Five problems related to engine belts and pulleys have been reported for the 2008 Nissan Altima. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2008 Nissan Altima based on all problems reported for the 2008 Altima.
2008 Nissan Altima sedan belt tensioner bolts failed. One bolt still located in the tensioner pulley hole along with a piece of either the back timing cover or the lower engine cover. Firestone and Nissan claim to be astonished how this happened. Damages are now estimated to be in the range of $3,900 with 20 hours of labor to remove the engine and replace the cover.
I was driving on the highway traveling 65mph when all of a sudden there was a loud popping sound and I could hear noise under the car, all the lights on my dash lit up, check engine light, coolant light, battery, I then lost power steering and lost acceleration, cars were speeding by me and I coasted to the off ramp. I got towed to the dealer but service dept was closed because it was Sunday. The following day the service dept. Called and said the car was repaired. My husband went to get the car and they had said that it was the retentioner belt and that the pulley had sheared off. They said they had a customer the week before with the same problem. We also understand that Nissan was aware of this faulty part.
My niece took our Altima to California (less than 2,000 miles on it at this time). The cars belt was broken when the tensioner pulley broke off of the engine. This caused the power steering to fail and overheated the engine. It has been in mossey Nissan's shop in el cajon for three weeks now due to back ordered parts.
Tensioner from engine that creates tension to the belt fell off while I my wife was driving the car. The steering wheel locked.
I heard a noise while I was on the highway it sounded like something fell off but the car only had 600 miles on it so I just thought it was a rock or something in the road that got kicked up. About a minute later my accessory belt that controls the power steering, the water pump, the alternator and the tensioner pulley flew off. After getting towed to the dealer I found out that the pulley broke off which cause the belt to come off. I had the tensioner pulley and the belt replaced, but now it seems it may have cause another problem when shifting in reverse now it makes a clunking noise (it is going into the shop for this problem this weekend).