NHTSA Complaint #10252056 — 2008 NISSAN ALTIMA

I BOUGHT MY CAR IN JULY 2008 FROM POWER NISSAN OF TEMPE, AZ ABOUT A MONTH OR SO LATER I NOTICED WHEN DRIVING MY CAR FOR MORE THAN 5 MILES AROUND TOWN. I WOULD SMELL AN OVERHEATING ODOR AND MY CAR WOULD START DRIVING VERY SLUGGISH. CAR WAS SLOW TO ACCELERATE. MY TEMPERATURE GAGE ON THE DASH HAS NEVER INDICATED THAT THE CAR WAS OVERHEATING. I TOOK THE CAR INTO THE NEAREST DEALERSHIP AND REPORTED THE PROBLEM. I LEFT MY CAR OVERNIGHT WITH THEM AND PICKED IT UP THE NEXT DAY WITH THEM TELLING ME THAT THEY COULD NOT FIND A LEAK ANYWHERE. SO I TOOK THE CAR HOME. NO SOONER THAN THAT I STARTED TO SMELL THE AGAIN. SO I PULLED OVER AND LOOKED UNDER THE HOOD TO FIND THAT THE ANTIFREEZE WAS LEAKING OUT OF THE OVERFLOW CAP. THERE ARE REMAINDERS OF ANTIFREEZE STILL ON THE OVEFLOW CONTAINER. I TOOK IT BACK TO THE DEALERSHIP AND REPORTED THE PROBLEM AGAIN. I WAS TOLD THAT ALL THE NISSANS ARE DOING THAT AND IT WAS NORMAL. AS LONG AS THE TEMPERATURE GAGE WASN'T READING HOT. I DON'T THINK THIS IS NORMAL AND SOMEONE NEEDS TO LOOK INTO THIS DEFECT ASAP! IM GETTING NOWHERE WITH NISSAN. *TR