NHTSA Complaint #10548174 — 2002 NISSAN ALTIMA

MY 2002 NISSAN ALTIMA 2.5S HAS AROUND 70K MILES ON IT AND SO FAR HAD BEEN RUNNING VERY WELL UNTIL VERY RECENTLY, WHEN THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT TURNED ON LAST WEEKEND. WITHIN A DAY OR TWO, THE CAR STARTED RUNNING A LITTLE ROUGH. A FEW DAYS AGO THE CAR SHOWED LOW OIL PRESSURE LIGHT ON THE DASH BOARD. WHEN I CHECKED FOR THE ENGINE OIL LEVEL, THERE WAS BARELY ANY OIL LEFT. I IMMEDIATELY PUT 5 QTS OF MOBILE FULL SYNTHETIC OIL AND TOOK IT TO THE NISSAN DEALERSHIP IN DENVILLE, NJ. THERE I GOT A SHOCKER THAT THE CATALYTIC CONVERTOR OF MY CAR GOT SUCKED INTO THE ENGINE AND FURTHERMORE SOME OF THAT MATERIAL WAS BRACING AGAINST THE CYLINDER WALLS. IT WAS THE REASON WHY MY CAR WAS RUNNING ROUGH SOMETIMES AND BURNING OIL. I WAS FURTHER TOLD THAT THE ONLY FIX TO THIS PROBLEM IS TO REPLACE BOTH THE ENGINE AS WELL AS THE CATALYTIC CONVERTOR. JOB COST WAS ESTIMATED TO BE AROUND $6000 TO $6500. THE DEALERSHIP FURTHERMORE WARNED ME ABOUT THE FIRE HAZARD OR ENGINE SEIZURE DUE TO OVERHEATING. WITH SOME INVESTIGATION I FOUND A NHSTA RECALL ON MY GENERATION OF ALTIMAS-NHTSA CAMPAIGN# 03V084000. IN ORDER TO SEEK FURTHER HELP IN THIS REGARDS, I OPENED UP A CASE WITH NISSAN MOTORS USA- CASE # 12257145. I GOT A CALLBACK FROM THE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE ON THURSDAY- 10/10/2013 WHERE I WAS TOLD THAT MY VIN DID NOT QUALIFY FOR A RECALL WHICH HAD BEEN ISSUED BY NISSAN EARLIER. I ASKED HER ABOUT THE NHSTA CAMPAIGN FOR MY CAR, FOR WHICH SHE ASKED ME TO HOLD ON TO THE CAR FOR A FEW MORE DAYS, BEFORE THEY COULD RESOLVE THE ISSUE. ON, 10/14/2013 I GOT A CALL FROM THE SAME REPRESENTATIVE AND THIS TIME I WAS GIVEN A DIFFERENT ANSWER STATING THAT ALTHOUGH THE CATALYTIC CONVERTOR HAS A WARRANTY OF 80,000 MILES BUT IT IS FOR ONLY 8 YRS. I DO NOT QUALIFY FOR THE WARRANTY, BECAUSE ALTHOUGH I DROVE VERY LESS, BUT STILL MY CAR IS 10+YRS OLD. SHE FURTHER TOLD ME THAT NISSAN WILL NOT BARE ANY EXPENSE ON MY CAR. *TR