general problems of the 2003 Nissan Altima

I was driving and my car just slowed down and eventually cut off. I put the car in park and started it back up. When I arrived at my destination and cut the car off and tried to cut it back on it would not start.

While driving on the highway, engine began to make rattling noise and lost a significant amount of power during acceleration. Due to location and time of night, I coasted (barely using any acceleration) to a safe location. Turned engine off to look under the hood- could not find any problem. Tried starting car again and would not start. Had it towed the next day to mechanic- he found shards of metal in the engine oil and stated that the valves screws had came off and ruined the engine. I had always put in synthetic oil every 5k miles, and did a complete engine flush every year/25,000 miles ever since I bought the car 6 years ago. This occurred at 133500 miles and the engine cannot be salvaged. To replace the engine, the estimates I am receiving are between 2,000 and 3,000 usd.

Car began to idle roughly and was hard to start. Replaced oxygen sensors which did not cure symptoms. Was told that the 2 pre-cats (catalytic converters) needed replaced. Motor mounts also recommended. Replaced and problem persisted. Hard to start, runs rough now shutting down while driving. Ran codes myself with obd-ii tool and found crankshaft and camshaft position sensors to be faulty. I heard of a recall for this very issue; even described my symptoms exactly. Even though my year model and car was recalled the Nissan of fort worth service desk told me my VIN # was not covered. My car has the exact same engine as all of the other Nissans made in this year range and the same faulty crankshaft and camshaft sensors but for some unknown reason mine are not covered by this. How is this even possible. I have replaced a lot of pricey parts all which may have been avoided by replacing the sensors. Even if I had to pay for the crank and camshaft sensors it would not have been bad if I had not paid over $3000 in repairs to other stuff that may not have needed replacing.

While at a red light, the car unknowingly stopped! I didn't even know until the light turned green and I attempted to pull off. I put the car in park and resterted the car with no issue. A couple days later the engine started a slight shake and each day the shake became more intense and the engine would shut off when driven for a while & while my feet is on the break the meter would jump from 0 to 2 and shut off wen it hit 0. Also while attempting to pull off the car feels like it's stuck then it'll shoot off.

Catalytic convertor problem resurfaced. Originally fixed in 2004 during the Nissan recall campaign. Local Nissan dealer qouted a price of over $2000 to fix. They do not honor the warranty on their work. Car is unsafe to drive and burns through high amounts of oil. Local Nissan dealer denied any recall, even though a printout of the recall campaign was provided to them. Never, ever will I buy a Nissan car again. These cars are unsafe, and you will pay $$$ to get them fixed as Nissan will not honor any warranty. These cars are priced cheap at the dealerships because of the expensive fix for them. Buy a Toyota or Honda instead.

My 2003 Nissan Altima with 31,000 miles had the check engine light come on and then go out after a day or so. The light came back on again about a week later. It appeared the vehicle was sluggish and prone to stalling once this happened. I had the code read and found it to be a cam and crank sensor code. I took it to a Nissan dealer after contacting them. My vehicle was not part of the recall, though many Nissans suffer from this condition including Altimas and sentras of this year. I contacted Nissan and they informed me this VIN was not part of the recall, though it is the condition described. They also said it was out of the drive train warranty as well. I therefore had to pay for the repair, which was $382. Since the car was prone to stalling it appears that this known condition should have been included in the recall, since it is unsafe.

- a safety recall on 2003 Nissan Altima crank sensor. The contact paid for the recall repair before she sold the car, and wants to know if she will be reimbursed. The contact will be called and offered the faq response.