1996 Nissan Primera SLX from UK and Ireland - Comments

Starter motor failed at 50,000.

Sunroof rattles. This is very annoying.

At 65,000, the engine developed a squeak. I took it to the Nissan dealer and they changed my fan belt and p/s belt.

The squeak was actually a blocked camshaft spray bar causing one of the cam lobes to squeak! I now have unknown engine wear. Thanks to the useless Nissan dealer for NOT recognising this fault (a little local garage sorted the problem for me). The car had been regularly serviced beforehand. These spray bars must be very prone to blockage.

It is quick.

The sports setting on the box gives you extra revving before gear change.

It handles quite well.

Under steers slightly (FF cars do though).

Turning circle is a joke! I find myself doing 5 point turns!!

Never heard of this problem. sounds like you've been very unlucky with that car.

True- the turning circle is a joke on the '96 model, but the 2000 model I have now is significantly worse even than that!! around town it has the manoevreability of a train.

Hi, I feel an update is due as I am picking up my new Primera Sport Plus VT6A this weekend!

The car has been OK since the cam oil feeder problem. What a shame that had to happen. Everything else has been OK since. One thing that I'll be trading this car in with is a VERY rusty tailgate hinge. It's completely rotted away.

Looking forward to owning the Sport Plus. I'm still a Nissan fan despite the niggles.

I too have had a problem with the rear cam oil spray bar on my 1993 Nissan Primera SLX. The problem exhibited itself as a loud squeak that happened occasionally when the engine was cold. Due to the noise becoming very loud I eventually took it to my Nissan dealer and he removed the rear spray bar. He pointed out that it was blocked and I might need to replace the cam followers and even the cam, some 900 euros. I couldn't afford to pay for this work so asked him to put it all back together.

I returned home and removed and unblocked the spray pipe myself. This was fine for about a year, but it happened again recently and I removed the cover and again proceeded to unblock the spray bar, but thought I'd remove the front spray bar and check that although it has never had a problem. When comparing the two spray bars side by side I noticed several quite significant design differences, apart from the shape. They were obviously different manufacturers and the oil feed holes were of different diameter. The holes in the that had the blockage problems were quite tiny compared to the good one. I decided that I'd widen the holes to approximately the same size as the other spray bar. This has fixed the problem and the engine runs quite smoothly now. I'm sure Nissan knows something about this problem and is keeping quiet.

I would say that this car is the nicest and most comfortable car I've ever driven and I have done 60000 miles since I purchased it.

I hope this may help others.

I had blocked cam oil feeds on my 94 2.0 a very common fault

caused by long oil change intervals.

Also loads of suspension problems,