NHTSA Complaint #10383146 — 2007 NISSAN ALTIMA

MARCH 2010 MY 2007 NISSAN ALTIMA SE STARTED SMOKING OUT OF THE EXHAUST WHEN FIRST STARTING AFTER SITTING AWHILE. THE CHECK ENGINE LAMP CAME ON.THE ALTIMA HAD LESS THAN 40,000 MILES ON IT. THE SMOKING GOT TO THE POINT OF SMOKING ALL THE TIME WITH DENSE BLACK SMOKE. I CHECKED THE OIL AND FOUND IT LOW. AFTER PERFORMING AN OIL & OIL FILTER SERVICE, I STARTED MONITORING MY OIL LEVEL AND FOUND THE 3.5 V6 ENGINE WAS SHOWING SIGNS OF EXCESSIVE OIL CONSUMPTION. I CHECKED THE ENGINE LAMP CODES(PO420-3WAY CATALYST FUNCTION AND PO300-MULTI CYLINDER MIS-FIRE). I TOOK MY ALTIMA TO THE DEALERSHIP I BOUGHT IT FROM AND HAD IT CHECKED UNDER MY WARRANTY, 60 MONTH /75,000 MILES GOLD PREFERRED PLAN. ON THE REPAIR ORDER IT STATED "SES NEEDS ENGINE / SLUGGED". I WAS CHARGED $107.07 AND WAS TOLD THIS WAS NOT A WARRANTY ISSUE. I CONTACTED THE QUALITY CONTROL ENGINEER @ NISSAN NORTH AMERICA'S HEADQUARTERS IN FRANKLIN, TN AND SHE SET UP A DIAGNOSTIC INSPECTION WITH THE FIELD REP FROM THE ENGINE PLANT / DECCARD TN. HE STATED SINCE THE TIRES WERE NEEDING REPLACING IN THE NEAR FUTURE AND THE ALTIMA NEEDED WASHING, IT WAS A SIGN OF NEGLECT AND THERE-FORE THE SMOKING AND OIL CONSUMPTION WAS NOT A WARRANTY ISSUE. THE REP SAID THE CHECK ENGINE LAMP CODE WAS FOR REFERENCE:NTB10-009 - A SEIZED EXHAUST SENSOR, WHICH WAS COVERED UNDER WARRANTY BUT NOT RELATED TO THE SMOKING/OIL CONSUMPTION ISSUE. I WAS EMPLOYED AT THE TIME OF THIS ISSUE WITH NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, SMYRNA TN. I WAS A PRE-DELIVERY REPAIR TECH @ THE MANUFACTURING PLANT FOR 25 YEARS UNTIL MY RETIREMENT JUNE 28, 2010. I USED THE SAME DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS THAT THE DEALER USED AND THE ENGINE PLANT FIELD REP USED ON MY CAR AND KNOW FOR A FACT THIS IS A WARRANTY ISSUE. I FOLLOWED - UP THE COMPLAINT @HTTPS://SURVEY.NISSAN.USA.COM WITH NO RESULTS. *TR