NHTSA Complaint #10557504 — 2004 NISSAN SENTRA

IN JULY OF 2011 MY 2004 NISSAN SENTRA SE-R SPEC V HAD SOME ISSUES. I HAD A CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COME ON AND HAD LIGHT BLUE SMOKE COME OUT OF MY EXHAUST WHILE ACCELERATING AND HAD BEEN STARTING TO NOTICE BAD OIL AND FUEL CONSUMPTION. I TOOK IT TO THE NISSAN DEALERSHIP AND THEY SEARCHED FOR ANY OPEN RECALLS ON MY SPECIFIC CAR BASED ON RUNNING MY VIN NUMBER INTO THE DATABASE AND THEY TOLD ME IT WAS NOT ONE OF THE AFFECTED VEHICLES. AFTER HOOKING UP A CODE SCANNER TO MY CAR THEY FOUND THE FOLLOWING CODES, P0420 (CATALYST SYSTEM EFFICIENCY BELOW THRESHOLD), P0302(CYLINDER #2 MISFIRE), P0303( CYLINDER #3 MISFIRE) DURING THE DIAGNOSIS THEY SAID THAT THE PRE-CAT (EXHAUST MANIFOLD) HAD COME APART AND THE MATERIAL INSIDE HAD GLOGGED MY EXHAUST SYSTEM AND GOTTEN SUCKED BACK INTO MY CYLINDERS AND SCORED THE CYLINDER WALLS. THEY STATED THAT THEY HAD ALSO FOUND VALVE DAMAGE AND EVEN FOUND SOME OF THE CAT MATERIAL IN MY OIL. NISSAN WAS KIND ENOUGH TO REPLACE MY ENGINE BLOCK AND THE PRE-CAT MANIFOLD AS WELL AS MY SECONDARY CATALYTIC CONVERTER EVEN THOUGH THEY SAID IT WAS NOT A VEHICLE AFFECTED BY THE RECALL CAMPAIGN THAT NISSAN HAD ISSUED. SO HERE I AM A LITTLE OVER 2 YEARS LATER AND GUESS WHAT? IT CAME BACK. I AM HAVING THE EXACT SAME SYMTOMS AS BEFORE. I TOOK MY CAR BACK INTO THE SAME NISSAN DEALERSHIP AND THEY WILL NOT FIX IT AGAIN WITHOUT CHARGING ME. THEY REFUSED BECAUSE IT WAS NEVER A PART OF THE RECALLED VEHICLES AND IT IS CURRENTLY NOT UNDER ANY WARRANTY WITH ITS 105,000 MILES. SO, I ASK THEM, WHY DID THEY FIX IT THE FIRST TIME? THEIR RESPONSE WAS, AND I QUOTE, "IT WAS A COURTESY" TO WHICH I SAID, "HMMM, SO YOU GUYS DO A COURTESY FIX FOR OVER $3,000 WORTH OF WORK FOR A CAR THAT SUPPOSEDLY "ISN'T" PART OF A RECALL CAMPAIGN?" - THEY DIDNT HAVE MUCH TO SAY AFTER THAT OTHER THAN MY BEST BET IS TO TAKE IT UP WITH THE MANUFACTURER AND THEY REFUSE TO HELP AS WELL. THIS CAR IS A TRAP. *TR