I work as a tech at a Nissan dealer. We had this 2001 Pathfinder with 3.5L V6 with about 60K miles on it get towed in. Knocking like a rod was ready to come out the side. We parked it and a couple hours later when I pulled it in it barely made any noise at all. WTF. Took it for a drive and the low end power didn't feel right, but the noise stopped completely. Called their Technical Hotline and the guy had no idea. A couple days later, having done nothing more to that point, a couple of Nissan's field tech specialist stopped by on another matter. I asked one of them - who I've known for about 10 years now - what he thought. Said it sounds like it lost one of the screws securing the plate to the power valve thottle shaft. So I pulled the upper half of the plenum off (only takes about 10-15 minutes). HOLY SHIT!!!!!

Not missing 1 screw. Missing 6 screws. And 2 of the plates were laying loose inside the plenum. The engine swallowed 6 screws!

On further interogation of them I found out that this wasn't exactly uncommon. Even though Nissan hasn't put out a TSB or any info on the inline system for dealers. Seems to hit the 3.5 V6 the most, but has shown up in the new 2.5 four cylinder also.

The speculation is that the since the screws, which are supplied by a vendor in Japan, are shipped over in bulk containers that are not hermetically sealed, are having the lock tite on the screws attacked by the salt air during transit. The plenum assemblies are put together here in the states. After enough time, if the lock tite was compromised, the screws work loose and go into the cylinder. The clearance in some parts of the cylinder between the piston and head is less than even those small screws. The "knock" isn;t the screw rattling around but the piston trying to compress the screw against the head and the rod hitting the crank. Which makes sense because the knock is louder when the engine is hot and the oil thin, than when the engine is cold.

So if there are any Nissan techs out there who are getting any of these engines with knocking complaints or unexplained loss of power with no MIL malfunctions. Here's a place to look.

Here's some pics I took. Nissan's going to buy a long block assembly on this one. About 6G's dealer warranty cost.









Whoops! That's my GF burning up my .50 BMG ammo

Wow!!!

Any idea what years are affected?

Quoted: Wow!!! Any idea what years are affected?

Well, this was an 01. IIRC Infiniti started using the twin cam 3.5 in 2000. 2002 Altimas use the same motor and have the dual runner plenum. Same with the Maxima. So all those, and the corresponding Infinit models would be fair game. The mileage on the vehicles has been varied. If an owner has the Nissan Security Plus Platinum extended warranty they should be covered up to 10/100,000.

Numbers game. Get a few complaints, big deal. As long as no one makes noise about it, Nissan is in the clear. I have 2 Nissan trucks. A 97 and a 95. Same trucks basically. BOTH had the brake lights falling out. Recall was ONLY issued on the 97. when I asked Nissan, what bout my 95? they said there was no recall on the 95. EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE DOING THE SAME FRIGGIN THING!!!!.

More problems from French shit boxes?  

www.renault.com/gb/groupe/alliances_p1.htm

Man I've got an '04 Exterra, do these have the same problem?

Securing the throttle plate to the shaft with Loctited screws is pretty common in the industry, AFAIK – Seems like this wouldn't be a problem that was confined just to 3.5L Nissans.

Quoted: Man I've got an '04 Exterra, do these have the same problem?

I've got an 04 x also, but I don't think there is a problem like this for the X. I'm a member of Xterraownersclub.com and I haven't herd anything like this yet.

Quoted: The speculation is that the since the screws, which are supplied by a vendor in Japan, are shipped over in bulk containers that are not hermetically sealed, are having the lock tite on the screws attacked by the salt air during transit. The plenum assemblies are put together here in the states.

Yeah, everyone knows Americans are too stupid to make screws.  

Quoted: Quoted: The speculation is that the since the screws, which are supplied by a vendor in Japan, are shipped over in bulk containers that are not hermetically sealed, are having the lock tite on the screws attacked by the salt air during transit. The plenum assemblies are put together here in the states. Yeah, everyone knows Americans are too stupid to make screws.

Shit - we have vendors (big, household name vendors) sending alphanumeric keypad membranes over to China in pieces, assembled there, and shipped back via air - and it's still cheaper than having it done by anyone in North America.

- '98 Maxima SE (Made in Japan)

i have worked for nissan in the past, i was a nissan mechanic, those cars are horrible, there is so much hidden stuff that few in the general public hear, this is not a big deal, most of those screws went right past the exhaust valves after bouncing around for a while, they ow live in the cat or the muffler


i remember one recal, the in tank fuel pumps were starting fires..

shock nuts falling off

airbag computer failures causing the bag to go boom whenever it wanted to, usually resulting in a wreck

steering problems

whole engine failures

head gasket troubles

the booklet of recalls i had for the pathfinder was comprised of 13 pages

enjoy your vehicle

OK, I hate to ask, but what about the '96 Pathfinders with the 3.3L SOHC and 12valves?

Love the SUV, have 60K miles on it with no (major) problems at all-so far.


Also, please IM name of reputable deal in LA/OC -???

THANKS!

My brother has a the first year of the pathfinder Xterra (2000 I believe) with a V6.  I'll be sure and let him know about this possibility.

Quoted: OK, I hate to ask, but what about the '96 Pathfinders with the 3.3L SOHC and 12valves? Love the SUV, have 60K miles on it with no (major) problems at all-so far. Also, please IM name of reputable deal in LA/OC -??? THANKS!

I think that it's the same motor in the Xterra so it might just be fine.  my moms got a 97'-130K on it, seems to run fine though.

Damn!

I own two Nissans, and all i can say is Nissan customer service after the sale SUCKS!!!

My 2003 2.5 has been in for 2 engine related product recalls already!

Should have bought a Honda or Toyota....

Quoted: i have worked for nissan in the past, i was a nissan mechanic, those cars are horrible

Bull-fucking-god-damn-shit.

Would you like to see what was LEFT of the 2001 Nissan Altima that saved my life?

BTW, this won't cost Nissan anything. This happens with almost all major vehicles, and the numbers haven't been significant to effect Nissan at all.

Crap, I have the same car. Is there anyway to tell if it happened without yanking the top? Think I am out of warranty at the end of the year, and only have 15k miles on it.
Were the ones missing loose? will I hear a clicking or something if I move the throttle while the car is off?
Is that the down side, or did you flip the intake?

Quoted: I work as a tech at a Nissan dealer. We had this 2001 Pathfinder with 3.5L V6 with about 60K miles on it get towed in. Knocking like a rod was ready to come out the side. We parked it and a couple hours later when I pulled it in it barely made any noise at all. WTF. Took it for a drive and the low end power didn't feel right, but the noise stopped completely. Called their Technical Hotline and the guy had no idea. A couple days later, having done nothing more to that point, a couple of Nissan's field tech specialist stopped by on another matter. I asked one of them - who I've known for about 10 years now - what he thought. Said it sounds like it lost one of the screws securing the plate to the power valve thottle shaft. So I pulled the upper half of the plenum off (only takes about 10-15 minutes). HOLY SHIT!!!!! Not missing 1 screw. Missing 6 screws. And 2 of the plates were laying loose inside the plenum. The engine swallowed 6 screws! On further interogation of them I found out that this wasn't exactly uncommon. Even though Nissan hasn't put out a TSB or any info on the inline system for dealers. Seems to hit the 3.5 V6 the most, but has shown up in the new 2.5 four cylinder also. The speculation is that the since the screws, which are supplied by a vendor in Japan, are shipped over in bulk containers that are not hermetically sealed, are having the lock tite on the screws attacked by the salt air during transit. The plenum assemblies are put together here in the states. After enough time, if the lock tite was compromised, the screws work loose and go into the cylinder. The clearance in some parts of the cylinder between the piston and head is less than even those small screws. The "knock" isn;t the screw rattling around but the piston trying to compress the screw against the head and the rod hitting the crank. Which makes sense because the knock is louder when the engine is hot and the oil thin, than when the engine is cold. So if there are any Nissan techs out there who are getting any of these engines with knocking complaints or unexplained loss of power with no MIL malfunctions. Here's a place to look. Here's some pics I took. Nissan's going to buy a long block assembly on this one. About 6G's dealer warranty cost. Whoops! That's my GF burning up my .50 BMG ammo

I have to ask - was that an individual's car?  Or was it a trade-in or something?  I mean, having someone's car sitting around for a couple of days and not doing anything seems really shitty.  Not unlike the service I always seem to receive.  

If you own a vehicle with a 3.0 or 3.3 V6 you're ok. They are a different motor and use a different plenum with no "power valve" type throttle arrangement.

Nice:

I have an 02 Maxima with the 3.5.

I'll be printing this one out.

Jay

Quoted: Quoted: I work as a tech at a Nissan dealer. We had this 2001 Pathfinder with 3.5L V6 with about 60K miles on it get towed in. Knocking like a rod was ready to come out the side. We parked it and a couple hours later when I pulled it in it barely made any noise at all. WTF. Took it for a drive and the low end power didn't feel right, but the noise stopped completely. Called their Technical Hotline and the guy had no idea. A couple days later, having done nothing more to that point, a couple of Nissan's field tech specialist stopped by on another matter. I asked one of them - who I've known for about 10 years now - what he thought. Said it sounds like it lost one of the screws securing the plate to the power valve thottle shaft. So I pulled the upper half of the plenum off (only takes about 10-15 minutes). HOLY SHIT!!!!! Not missing 1 screw. Missing 6 screws. And 2 of the plates were laying loose inside the plenum. The engine swallowed 6 screws! On further interogation of them I found out that this wasn't exactly uncommon. Even though Nissan hasn't put out a TSB or any info on the inline system for dealers. Seems to hit the 3.5 V6 the most, but has shown up in the new 2.5 four cylinder also. The speculation is that the since the screws, which are supplied by a vendor in Japan, are shipped over in bulk containers that are not hermetically sealed, are having the lock tite on the screws attacked by the salt air during transit. The plenum assemblies are put together here in the states. After enough time, if the lock tite was compromised, the screws work loose and go into the cylinder. The clearance in some parts of the cylinder between the piston and head is less than even those small screws. The "knock" isn;t the screw rattling around but the piston trying to compress the screw against the head and the rod hitting the crank. Which makes sense because the knock is louder when the engine is hot and the oil thin, than when the engine is cold. So if there are any Nissan techs out there who are getting any of these engines with knocking complaints or unexplained loss of power with no MIL malfunctions. Here's a place to look. Here's some pics I took. Nissan's going to buy a long block assembly on this one. About 6G's dealer warranty cost. Whoops! That's my GF burning up my .50 BMG ammo I have to ask - was that an individual's car?  Or was it a trade-in or something?  I mean, having someone's car sitting around for a couple of days and not doing anything seems really shitty.  Not unlike the service I always seem to receive.

Well JimmyT, I was going to tell you to fuck off. But let me explain since you obviously don't work in a Nissan car dealership service department.

First off, we had heard the tremendously lod knocking and knew it had an internal engine problem. Just not the exact reason since we had not torn it down as yet.

This is an individuals vehicle. And yes it sucks that it doesn't get fixed the same day it comes in. But a dealer is an independant business. We aren't owned by the manufacturer. We have to make money. The cost to the dealer of that engine ( long block assembly ) is $5400. Plus miscellaneous other parts that need to be replaced when doing the job. Then there is also the labor. Who pays the bill?

Since the vehicle is under warranty Nissan pays the bill. But right now, at least in our region, anything over $2000 has to be pre approved by Nissan's warranty department. So our service advisor calls them and tells them the best, and most expedient thing to do, is to replace the long block assembly. He has to give an estimate for parts and labor to do that. But they say, "why can't you overhaul it? How much is that?" He tells them we can't give you an exact estimate to overhaul it because we to do that we need to take it out and tear it down, inspect the block and heads and have the rods and crank sent out to a machine shop to be measured to see if they are still straight etc, But you won't authorize that because you want an estimate first! They say they need an estimate to do it both ways so they can decide which one they will authorize. So I have to make up a list of possible parts that will need to be replaced ( theoretically everything that moves) and give it to our parts department. They then have to price it all out and give it to the service advisor. He then calls Nissan warranty back and gives them the 2 estimates. They say we'll get back to you.

FWIW, the Nissan warranty people in L.A. ( got it now? ) don't know a nut from a bolt, much less what's involved in actually doing the job. Plus their car runs so what do they care how long it takes. Just what it will cost Nissan.

Not to mention it's not like it's the only car in the shop, there's 20 other customers screaming about things wrong with theit cars to the owner of the store, who screams at the service manager, who jumps on the service advisors, who are each dealing with 30-40 other customers per day. Plus the yuppie guy who just bought a new Titan, went and hauled 2000 pounds of hay out to his "horse ranch" ( 2 horses! ) and comes back and stands in the customer waiting room screaming about the pencil lead sized chip in the paint on the rear bumper BELOW the tail gate that he swears was there when he took delivery, and I was told to drop everything and swap rear bumpers with another unit on the lot and when I'm done and give it to the detail guys they RUN IT INTO A WALL AND SCRAPE THE PAINT OFF THE FRONT BUMPER COVER,  so I have to stop everything AGAIN and swap the front bumper covers.

But I digress.

Bottom line is that since Nissan will pay the bill on this, which will be around $8000 when complete, they have to give us the authorization before we can do the job because the guy that signs my paycheck sure isn't going to do it for free. That's just the way it is now. Unfortunate, but true.

Used to be in a situation like this the service advisor would just call the local Nissan rep and tell him we have a good customer ( true or not ) and needed the ok asap, and would get it. Nissan has got really tight with the $$ the last few years.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I work as a tech at a Nissan dealer. We had this 2001 Pathfinder with 3.5L V6 with about 60K miles on it get towed in. Knocking like a rod was ready to come out the side. We parked it and a couple hours later when I pulled it in it barely made any noise at all. WTF. Took it for a drive and the low end power didn't feel right, but the noise stopped completely. Called their Technical Hotline and the guy had no idea. A couple days later, having done nothing more to that point, a couple of Nissan's field tech specialist stopped by on another matter. I asked one of them - who I've known for about 10 years now - what he thought. Said it sounds like it lost one of the screws securing the plate to the power valve thottle shaft. So I pulled the upper half of the plenum off (only takes about 10-15 minutes). HOLY SHIT!!!!! Not missing 1 screw. Missing 6 screws. And 2 of the plates were laying loose inside the plenum. The engine swallowed 6 screws! On further interogation of them I found out that this wasn't exactly uncommon. Even though Nissan hasn't put out a TSB or any info on the inline system for dealers. Seems to hit the 3.5 V6 the most, but has shown up in the new 2.5 four cylinder also. The speculation is that the since the screws, which are supplied by a vendor in Japan, are shipped over in bulk containers that are not hermetically sealed, are having the lock tite on the screws attacked by the salt air during transit. The plenum assemblies are put together here in the states. After enough time, if the lock tite was compromised, the screws work loose and go into the cylinder. The clearance in some parts of the cylinder between the piston and head is less than even those small screws. The "knock" isn;t the screw rattling around but the piston trying to compress the screw against the head and the rod hitting the crank. Which makes sense because the knock is louder when the engine is hot and the oil thin, than when the engine is cold. So if there are any Nissan techs out there who are getting any of these engines with knocking complaints or unexplained loss of power with no MIL malfunctions. Here's a place to look. Here's some pics I took. Nissan's going to buy a long block assembly on this one. About 6G's dealer warranty cost. Whoops! That's my GF burning up my .50 BMG ammo I have to ask - was that an individual's car?  Or was it a trade-in or something?  I mean, having someone's car sitting around for a couple of days and not doing anything seems really shitty.  Not unlike the service I always seem to receive.   Well JimmyT, I was going to tell you to fuck off. But let me explain since you obviously don't work in a Nissan car dealership service department. First off, we had heard the tremendously lod knocking and knew it had an internal engine problem. Just not the exact reason since we had not torn it down as yet. This is an individuals vehicle. And yes it sucks that it doesn't get fixed the same day it comes in. But a dealer is an independant business. We aren't owned by the manufacturer. We have to make money. The cost to the dealer of that engine ( long block assembly ) is $5400. Plus miscellaneous other parts that need to be replaced when doing the job. Then there is also the labor. Who pays the bill? Since the vehicle is under warranty Nissan pays the bill. But right now, at least in our region, anything over $2000 has to be pre approved by Nissan's warranty department. So our service advisor calls them and tells them the best, and most expedient thing to do, is to replace the long block assembly. He has to give an estimate for parts and labor to do that. But they say, "why can't you overhaul it? How much is that?" He tells them we can't give you an exact estimate to overhaul it because we to do that we need to take it out and tear it down, inspect the block and heads and have the rods and crank sent out to a machine shop to be measured to see if they are still straight etc, But you won't authorize that because you want an estimate first! They say they need an estimate to do it both ways so they can decide which one they will authorize. So I have to make up a list of possible parts that will need to be replaced ( theoretically everything that moves) and give it to our parts department. They then have to price it all out and give it to the service advisor. He then calls Nissan warranty back and gives them the 2 estimates. They say we'll get back to you. FWIW, the Nissan warranty people in L.A. ( got it now? ) don't know a nut from a bolt, much less what's involved in actually doing the job. Plus their car runs so what do they care how long it takes. Just what it will cost Nissan. Not to mention it's not like it's the only car in the shop, there's 20 other customers screaming about things wrong with theit cars to the owner of the store, who screams at the service manager, who jumps on the service advisors, who are each dealing with 30-40 other customers per day. Plus the yuppie guy who just bought a new Titan, went and hauled 2000 pounds of hay out to his "horse ranch" ( 2 horses! ) and comes back and stands in the customer waiting room screaming about the pencil lead sized chip in the paint on the rear bumper BELOW the tail gate that he swears was there when he took delivery, and I was told to drop everything and swap rear bumpers with another unit on the lot and when I'm done and give it to the detail guys they RUN IT INTO A WALL AND SCRAPE THE PAINT OFF THE FRONT BUMPER COVER,  so I have to stop everything AGAIN and swap the front bumper covers. But I digress. Bottom line is that since Nissan will pay the bill on this, which will be around $8000 when complete, they have to give us the authorization before we can do the job because the guy that signs my paycheck sure isn't going to do it for free. That's just the way it is now. Unfortunate, but true. Used to be in a situation like this the service advisor would just call the local Nissan rep and tell him we have a good customer ( true or not ) and needed the ok asap, and would get it. Nissan has got really tight with the $$ the last few years.

Christ. Dont you hate warrantee repairs? I have had my ass reamed so many times by that shit. Nobody gets fucked except the mechanic.

Quoted: Nissan has got really tight with the $$ the last few years.

So has -everybody- else...

Christ. Dont you hate warrantee repairs? I have had my ass reamed so many times by that shit. Nobody gets fucked except the mechanic.

You ain't kidding !!
I'm a Toyota Master tech with over twenty years in and every year its getting worse.
Warranties getting longer, sevices and general repairs paying less, and the tech gets the shaft.
There used to be kids beating down the door to get into the factory sponsored tech training programs and now they're lucky to graduate a class with 10 people.
The dealers and manufacturers are well aware of this and are dragging their feet. It will bite them in the ass real soon when us older guys retire or die and there's no one to fill that stall that knows their ass from a hole in the ground.
In the end, the customer gets the shaft due to poor repairs.
Now don't get me started on flat rate.

HOLY NUTS AND BOLTS BATMAN!

It was just like Ford releaseing all those vehicles with those flawed Firestone tires...shame...shame...

I like Nissans though.  Never had one though.  But I like their Frontier Crew Cab

Quoted: HOLY NUTS AND BOLTS BATMAN! It was just like Ford releaseing all those vehicles with those flawed Firestone tires...shame...shame... I like Nissans though.  Never had one though.  But I like their Frontier Crew Cab

It wasnt the tires that killed those folks. It was Ford's bogus inflation pressure spec. They set it purposely low to help the truck handle and the tires ran too hot. Ever notice where all those blowouts happened? In the south where its real hot. Also, if they had of been wearing seatbelts...most of those folks were ejected in the rollover.

Quoted: Wonder how many of the Japanese car lovers on this board would admit how happy they were with their non-American car if this happened to them - out of warranty!!

Yep, this is definitely a problem that is directly traceable to the fact that the vehicle is JAPANESE...Probably a conspiracy of some sort against us round-eyed types!

Quoted: Damn! I own two Nissans, and all i can say is Nissan customer service after the sale SUCKS!!! My 2003 2.5 has been in for 2 engine related product recalls already! Should have bought a Honda or Toyota....

Thank you for supporting France.

Just out of curiosity, any of you Nissan owners in this thread ever lose your jobs, then you need only look in the mirror for the reason why.

The same goes for you Honda, Toyota, BMW & Benz owners.

"but they were built in the US by US workers" you will protest.

no, they were assembled in the US by slaves to a foreign-owned corporation.

A car is (for most) the second most expensive purchase you make (after your home)

when all you "happy import owners" started buying imports you slowly started the process of gutting this country. (go ahead and give your standard "if Detroit built a better car, I would have bought it" reply

You need to work in the industry and see just how some of these foreign firms behave. Their word means NOTHING.

I find it ironic as hell when TV interviews some laid-off guy crying the blues, as he gets in his Honda and heads off to WalMart.

When you buy a foreign vehicle (or foreign anything, for that matter) you are sending money OUT OF THE COUNTRY (I have to shout because fundamental economics is not taught anymore, it seems) and this outflow of capitol weakens our economic health.

It's why China will kick our asses in a few decades, and be able to do so without lifting so much as a pistol.

They will not have defeated us, we will have defeated ourselves, just so we could buy what Consumer Reports (who has Ralph Nader on their board - and you wonder why they say GM cars are shit) says is a "best buy"

Nothing personal guys, but if you care about the future of this country and any chance for your kids to not be indentured servants of a foreign corporation, you should give North American cars a closer look.

* Flame suit on & anticipating NAFTA rants *

all i have to say is that i have worked on a lot of nissans, and some of them were repairs/recalls done to vehicled off of the showroom floor, this was a dealership that sold honda, and nissan cars


i worked on honda's with 200+ thousand miles on em, doing carb rebuilds and the like, the other honda stuff was just maintenence

i did fix fifth gear in a honda fast and furious looking car for a wanna be racer, and i swapped an automatic trans in a new honda, that is all the honda work

the nissans took all of my time, i am not kidding, and hondas were sold at a 2-1 rate over the nissans, i did like the 300ZX it ran good when it ran, but i could barely get the pathfinders off of the hoist before something else broke or was recalled

i replaced a bunch of airbag computers in the altima's, it was not a public recall, but a "service bulletin"

we fixed them without the public knowing they were going off while braking on a bumpy road

sorry dude

Would this apply to the Z as well?  In general what's the service like on the new Zs?  Have they been having any repeat problems yet?

Shit!  I just bought an '04 Quest with a 3.5L.  I suppose these are the same way?

Quoted: Quoted: Damn! I own two Nissans, and all i can say is Nissan customer service after the sale SUCKS!!! My 2003 2.5 has been in for 2 engine related product recalls already! Should have bought a Honda or Toyota.... Thank you for supporting France. Just out of curiosity, any of you Nissan owners in this thread ever lose your jobs, then you need only look in the mirror for the reason why. The sam e goes for you Honda, Toyota, BMW & Benz owners. "but they were built in the US by US workers" you will protest. no, they were assembled in the US by slaves to a foreign-owned corporation. A car is (for most) the second most expensive purchase you make (after your home) when all you "happy import owners" started buying imports you slowly started the process of gutting this country. (go ahead and give your standard "if Detroit built a better car, I would have bought it" reply You need to work in the industry and see just how some of these foreign firms behave. Their word means NOTHING. I find it ironic as hell when TV interviews some laid-off guy crying the blues, as he gets in his Honda and heads off to WalMart. When you buy a foreign vehicle (or foreign anything, for that matter) you are sending money OUT OF THE COUNTRY (I have to shout because fundamental economics is not taught anymore, it seems) and this outflow of capitol weakens our economic health. It's why China will kick our asses in a few decades, and be able to do so without lifting so much as a pistol. They will not have defeated us, we will have defeated ourselves, just so we could buy what Consumer Reports (who has Ralph Nader on their board - and you wonder why they say GM cars are shit) says is a "best buy" Nothing personal guys, but if you care about the future of this country and any chance for your kids to not be indentured servants of a foreign corporation, you should give North American cars a closer look. * Flame suit on & anticipating NAFTA rants *

Not a flame, but I hafta call you on your simplistic thinking.  I was furloughed from American Airlines, because of all you people who buy cheap tickets from Southwest, Jetblue, Airtran, etc.

The fact that I have bought a Ford, Dodge, Chevy Malibu, and Suburban, has not seemed to help me get recalled yet.   I buy American because I feel they are some of the best deals right now.  That is the best reason to buy American, and the only reason that will keep American union workers employed long term.

Don't even get me started about American Union aerospace workers...........  Short story: I'm not impressed.


I agree with you:  China is on track to kick our ass.  Because of the lousy American work ethic, and entitlement mentality.  I don't know what the answer is, but blaming the undisciplined consumer does nothing.    

Buy American (Airlines)  

Quoted: Retaining a screw like that with glue (Loctite) is brain dead!! Wonder how many of the Japanese car lovers on this board would admit how happy they were with their non-American car if this happened to them - out of warranty!!

I wonder how many American car owners know Nissan is not Japanese? Nissan is a french company now.  My wife's Nissan van was made in the US, By ford.  My Nissan sedan was made in Mexico.

Quoted: Not a flame, but I hafta call you on your simplistic thinking.  I was furloughed from American Airlines, because of all you people who buy cheap tickets from Southwest, Jetblue, Airtran, etc. The fact that I have bought a Ford, Dodge, Chevy Malibu, and Suburban, has not seemed to help me get recalled yet.   I buy American because I feel they are some of the best deals right now.  That is the best reason to buy American, and the only reason that will keep American union workers employed long term. Don't even get me started about American Union aerospace workers...........  Short story: I'm not impressed. I agree with you:  China is on track to kick our ass.  Because of the lousy American work ethic, and entitlement mentality.  I don't know what the answer is, but blaming the undisciplined consumer does nothing.     Buy American (Airlines)

I have no love for unions (although they were created in direct response to abuse by management - see Gompers' comments re: George Westinghouse)

It's not simpolistic, it's factually correct. Countries that produce goods have per capita GDP growth that outstrips countries who sit on their fat behinds and consume. It's why we have to borrow money to service the debt & trade imbalances. Yes it is simple, you can't borrow money forever. Look at all the stuff on your desk right now that came from outside the US - now what goods from the US do our foreign countrparts have?

I should also add that foreign firms do not play by anywhere near the same rules as US firms. Keiretsu and the like are prevented by anti-trust legislation. If airlines operating in the US did not have to comply with standards & regulations (as foreign steel firms avoid, for example) they would quickly put Southwest and everyone else out of business.



So it comes down to a question of protective socialism (which doesn't work) to unbalanced capitalism (where, thanks to our laws & regulations, we are doomed to wind up sucking hind tit) The other option is educated consumerism, where people understand the long-term effects of buying cheap and/or foreign goods vs. domestic products.

If you haven't lived through the absolute economic devastation wreaked in the midwest by imports, then I wouldn't expect anyone to think their import in the driveway is part of the problem. When the rest of the occupations (including Wall Street & Hollywood) start getting their clock cleaned by overseas competition, more people will wake up, of course, by then, those foreign countries will hold our mortgages and it will be a little too late...

Quoted: Quoted: Damn! I own two Nissans, and all i can say is Nissan customer service after the sale SUCKS!!! My 2003 2.5 has been in for 2 engine related product recalls already! Should have bought a Honda or Toyota.... Thank you for supporting France. Just out of curiosity, any of you Nissan owners in this thread ever lose your jobs, then you need only look in the mirror for the reason why. The same goes for you Honda, Toyota, BMW & Benz owners. "but they were built in the US by US workers" you will protest. no, they were assembled in the US by slaves to a foreign-owned corporation. A car is (for most) the second most expensive purchase you make (after your home) when all you "happy import owners" started buying imports you slowly started the process of gutting this country. (go ahead and give your standard "if Detroit built a better car, I would have bought it" reply You need to work in the industry and see just how some of these foreign firms behave. Their word means NOTHING. I find it ironic as hell when TV interviews some laid-off guy crying the blues, as he gets in his Honda and heads off to WalMart. When you buy a foreign vehicle (or foreign anything, for that matter) you are sending money OUT OF THE COUNTRY (I have to shout because fundamental economics is not taught anymore, it seems) and this outflow of capitol weakens our economic health. It's why China will kick our asses in a few decades, and be able to do so without lifting so much as a pistol. They will not have defeated us, we will have defeated ourselves, just so we could buy what Consumer Reports (who has Ralph Nader on their board - and you wonder why they say GM cars are shit) says is a "best buy" Nothing personal guys, but if you care about the future of this country and any chance for your kids to not be indentured servants of a foreign corporation, you should give North American cars a closer look. * Flame suit on & anticipating NAFTA rants *

My father put in 30 years at GM.  The only GM vehicle he will own is a Chevy truck. He has plenty of horror stories about everything else ever made by Olds or BOC.

Quoted: My father put in 30 years at GM.  The only GM vehicle he will own is a Chevy truck. He has plenty of horror stories about everything else ever made by Olds or BOC.

yup, and I recall the stories from Flint about UAW workers slashing seats on the assembly lines - so we have a US auto industry held hostage by the UAW and foreign firms who got sweetheart deals from Ohio (Honda), Kentucky (Toyo) and Tennessee (Nissan) with increasingly less labor penetration. So which devil do we reward? The unions or overseas competitors? (It's not an easy question)

Let me throw another one in: European firms which have established plants in the US (because US labor is now cheaper than their own, which speaks volumes) utilize extensive psychological screening for new hires - obedient team players are the only ones brought back for a 2nd interview. (I know one of the HR VP's from one of the aforementioned import companies, who finally couldn't stand it and left)

This country is crippled by short-term "gotta have it now" thinking.

(ETA - sorry for the thread hijack, unscrupulous behaviour by a couple of companies I am familiar with makes this a sore subject for me)

Quoted: Would this apply to the Z as well?  In general what's the service like on the new Zs?  Have they been having any repeat problems yet?

So far the only problem we've seen on the new 350Z is them wearing out the front tires every month.

Quoted: all i have to say is that i have worked on a lot of nissans, and some of them were repairs/recalls done to vehicled off of the showroom floor, this was a dealership that sold honda, and nissan cars i worked on honda's with 200+ thousand miles on em, doing carb rebuilds and the like, the other honda stuff was just maintenence i did fix fifth gear in a honda fast and furious looking car for a wanna be racer, and i swapped an automatic trans in a new honda, that is all the honda work the nissans took all of my time, i am not kidding, and hondas were sold at a 2-1 rate over the nissans, i did like the 300ZX it ran good when it ran, but i could barely get the pathfinders off of the hoist before something else broke or was recalled i replaced a bunch of airbag computers in the altima's, it was not a public recall, but a "service bulletin" we fixed them without the public knowing they were going off while braking on a bumpy road sorry dude

Hondas no problem eh? What about the several hundred thousand head gaskets they replaced under warranty but kept it quiet so as not to damage their reputation. Hmmm. Seen dozens of those even on used car trade ins over the years.

You will soon be pulling alot of  2004 Quest seats to send back to TN for ODS recalibration, approx 13,800 affected.

Quoted: Quoted: Would this apply to the Z as well?  In general what's the service like on the new Zs?  Have they been having any repeat problems yet? So far the only problem we've seen on the new 350Z is them wearing out the front tires every month.

Cool.  I'm really trying to resist the urge to get one, and you're not helping.

I've been driving Nissans for the last 5 years, all trucks with 4 cy and a 6 cy 02 Fronteir 4 door.  I have had nothing but oustanding reliability from these vehicles.  Change the oil ever 4000 miles and the spark plugs and wires at 100,000 and that is it.  Everyone that I know that drives Nissans have also had excellent luck.  I find this thread to be a load a crapp.  I will continue to drive either Nissan or Fords.  Oh yeah, my buddy could not get two oil changes on his Chevy Malibu without taking it to the shop.  A complete and totaly POS.

The orginal post is an interesting problem but I can assure you it's hardly limited to "jap" brands.

A very similar thing happened to me over 15 years ago in my 84 Corvette (allen screws from the injectors and/or plenum area got into the cylinders while I was cruising down the highway). Found pieces of the screws on top of the pistons complete with little 'thread' impressions in the piston face.

The shop put everything back together and about six months later the same damned thing happened again.

So the answer to 'buy American' isn't a fixall.

Mechanical objects break...even the best designed, built and maintained. Oh well.

Quoted: I've been driving Nissans for the last 5 years, all trucks with 4 cy and a 6 cy 02 Fronteir 4 door.  I have had nothing but oustanding reliability from these vehicles.  Change the oil ever 4000 miles and the spark plugs and wires at 100,000 and that is it.  Everyone that I know that drives Nissans have also had excellent luck.  I find this thread to be a load a crapp.

Though you may think this thread is a load of crap, what I posted is still true. On the other, I've been at a Nissan dealer for 14 years now. The last 6 at this here up in the mountains where roughly 75% of our Nissan customers drive a truck or Pathfinder. In 14 years I haven't seen more than 10 Nissan engines replaced. While some of the stuff hanging on the engine may be not as good as it should be, IMO Nissan builds one of, if not the most reliable engines out there. Especially when it comes to the V6 motors. This is the FIRST twin cam V6 I've seen with an internal problem. The only engine problems Nissan has had (again, IMO) were the KA24E motors in the trucks, which was an assembly problem - done in Mexico - and NOT one of engineering, and the Z41i motor in the old van. Which was caused by extremely bad engineering of the vehicle around the motor, not the motor itself.

My '87 4-banger truck (z24i I think) was screwed up from day one. I don't remember the exact problem, but there were issues with low oil pressure or a bad crackshaft right out of the factory. The only way you could tell something was wrong was it was very noisy in the morning when it was first started. After it warmed up, it was okay. I took it to the dealer and they told me they rebuilt the bottom end or replaced the short-block or something like that. Now it has over 190k miles on it and still runs great. It does need a new clutch (still has the stock unit).

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: i have worked for nissan in the past, i was a nissan mechanic, those cars are horrible Bull-fucking-god-damn-shit. Would you like to see what was LEFT of the 2001 Nissan Altima that saved my life? Riiiight--the mechanic who has seen/worked on hundreds of them is OBVIOUSLY FOS--compared to your experience with . . . one.

Yeah, basically. He wasn't in one when it crashed, was he?

Which leads me to ask you, beekeeper. If you wish to apply your logic in another catagory, this means you would rather have your gun built by a man that has never fired a gun at an actual person or being rather than a seasoned combat veteran that knows what a reliable firearm needs.

GFG...

Also, if you took the 3 minutes to read any post of Pthfndr's... you'd see avengerboy there had the exact opposite to report than the other mechanics here. Which means, he's probably got beef with Nissan. Perhaps he got fired, I don't know. But, the fact is, there's information here proving that isn't legit.

Ok, so we got 10 people saying he's wrong... another person saying he's wrong and was in a life-ending wreak with no seatbelt on and survived with a scratch... Well, jesus, beekeeper, you're right. I SHOULD take his word.

Perhaps you should apply with the ATF.

Quoted: Just out of curiosity, any of you Nissan owners in this thread ever lose your jobs, then you need only look in the mirror for the reason why. no, they were assembled in the US by slaves to a foreign-owned corporation.

Got news for you, Nissan helped create about 3,000 new job positions with their new plant in the U.S. for producing the Titan series. Also, unless you create a company from scratch and investigate every piece coming into your company for "American Authenticity," then you're a slave to a "foreign-owned corporation."

You're one of those fucking moronic nuts that think we should have laser turrets on the boarders that shoot anything foreign coming to our country. I got news for you, YOU'RE the reason why the American economy hiccups. People like you are the reason consumers get labelled as morons, because in this instance, you are.

Really, your Ignorance is so strong you might as well wear it as a cologne.