Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-77
I got rid of my SER 2 years ago, I have a couple comments on here about the lemon of a car, and I can't believe people are still buying this piece of crap!
It really sucks that even after all the problems that Nissan caused with this car and all upset people, Nissan still wouldn't admit they screwed up. And still people keep buying them. It makes me laugh, and this is whats wrong with the world today. A company like Nissan will continue to make crap and people will continue to buy it because 75% of the world is lemmings. If you know these cars have had issues and Nissan has been sued and everything else, why in the world would you buy one after reading the almost 100 comments about how bad this car is? We need to start holding these companies responsible for there garbage. Unfortunately I think the imports get the benefit of the doubt. People held Ford, GM & Chrysler responsible for all the crap they built now they are going out of business. But what about the imports? Honda from 1999 till like 2004 made crap recall after recall. Even now the new Civics have tons of problems, but people will continue to buy them.
This is a joke I am true to my word and will never buy a Nissan ever again. I may be only 1 person but I hope others follow. When they begin to lose money because people just won't buy there crap anymore then they will wake up.
Good luck to those of you who claim you're still going to buy a Spec-V Sentra.. you're going to need it.
I agree with the guy above... I will never buy another NISSAN ever again.
Owned an 03 Spec V for the past 1 year and 3 months, replaced most of the sensors... car takes a few extra cranks to start up... and the engine got ripped up by the butterfly bolts.
Nissan says it's too old, an 03, for them to do anything about.
The car never came back for any of the 3 recalls up to date, and there is still an outstanding ECU update...
once again, my personal advice, if you're a young guy starting out and want a fun car, or to prove to mom and dad that you're smart and getting a good deal and making the right decision...
DO NOT get this particular car. I don't know about the rest, but DO NOT get this particular model.
I'm sorry to hear that a lot of you are having such extensive problems. I bought my 03 Sentra SER Spec V in September of '03 with 120 miles on it. It now has 106k. I've had all the recalls done, three I believe, heat shield on exhaust, ECU (something about the engine shutting off at high speeds), and the third I can't seem to recall at the moment.
First incident was my own fault. Not use to the car at all (96 Dodge Avenger previously), I hit a curb in a weird Wendy's drive thru, ripping a hole in the tire. Tire is a Continental Contact Extreme. I took it to the dealership to have it replaced and it took over a week to get the tire. No dealer in SC (Nissan dealership or Tire Specialist) had the tire in stock. It was shipped from Montana. Not really a problem, just a little confused as to why they put a tire that is not readily available in a particular area on a car.
The first problem I noticed at about 15k miles was that the shifter had gotten noticeably louder when shifting gears, making a clunking noise. They replaced the bushings and eventually replaced the entire shifting mechanism but it still does it today.
Also, it sometimes seemed to not be securely in First Gear and when you would disengage the clutch the shifter would sort of "pop" out. I mentioned this to the dealership and it was also never fixed, although now it hardly ever does it. Must be worn in.
It does take a bit of work to get it into reverse. Sometimes I need to slowly engage the clutch before it will pop into gear. This could be that I have been very hard on the car, especially as I became more comfortable with it. I've also been guilty of mistiming my shifts and grinding gears a bit, which definitely could be a contributing factor. It also doesn't help that those people that drive your car that are not familiar with the gear box accidentally try to put it in reverse instead of 5th. So this problem, which is more of an annoyance than anything, can be blamed on me so I don't really consider it a fault of Nissan.
At around 80k miles the check engine light came on. Dealership said it was a faulty vacuum valve in the air interchanger? Something like that. Cost me about $600. Engine light went away and the car seemed fine.
The next problem was a faulty grommet on the emergency brake line. It allowed water to get inside and then freeze (PA here) causing the emergency break to lock up. I took it to the dealership and they couldn't reproduce the problem, but they tightened the cable. It happen again, during the next freeze, ruining the brake. Took it back and they could not reproduce the problem. They wanted me to replace the brake though. I argued that was ridiculous. Why would I want to replace a brake that continues to lock up? HELLO!? They wanted me to leave it overnight, with no "loaner" and no compensation to get me to work.
I filed a formal complaint with Nissan. They instructed me to visit a new dealership and assigned a case number. I visited a new dealership, and within 30 minutes of the car being there, they knew exactly what the problem was and had me replace the grommet, casing, and wire assembly, about $130.
The starting problem. I have it too. Haven't taken it in for service yet but sometimes the car will not start on the first try. It makes a good effort, even stuttering sometimes, but does not start. The 2nd try always works. It's been doing this for a while now, but doesn't seem to be getting worse. I'm due for a 100k mile service so I'll mention it to them and see what happens.
The interior of my car, other than being cheap with a bit of scuffs on the door portion that is painted silver, is fine and in great condition. I took care of the interior and it shows. I recommend all weather floor mats. They are awesome! The CD player will heat up during long interstate drives during the winter and sometimes causes the disc not to play (driving from SC to IN). Now that I live in PA some mornings it will say "CD ERROR" when I start the car after turning the car off while listening to a CD. I have to eject the disc and reinsert it for it to work. I should have gotten an aftermarket anyway but never did.
The car has 106k miles on it now. I've had it for 5 years and it's been in the hot heat of SC to the frigid cold of IN and PA. It's been all over the east coast and I've never really had any major problems out of it. A few annoyances here and there, some stupid dealerships with bad service technicians, but nothing major. On a day to day basis I love the car. I love driving it fast, I love taking off at red lights, and I love knowing that there is a bit of power there when I need it. It's like a relationship. There are some things about it that get on your nerves, but nothing that makes you want to breakup. It's been there for me as I've been there for it and I will be sad to see it go when that time comes.
Well you're not all alone; you and everyone else that owns the Spec-V from 02 - 04 or 05 has all the same problems. Fixes??? Forget Nissan, and aftermarket here I come. I got rid of my ECU, did a EMS Pro, got throttle body off ka24 motor, and cable from an 01 Sentra. Saying forget you Nissan and making my own setup better and stronger, but thanks Nissan for the drivetrain and body, so boooo ya.
Yeah right, that's not true, I have had my 03 and had no problem. Yeah I had 5 grand, and so I put it into the car; intake, chip, exhaust, and turbo, no problems at all. I think you guys just don't want anybody else to buy these cars because all of people are buying them because they're awesome.
I've had a 02 Spec V for 5 years and 105,000 miles and the only problems I've had, I've encountered in the last 6 months. Those being the throwout bearing and the power steering pump are wearing and need replaced. I was in the military and drove my car in every climate all over the country, doing routine maintenance as called for. I think that most of these problems are people mistreating their car and treating every stoplight like a drag strip.
I bought my 03 Spec V in January 07 with about 80k on it, put about $1600 in it, DC headers, Greddy cat and AEM cold air. Ran it around pretty hard for a while, and put on about 13k miles in about 6 months driving from central Texas to Albuquerque, (1500 miles round trip). Never had a problem with it until now, when I'm trying to sell it nonetheless. I'm pretty sure it's a bad fuel pump, due to the fact that they normally start to go bad around 100k, but other than that I've loved this car since day one. I really don't need one anymore though, it's not that practical for my uses and it will be missed greatly... It's sad to let go of such a reliable vehicle in these unreliable times.
OK, first of all this is the very first time that I have ever written any views. I know many people are having the hard starting problem. I have a 2006 SER SPEC V, and did not even notice the hard starting. My problem was the gas gauge went out. Still under warranty, they replace the unit inside the tank. I had asked them to replace the fuel filter as the same time since it is inside the tank. Well the whole unit is the valve, filter, and gas gauge. That is when they found the valve not working properly. Once I started her up the first time, since the repair, I noticed I did not have to have the key on that long. Before the repair, I had notice a little less power from the time I bought it (new). Now the power is bake. So for all of you that are having a problem I would get the valve checked, and have the filter replaced. Might take a day or two since they have to drop the tank and look inside. Hope this helps everyone else.
I have an 03 Spec V approaching 96,000 miles. I've had it a couple years now. I have a cold air intake and a Kensai exhaust. I drive this thing like it's on fire. It doesn't leak or burn a drop. It starts fine, but does idle a little rough at lights when the AC is on. I hope these comments are not a list of what is in store for me. I hope to get it turbo'd in the next year.
I've had my 06 Spec-V for three years. Bought it new, got cold air intake on it, headers (megan) easy to install your self, and a muffler.
The car makes really odd noises (not the motor) but the actual car frame, but other than that it's been good to me, but keep in mind I pamper the damn car 91 fuel with mobil 1 synthetic.
No problems on it, the car has 30,000 miles on it now.
Since I put the headers in, the SES light comes on, tried the spacer thing, didn't work for me, gotta try something else.
Does anyone know where I can get a high flow cat for it? and no it doesn't sound tight with headers on it, it sounds like a rice rocket, and is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the car has bad gas mileage? Not horrible, but not great. I thought it being a four banger it would get better mpg than my Mustang GT.
Wow so many different problems. I've got a 03 SpecV new and haven't put that many miles on it over the years (40,000) Still original motor but it got a header @ 2,500m. But I've been thru power steering racks, injectors and about 8 other little things. I switched to Mobile 1 before it hit 4,000 and added a bottle of Zmax; that may be the only reason it still runs at all. If this motor goes I'll be doing a swap. Does anybody else wave suspension noises?
I have an 03 Nissan Spec V and I'm on my second motor!!! Burning oil 1st, then I bought another motor, and now the head gasket, radiator and other things went out. It's an around town driver for me, not a race car, and I'm so poor because I still owe about 10 grand on the car.. what to do, what to do. Just wanted to warn other people!
I have an 02 SER with an auto tranny. Got her 3 years ago with 34K miles and now have around 86K. Have had a couple of problems, but have gotten really lucky so far.
First was when I was leaving a buddy's house and the car wouldn't start. Turned over fine, but never start. Turned out my ECM died with no warning or signs at all. It was at 76k and the warranty on the ECM is 80k. So other than my mechanic and towing fees, I got the work done for free.
Had replaced the crankshaft sensor, and replaced the camshaft sensor for the hell of it.
I know the QR25DE is known for killing itself, that's why I cruise with an automatic. I'm not giving the 02 Sentra SER any good reps because I don't really think they are great cars, but I do enjoy mine when she's working.
I do have hard starts sometimes, but that's a flywheel issue. And once I didn't drive her for a week and had to crank her 8-9 times before she started.
I do drive her hard, and sometimes open her up, but again I have an auto so I'm not ripping her a new one when I do.
Only done a short ram intake and motor mount inserts, and I'm about to relocate the knock sensor (due to inserts causing vibration while idling in drive, my RPMS start fluttering at 500 and she starts idling rough) and might get a Nismo intake to replace SR for better air.
So all in all, I'd give this car a 3 out of 5. like her looks and her curves (the way she drives) but her get up and go is laughable. Like a fatty that got liposuction, she may look like she's in good shape, but make the $#%@^ run a mile and she'll be puking out her stomach staples...
BTW - for those that may have overlooked the fact, ONLY use premium gas with these engines... Not reg with octane boost or any of that crap, it makes a difference.
Hi all, I own a 2003 Spec V SER and I have all the problems everyone else has.
I just hit 82k, and out of nowhere one day my car lost half its acceleration, engine vibrates the dash like crazy when driving at 2.5K rpm and up.
Also the engine is making a whining sound at 2.5k rpm and up. After being warmed up and driving it, when idling it wants to almost die and has died now, but will not die while driving. I have no engine light on either. I did drive it pretty hard close to red line and might of hit the rev limiter at times. I bought the car at 44k with no problems. Every oil change (3k) I lose probably a quart of oil. I use synthetic oil. I have a magnaflow catback system with a hi flow cat, OBC headers, throttle body space, aluminum pulley, Nismo cold air intake, and iridium spark plugs. I have had all recalls performed and recently the ECU reprogrammed.
I have every mechanic scratching their heads on this one. I have replaced and checked the following:
* Replaced crank and cam position sensors
* Replaced my Magnaflow hi flow cat
* Checked butterfly valve screws
* Checked vacuum lines
I am months from paying off the car, and I'm dumping so much money into the car trying to get it to work. I am worried now from all these engine replacements everyone is talking about.
I will check my spark plugs and see if they are blackened. I also see others saying the fuel pump and relay. It really is a big mystery right now and this sucks. I wonder if my ECU is malfunctioning and it should be throwing a code that something is wrong, but recently I get the ecu reprogram done at Nissan so wouldn't they have been able to catch this? :\
Anyways, if I can get this thing fixed, I will be trading it in for sure if not soon, possibly next spring. I have gotten its money worth out of it, and funs worth driving it like I'm on a race track :)
Couple of things I would try for that 03 Spec V with 82k...
First try a gas pedal position relearn followed by the idle air relearn, just to make sure the air intake is exactly correct (should throw code if not) but I'd suspect those headers causing your prob.
Did you relocate your knock sensor the correct way when installing those headers? The car is trying to correct its knock (high vibes created by non-OEM headers), which are the vibes you feel when in idle, and also could damage your qr25de if run this way for some time.
The clutch and flywheel might also be an issue, based on how you drive.
Also inspect your motor mounts, could look into inserts, but that'd actually make the vibration worse, but wouldn't cause a stall (what you say as "when idling it wants to almost die and has died now")
I'll stop there because this isn't the place to trouble shoot, this is a review source. When you do mods or tweaks on your car, you are putting your car's stock specs off, so unless you have a stock Sentra with nothing more than an air intake mod (cold air intake or short ram) then you are pushing your engine over its factory suggested limits, and complaining when the engine blows... everything has its balance.