I just sold my 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R SpecV. I bought it totalled, loved it first and now thank God, I sold it. Sold for $6100, being with salvage title and with 52000 miles on it, pretty good knowing I got it done for $5200.
Car is overall not bad, fast and fun to drive, but burns oil and trunk leaks. Couldnt find a bumper for it, got it from dealer, but had to wait over a month (!) to get it, unfortunally they didn't have any in US, so shipped from Mexico. Nissan suks. A week ago service engine light came on, and the car was hard to start. Took it to the dealer after seen yout page here, did the recall, reprogrammed the computer.
But the dealer said the problem is not fixed, and the car need diagnosis check for $92. No ofcourse I didn't agree and drove another week without any problems before sold.
Now buying a wrecked 2000 si, for a steal with clean title.
Will never buy a Nissan again, you hear me? Never.
I bought a 2002 Nissan Sentra and it is by far the worst car I've ever owned. I bought it used, but certified from a respectable dealer, which shouldn't matter either way as Nissan's are supposed to be good cars. I currently have about 113,000 miles on it. Around 75,000, I had to replace the brakes, which is no big deal, as it's normal wear and tear. Since then, I've had the rotors replaced, brakes replaced (again), battery replaced, alternator replaced (twice) and I just recently had a head gasket replaced, which cost me $850. There are more repairs that I've had to have done, but I've lost count. This morning, the service engine light came on, again, and I have no idea why. I've put more money into this car than it's worth and I'm fed up. I'm having it looked at tomorrow, so we'll see what the damage is this time. I know for sure that I will never, ever purchase another Nissan.
All you guys seem to be having problem with the SER model. I own a 2002 GXE and I haven't had any problems with it yet, cross my fingers. Nissan is a good car maker, but it is just the 2002 and up SER models that were poorly made. Why, I do not know. I have 75,000 miles on the car now and I plan on keeping it for at least 50,000 or more miles.
I have heard quite a bit of problems from this car, but I love my 02 spec, its given me very little problems AND is the one of the fastest in its class ;) I still love Nissan as well, with my 94 altima still going at well over 200k miles.
Hey, all.
It's not just SER Spec V's that suffer the leaking trunk thing. I have a 2002 Nissan Sentra XE that suffers the same problem.
Anyone found a solution to this? Replacement of weather stripping? Anyone?
Just bought 02 spec v with 44000 miles and now it is starting to grind between 2nd and 3rd at high rpms. Will this be under warranty? After reading all these I hope nothing else goes wrong. I will keep an eye on the oil now for sure.
I bought a 2002 Nissan sentra se-r spec v one month ago the car is only 56k and the computer failed I just used 15 days Nissan sucks they have to retire all this cars of the street.
I own a 02 Spec V and it is a bad ass car! I've smoked plenty of cars... I wouldn't trade it for any other car.
I bought a 2002 SE-R new from a dealer. Worked fine expect for a short stint die to a recalled item. Then in Jan. '08 I heard a small rattling noise at low engine speeds. On 20 Jan. '08 while passing another car the rattle grew a great deal and the car died. I was able to restart it and nurse it home.
Spent ~$225 to have ti towed to a dealer 60 miles away. Tech (without opening up the engine, just checking the oil pan and computer) said it needed to be replaced. When I pressed for details, eh said looks like the bearings failed and were chewing up the engine, since he find metal bits in the oil pan. Replacement cost $3500 W/O labor and engine delivery. Umm no thanks, the cars worth only $10k in mint.
So hopefully I can get a good deal on salvaging it. Regularly maintained, failed. Never again.
I have a 05 Sentra 1.8.
Honestly all I ever did was Installed a Music System and rims.
First year no prob. then it started with no Heat. Radiator was clogged up even after getting my Coolant Flushed at regular level and everything came out clean. So new Radiator. Water Pump. Thousands of Thermostats. and Still barely any Heat in Winter Time. That Cost about 400 some dollars. Last year Whole Winter NO heat and days at Mechanic. Nissan Dealer Ship won't help and Charged me for telling them the Problem and the mechanic turns around and tells me the same Problem. Then there was a recall on the Fuel tank and the Evap Canister. being a Proud owner of a Sentra my Vin wasnt covered Under the Warranty Recall. So new Gas Tank and Evap Canister about 600 Bucks. No answer from Nissan When Called. My mechanic was nice and charged me Bare Minimum labor. But if I went thru Nissan my Total would have been about 2g's By now. and now as of three days ago. My Engine Coil Went bad as my Car Started Shaking and a Clicking Noise from the Engine. Yesterday I found out the Head Gasket broken which caused my Car to Stall and Shut Down on the Highway 3 Days ago for Which I had to get it Towed. So still waiting on the New Estimate. While when I called Nissan. No one Answers. and One person picked up, but him being nice he Hanged up. Nissan has Poor Customer Service all over. Few Have been lucky, but a lot of us have been disappointed that we are stuck with a Lemon and we can't do anything about it. I have went through all the Forums and all Possible problems with Sentra is Available Standard in my Car. I wonder Whats next. 03 - 05 sentra have a lot of Common Problems. Is there anything can we do. Mind you My car has gotten all its maintenance Done on time and with best quality product. and I don't speed I like go on Speed Limit or Cruise. So I don't know what possibly I'm doing Wrong. and I just Hate to say it, but Nissan have a lot of problem. I Know people with Used Cars and have it for over 5 years and no major problem. while mine was new off the lost with 4 miles on it for Test Drive and a tank full of Gas.
I told my son, when he graduated from high school, that I would buy him the car he had always wanted (a Nissan Sentra Spec V, 2003 model). I found that he would graduate, and located a reasonably priced Sentra Spec V, and drove approx 500 miles to see it, and then bought it. The car had approx 62,000 miles at purchase and lasted until 64,000 miles, when the obviously well-known problem of 'pre cat failure' happened and destroyed the engine.
I have absolutely nothing good to say about Nissan, because they knew of this problem and would not fix it. If I had known, I never, ever would have bought this piece of junk! Just luckily, I had the knowledge to replace the engine (still at a cost of nearly $2000.00, and that was a used engine, and me doing the work), so to make a long story short I bought a car with a known problem (known by Nissan) and got stuck BIG TIME. But I am going to call Nissan and try to get some assistance, and if they blow me off, they will lose 2 diehard Nissan fans (me and my heart-broken son) and I will never own another Nissan vehicle and will "throw Nissan under the bus every chance I get."
I own a 2002 ser spec v too
at first it was the fastest thing on the road... and I've driven on the autobahn, so I can drive a manual.
I've been through 3 engines due to recalls, oil loss (with no warning and oil changes ON TIME) each time Nissan tried to make it out to be my fault and were VERY rude.
My stock rims broke my studs on my rotors... eventually got new rims because the stock ones "Waller" basically the holes become too big for the screws and wobbles.
@ 60,000 miles, with the third (and final) engine in, the check engine light comes on... for no reason, and flashes on and off. Guess what it is?
The power valve prob... Nissan says its my fault, and that the screw that fell into my combustion chamber is not there anymore after I've paid them $384.00! I asked about a compression test to check for dead cylinders, but they said none is needed... that it either bonded with the piston, or shot out through the exhaust... (which would destroy the honeycombing and cause carbon to be sucked into engine = failure) i asked them this too and they said not to worry...
Can anything be done about this "mafia" it's a bad situation that is happening to people all over...isn't that a lemon?
My update from Feb 20th. Today March 11th. The car is still at the Nissan dealership. No update yet. I'm paying for a car that hasn't moved in a month. Great. Lucky me, one guy actually picked up my call today at the dealership and told me I might need a new engine. It's a 3 year old car. Damn. Nissan. I mean come on. Gasket blew out so I need a new engine. How does that make sense? While the car drove fine, and the next day it stopped without warning or even an SES Light.
I own a 2002 Nissan Sentra SER Spec V, and my heater/air conditioning stopped working... # 1,2,3 don't work, but 4 does??... grinding between 2 and 3 gear always happens, and sometimes there's a loss of power, but it hasn't happened often...
My car has 208000 km's and I don't know if it's the original engine.. I bought it use at 200000 km's... I don't know if the previous owner had the engine changed.. or any failures.. I asked the dealership where it was maintained and they told me it's classified..
As for pre cat; I have no idea... I saw that there is a Magnaflow exhaust on it.. don't know if the headers were changed or not... all I know is it has Magnaflow exhaust tip and a Magnaflow cat on it...
I also hear a odd noise coming from what sounds like the rear passenger side brake... the noise is there, but if I apply slight pressure to the brakes, it goes away... Don't know what it's from...
If anyone has any info or suggestions for my car, please email me at jeremy_619_266@hotmail.com
Thank you for reading, Jeremy.
Bought my 2002 SE-R Spec V just over a month ago, and replaced the stock manifold, lock tighted the butterfly screws and still the car sets in my front yard with a loud tapping in the top end when it is at idle. So excited to take it to the dealership to hear them tell me I need a new motor. Plan on doing it all myself and I've looked into motors. About $1,500 to get a used one that is tested or I get get a rebuilt one for about the same. Not sure which route I want to go. I've had a bunch Nissan's and never had a problem like this. I should have researched it more before I bought it to find all these problems. I never would have bought it.