2002 Nissan Altima 2.5 S from North America - Comments

My dad just bought me my first car, a 2002 Nissan Altima 2.5s with 84,000 miles.

I thought it was a great car, a nice looking car for my very first vehicle. I was so excited until I read all these recalls.

I'm not experiencing any cold start problems, but when the car is cold, especially when I put my foot on the gas pedal, you start to hear a weird "clicking" noise in the engine area. Also my heat doesn't work and my brakes feel like garbage.

My door doesn't close, and there's also a wind issue problem (hole in the sealer allows a buzzing or wind noise to enter the car through the door sealer).

I'm sort of sick of this car; I'm going to tell my dad to bring it back to the dealer. I have a 30 day warranty/100,000 miles. I want my money back or a new car. This is bad; all I wanted was a nice car that will last me awhile for my first vehicle, I guess I ran out of luck this time :'(

I have an 02 2.5 altima also and I am having all the above.

Oil loss no heat hard starting check eng. light coolant loss. I guess my head gasket is on the way out due to the coolent loss and no leaks. hocebob@aol.com

I am the owner of a 2002 Nissan Altima 2.5 - having the SAME issues that are described in ALL of these posts! :- (My car started overheating about a year ago and we realized my coolant level was low a lot. So I replaced the radiator, because there actually was a leak there. Had a lot of shaking/hesitation with starting so we did a tune-up, replacing the spark plugs and etc... it seemed to do fine til' recently. The coolant is low, but no leaks, hesitation/shaking when I start and it registered a mis-fire on one of the cylinders. Right now we're guessing it is the head gasket since all this added up points right at it! :- (I am lucky enough to have a friend who does my work for me, but geez, I'm tired of having it worked on now!

I had my engine and cat converter replaced in Aug of 07 free of charge, due to only having 78,000 miles on my car. But they charged me for replacing my 02 Sensors, which was $450.00.

Just last month in April one of my ignition coils went bad. Dealership wanted to replace all four. I declined and just got the bad one replaced. Two weeks ago my car stalled out on me when I was getting off the freeway, and I was barely able to drive it to the nearest dealer. Intake manifold and gaskets were damaged; they also recommended changing my spark plugs.

Bottom line is these cars are pieces of crap; no matter how much money you are going to invest in these cars to fix them, something else is bound to go wrong. My suggestion to everyone is get rid of the damn car and get a Honda or Toyota or anything but a Nissan. The only way we can hurt this company is by spreading the word that Nissans are horrible. They have hurt themselves really bad by not accommodating their customers that have had problems with their cars. I guarantee in the future Nissan will be hurting in the long-run, because due to their horrible customer service and crappy cars, many people will not trust them and buy their crappy cars.

I am so sick and tired of hearing their commercial of how durable their new Altima's are. Just by that commercial it shows that they are already trying to mend the reputation of the Altima, which I believe is going to be tarnished for a long time due to our voices.

I purchased a 2002 with the 2.5 new. After about 90,000 miles, I noticed no heat at idle or at speeds under 40/45 mph. I have a regular 3000/3200 mile oil-filter change in addition to all fluid check. When the no heat problem started, I noted no anti-freeze coolant in the reservoir ---- removed the radiator cap, added about half gallon, but did notice that the radiator cap came off with little or no effort. Adjusted the cop flange to provide a much tighter fit and the problem was solved. Car now has 113,000 miles and the heat works fine with no issues of coolant loss.

I do continue to have an oil consumption problem --- It's not oil seals or rings, does not smoke, no leaks, bottom of engine is dry and no evidence of residue inside the exhaust pipe --- Where is the oil going?

Ron.

You have a blown head gasket due to the catalytic converter overheating and blowing particles into your engine. You are going to have to replace your engine, catalytic converter, and O2 sensors. Welcome to the club. Nissan Sucks!

I have a 2003 Altima, and I'm happy to say that today I will trade it in, even if it is at a big loss.

In March I had to replace the cat and O2 sensor like many more, and I was hoping that it will end my worries.

Recently I noticed the same symptoms like the first time, so I am just going to get rid of the car. And you can be sure, no more Nissan for me.

I am now on my second engine, and I am having the same issues of low antifreeze, and problems starting my car everyday to the point where I am embarrassed to own the car that I liked in the beginning.

The car lost power while driving on the highway, which disabled my power steering and brake, which could have caused an accident, which was luckily avoided.

I have 02 altima service engine soon came on it said to replace the cat and the 2 oxygen sensors and the light came on again hooked up the scanner again and it said the injector was bad number 4 its been about 4 days and the light has not come on and have not replaced the injector I have already but I don't think its the problem.

I just sold my 2002 Nissan Altima! I really feel like a burden was lifted off my shoulders.

After I paid for the repairs for the intake manifold and gaskets ($800.00), two weeks later my car over heated on the freeway. I took it back to the dealer and this time it was the radiator, thermostat and hoses that needed to be replaced at $1100.00. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I told the dealer to shove it, and informed him Nissan needs to quit making their cars like $#^%.

I looked online for used car buyers, and sold it to the highest bidder for $6,000.00. I know I probably took a loss, but I look at it like I cut my losses and moved on. I even had Nissan repair my engine and cat converter for free, and even after that the car still was a lemon.

Sorry to say I won’t be back on this web site. It’s been fun. Good luck to you all.

This is very interesting reading and I thank you all for your posts. My wife's 2002 Altima just has the "Service Engine Soon" light symptom. The oil levels/quality has been fine and the coolant is OK too. Is this just the first sign of troubles or do I have another problem in your opinion (s)?

Some other data:

(1) The gas cap connection has had a lot more corrosion on it than I've ever seen on a car before. I have always assumed that this is causing a bad seal. Frequent cleaning has allowed me to reset the SES light in the past, but seems to be less effective now.

(2) The dealer did a diagnostic on the engine (for $70) and came up with nothing. The light reset... for 1000 miles.

Thanks for any input.

Well, we just got a call from the Nissan dealership - we've got a blown head gasket at 82,000 miles on our 2002 Nissan Altima. They are offering us NOTHING in the way of help financially on the costs, and no loaner, even though we have had the dealership do every bit of maintenance on the car since it was brand new (purchased from them). It will cost $1300 to replace the head gasket, up to $5300 if they find there is internal damage and we need a new engine. Edmunds.com says the car is only worth around $5600 on dealer trade in, in good condition. My mother bought a Nissan Quest in 2004 - a piece of crap. The dealership couldn't fix the multitude of problems on that car, problems that she had shortly after she purchased it. She had to take it back to the dealership so many times it was ridiculous. She ended up taking a huge loss on it to get rid of it and buy a reliable car. I would NEVER BUY A NISSAN AGAIN.

02 Altima, 83,000 miles when I bought it 2 weeks ago.

Changed spark plugs... 40 bucks. Took it to a friend in downtown New Orleans, thinks it's the head gasket.

The A/C doesn't blow cold, cold starts anti freeze disappears/oil. Not even a 1000 miles since the last oil change and it's gone!

Overheats frequently.

I bought a 2002 Nissan Altima V6; nothing but problems. I have 116,000 miles on the car. Both converters have gone bad and I have been burning oil at high rates. I kept taking it into the dealership and I need a new engine! They also said after I replace the engine there is a chance that that another converter might go out one more time! The new engine is $1700 plus I have already spent a good $1200 on this car! I thought Nissan's were supposed to be good!

Greetings, I am someone who has regular maintenance done on my 2003 Nissan. About 6 months ago, I had my radiator flush, what a mistake that was! I took the car back to the Nissan dealership on 3 separate occasions, and each time was told it was air and it would resolve itself.

OK, a couple of mornings when I went out to start the car. It crank, but had hesitation. The 3rd morning the engine service light came on. I drove it back to the same dealership I always use and was informed that 2003 the Altima needed a gasket cylinder, gasket rocker C, coolant, filter kit, all of the engine drive belts fan, alternator belts needed to be replaced.

Only 79,000, the car has regular maintenance done. The struts were replaced. $2400 hard earned dollars later I have the car back.

I agree that Nissan's suck, when I get purchase another vehicle it WILL NOT BE a Nissan.

It is a cheap car. I only bought the car at the time because of the back light, I know how "shallow", this was an expensive lesson well learned. Hopefully, this notice will help someone in the future. This occurred in 2008.