaces at slow speeds.

They almost never cause an MOT failure as Nissan issued a bulletin (I've got a copy somewhere) to MOT centres stating that it's not a safety issue unless there's a whopping 1/4" free play. If they get really noisy, then the whole top link arm has to be changed, the Nissan part costs about £100, pattern ones are about £25. It's about 1 hr labour, a back street garage close to me charged £160 for fitting a genuine Nissan link (i.e. £60 + £100). They couldn't see why I wanted it changed, it was fine for the MOT they said.

My offside one got noisy at 74k, the nearside is still OK at 103k.

I have a 2 litre Primera here in South Africa, and I am really impressed with the car's handling and general drive-ability.

(It is a 2002 model, but we are behind the UK / Europe on that, think there it will be a 99 or so)

But, as with the common thread here, the knocking sound coming from my front left suspension on slow speeds going over potholes or speed bumps is causing worry. (Think roads in the UK are bad, try Africa) But after reading some of the posts, my mind is set at ease a bit.

(Thanks to the post of 30th Jan 2009, 13:21)

Question arises though:

1) Can the "free-play" on the top links cause the wheel alignment to be out?

2) I am fitting 2 new front tyres today, (as wear has been un-even on the 2 tyres I am replacing) and just wondering if I will have to have them re-alligned more regularly? Will the "free-play" be able to cause that?

Also, the knocking is progressively getting worse (maybe just in my mind), but I do drive some gravel (farm) roads now and again, which can probably make the free-play more exaggerated!?

But at what time do you replace the whole top link arm as suggested?

Thanks all, this has been extremely helpful.

I have had both top and bottoms suspension links on the left side replaced twice in the last 18 months (that's four suspension arms) :( due to failing safety checks. But the right side is fine.

However this "play" does not affect tyre wear, since my tyres have passed for the last 3 years and still 3mm on each tyre. And the wear is still even (not wearing on the sides).

My Primera 1999 2L has this problem, but replacing the top arm and the drop link has not solved the problem. Otherwise it has been a good car.