2003 Nissan Sentra SER from North America - Comments

I financed a 2003 Nissan automatic SER that was a trade in at a GM dealership for $15,000.

For the first 8 months I had no issues at all.

I owned a 1988 Z28, 88 Trans am, and a 95 Dodge spirit all of them had repairs done every couple of months.

I decided to try something different buying this Sentra.

I bought it because of its look and speed. Took it for a test drive and it blew me away the quickness of this car.

However since April I have had nothing, but problems with this car.

First the car would take at least 5 cranks before I could get it started.

Took the car in and Nissan then told me it was foam in the ECM. They fixed that.

The car then began to stall in traffic. Took the car in to Nissan they told me there is nothing wrong. Called Nissan Canada they said that its possibly a cam sensor.

Back into Nissan and told them about the cam sensor. they told me its not on recall and I will have to pay for it. Told them no way.

Month later get a recall letter for the cam sensor. Took it into to Nissan they fixed it.

Month after that I got another recall for another sensor. Took it in again they fixed it.

Sub woofer that comes with the car no longer working. Took it into an audio shop they won't touch it. Took it to Nissan it would cost me hundreds to replace. Forget that!

Month later engine light comes on. Nissan said it was a small issue fixed and repair under warranty.

Week later rattling coming from the pre-catalytic converter. Nissan took my car for 4 days stating that the catalytic is fried and that they did not have screw for a new one they were on back order.

Left the dealership and they forgot to tell me that they spilt coolant all over the manifold and engine. Drove car in traffic with steam seeping from the hood for over an hour.

NOW the engine is eating the oil in the car like nothing I have ever seen. Checked the oil level 2 weeks ago it was full. Checked the oil level today and it is bone dry not even a tiny bit... its empty!!!

Called Nissan they said they don't know what it could be. Told them what I read on here about the Pre-Catalyst they said they never heard of it.

I now have to bring the car back in again for them to look over.

I honestly loved the car when I bought it and now with all the issues I will never buy another. Now I'm stuck with this car for the next 4 yrs.

The car handles great looks mean from the front, has torque like a V6, V8.

No stock Honda on the road could compete.

Even gave a 2000 Mustang a run for its money.

Other than that the transmission feels like its banging into each gear no matter how slow you go.

The speakers in the car are horrible and expensive to replace.

Once you spill anything on the crappy cloth seats you can't get the stains out.

The engine fan sounds likes its on all the time Nissan says that's normal.

Sometimes the car takes off like a rocket and other times its slow. Not reliable HP!!

If this car didn't have the problems it would be a fast and fun car.

Advice is never finance one... you will be stuck with it for life. I love Nissan, but all of these cars should be pulled off of the streets and replaced with new ones!

Well, I own a SER Specv. All I can say is if you research a bit before you invest and take care of the car, you wouldn't have a problem with it. G'luck!

I TOO own a 2003 Nissan Lemon, I mean Sentra SE-R Spec V. It now has 93,000 miles on it. I started this ordeal at 91,000.

I called the 800-Nissan 1 number to report that my car burns a quart of oil every 300-400 miles. When I called, they notified me that there were 2 open recalls on the car, and they would get the dealer to run diagnostics as to why its burning so much oil. The two recalls involved a computer reprogram and removing a foam surrounding the computer. Okay, we're off on the right foot.

I took it to the dealership, they provided me a rental mainly because it was primarily recall work. I had the car back the next day. The service adviser (REALLY cool guy) said they had to change the oil to start the "Oil consumption test" and to bring it back in either 700 miles or when it's a quart low.

ONE WEEK LATER (to the hour of getting it back) : I am driving to work at 75 mph to keep up with Charlotte traffic and not get run over. The engine stalled, and would not start back. I had it towed back to the same dealership and they tell me that the computer is not responding to anything they do to it. It shows no signs of being fried, just stopped working. The service adviser said he tried to get Nissan to possibly assist the repair, but he was shot down at minute 1. I told him I would call Nissan myself. Rental car? HAHAHAHA! no.

I call them upon leaving the dealership. It takes a couple days for them to respond to me. Finally they do asking me where I took the car to get it serviced. "I'll call you back in a little bit".

I get the phone call in 2 days. They say there is nothing they are going to do about the car because its supposively 50,000 miles past the warranty period. Wouldn't this be covered under powertrain, making it 30,000 miles out of warranty? Also, didn't it break a week after your dealership messed with it?

They want a second opinion. I'll get a call back in a few more days. The MLK holiday passes, still without a car, and I get the same response back. I've already ordered a used computer from a scrap yard. I'm so mad about it already that my temperature rises a few degrees when I even hear the words Nissan, or Sentra, or computer. "The two are not related, so we will not be in position to provide assistance. Had the problem happened before the recall was done, we might could". So a problem surfaces, that's recall related 1 week after the recall work is performed? He keeps trying to tell me how simple and petty the work they did to the car was, and how it could not be related. Isn't that why the car was recalled? If it was so petty, why was it RECALLED!?

I haven't even gotten started on the oil problem yet, I'm still trying to get past the whole computer ordeal right now. As for Nissan, my lover was driving me around the week and a half that I waited for my car. We spent a lot of boredom time looking at what might be the "next car". Needless to say that Frontier he wanted is now out of the question.

I hope Nissan ends up like Mitsubishi was a few years back... IN FINANCIAL RUINS FOR ALL THE LITTLE PEOPLE THEY SQUASHED

Writing back about my 2003 Nissa Sentra SER.

I just want to say I'm a huge Nissan fan. By far I don't hate Nissan, but I do have a problem with the Sentra. You may say it's a Lemon, but I work with people that have the same car and the same problems. I see it as the people that have this car and no problems either they have under 60,000 and it has not yet begun or they have been very lucky. Go to a dealership tell me how many Sentras you see in the parking lot by the Garage.

SO I took the car in 6 times all for oil consumption tests. Every time the car would burn the oil within a week to a week and a half. Nissan just kept filling it up and giving it back to me. The last day they did this I told the Manager that unless this is fixed I won't take the car back. The Manager said he could not do anything and is following procedure.

So I went into the sales office and explained that I don't want the car anymore. They offered me $10,000 for the car and tried to get me into a 2005 Altima. At first I thought it would be a good deal. I came online to see info on the Altima and its another headache the same engine 2.5 nothing, but recalls and problems.

This is where I made the biggest decision of my life!!

Someone came into the dealership and traded in a 2005 Honda Civic SE.

No offence to Civic owners, but I told myself I would never buy one. But after all the issues I've had at Nissan I took it. I had to take a loss on the Sentra, but when the manager gave me the keys for the Civic and I signed the paper work he whispered to me.. it's a good thing you didn't take a Nissan right now. He said all the Sentras with 2.5 litre engines are all ticking time bombs. He explained everyone will have a problem at some point with it because it was designed poorly. He also said don't buy any year Altima as even the new ones are already being brought back including his wifes.

I have now had this slow boring Honda Civic for a month and despite pulling up at a light with 10 other Civics despite the car being slow as molasses running up hill this car is no headache. I have given this car to my wife and have taken over her 2002 Hyundai that has gone 100,000 without one issue, but next year I get my new baby!!!

SUBARU IMPREZA WRX!! and with what I've read it's a good reliable car.

Good Luck to everyone who has not yet found any problems with their Sentra. I understand the 1.8 is pretty good.

Just a little advice.. when your Catalytic converter goes get rid of the car. Despite all the issues and recalls when the cat went and the guy explained to me this happens eventually with all 2.5 Sentras and the inside of the cat gets chewed up and run through the engine I knew it was all over.

Best of luck and I'm already curious about the new 2008 Sentra SER.. who knows.

First let me say that I have always thought highly of Nissan automobiles. I learned how to drive in a 1990 Nissan Sentra. To this day the car is still running like a dream. I never once had a problem with that car. I kept this in mind when I purchased my 2003 Nissan Sentra. Let me also say that we have always taken very good care of our vehicles and kept up with the maintenance religiously. The first problem I had was within months after purchasing the car. The control for the heat and air conditioning decided to get stuck on heat. Nissan replaced it with no problems. I had not had any problems until about six months or so ago. The car would not start if the blower was on for the defrost/air conditioner. Once shutting that off the car would start. Then the car started making very strange water trickling noises inside the dash. Shortly after the heat in the car would work until the car warmed up and then it blows ice cold air. I took it to the Nissan dealer, who in the past has been very courteous.

That began my Nissan nightmare. First of all I called the service department to schedule an appointment to fix my car. I got the answering machine. They proceeded to call me back nearly a week later. However, the man on the other end of the line was very nice and said to bring it in two days later in the morning. I proceeded to take my car in when the man had asked me to and the service person who was there was very rude to me. He stated that I was not in the computer. He proceeded to ask me if I had ever had work done at Nissan before. I told him I had and he still insisted that I was not in the computer. I told him what was going on with the car and that it would also need a state inspection. I also told him that the gentleman I had spoken with previously had stated that they would not go ahead with the state inspection until they had my heat situation figured out which I was in agreement with.

This guy calls me back the next day and proceeds to tell me that I would need to replace the thermostat, which my brother in law had replaced the week before, the water pump and he also said it would cost around $800 to do this and inspect the car. I was furious. My husband told the man on the phone that we had just replaced the thermostat and he said he would still have to replace it because he would end up breaking it getting the water pump off. Personally I didn't think that should be an expense of mine if he is going to break it. He also stated that it needed breaks, windshield wipers, and a bulb for the license plate. The car already has brand new brakes as well as brand new windshield wipers. I did not allow him to inspect the car. I felt the man was trying to rip me off. We did allow him to fix the water pump because he stated that was the diagnosed problem.

When I went to pick my car up $320 some odd dollars later for the water pump and labor... I went to start my car and it hesitated to start like it had before. I turned the fan control off and then it started. I went to pull out of Nissan and my car made that weird water trickling noise again. It was blowing heat though so I tried not to be too upset. My house is only about 5 miles up the road from Nissan and before I got there my car was blowing ice cold air again.

I called them up and the man said well if it's not the water pump then it is probably the head gasket and that will cost you between $800-$900. I was so angry when I hung up the phone. I could not believe the poor quality of service that I had received especially from a place that I had always felt confident in in the past. I still for the life of me cannot figure out how they can tell me they "diagnosed" the problem as one thing and then the car is NOT repaired and suddenly tell me I need to dump nearly a thousand dollars more into it. I am ready to find a stick of dynamite and blow the thing up.

We also own a 1999 Nissan Frontier which we have had absolutely no problems with... as of yet. My entire family has always thought highly of Nissan service as well as their craftsmanship and have even talked in-laws and friends into purchasing them. I don't think I will be bragging about Nissan so much after this experience.

The 1990 Nissan that I had owned is still running to this day and has over 200K miles.

Very Disgusted Nissan Owner.

As for the original post.. there is an issue with these cars in which the Butterfly valves, inside the intake manifold, they have 2 screws holding each valve down. They tend to come loose in 2002-2005 models, 2006 has revised screws. It is possible a screw got sucked into your engine, possibly scoring your cylinder walls a little, then getting sucked into the CAT. This happened to me, but I was lucky enough to have no scoring of the Cyl. walls. I bought new revised screws and replaced them, and loc-tited them. GOOD AS GOLD now with 80k.

I'm not defending the Sentra - the 2003 wasn't up to Nissan's normal durability standars. But I do find it interesting that the original poster has had, by his own admission, FIVE cars that needed service in the first few months.

In fact I've owned numerous Nissans and Hondas that needed nothing in their first 100,000 miles other than normal service.

I'm 55 years old and have owned too many cars to remember, and I haven't owned a single car that needed a repair in that short a period of time. If I were this poster I would step back and 1) look at how I'm treating and driving my new cars, and 2) get help from somebody who knows something about cars next time I shopped.

That's Nissan in a nutshell. Great cars, but one of, if not the worst company for customer service.