NHTSA Complaint #10393915 — 2002 NISSAN ALTIMA

AT 85,000 MILES, THE CAR BEGAN TO SHUDDER AND HAD DIFFICULTY ACCELERATING; THE DIAGNOSIS WAS A BLOWN HEAD GASKET. AT AROUND 130,000 MILES THE CAR STARTED FEELING ROUGH AND MAKING RATTLING SOUNDS. THE DEALER REPLACED THE RIGHT AND BACK ENGINE MOUNTS, LEAKING VALVE COVER GASKETS, FRONT LOWER CONTROL ARMS, AND LEFT FRONT HUB AND BEARING BUT THE SOUND STILL EXISTS. AT 141000 MILES THE "CHECK ENGINE LIGHT" CAME ON AND THE DEALER REPLACED THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER. AT 144,000 MILES, THE CAR SUDDENLY WOULD NOT GO MORE THAN 10 MPH. AFTER TURNING THE CAR OFF, THE ENGINE INITIALLY WOULD NOT TURN OVER; AFTER A FEW MINUTES, THE CAR STARTED AGAIN BUT STILL COULD NOT GO MORE THAN 10 MPH. THE SECOND STOP SEEMED TO TEMPORARILY REVIVE THE CAR BECAUSE IT COULD BE DRIVEN AT NORMAL SPEEDS (AT LEAST LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE THE 1 MILE DRIVE HOME) BUT IT EMITTED A STRONG BURNING SMELL. AT THIS POINT THE DIAGNOSIS IS IRRELEVANT - IT'S TIME FOR A NEW, MORE RELIABLE CAR. *TR