Last night my car (1999 GLE) went dead in a parking lot and I had to call triple AAA to get it towed. I thought it was my broken clifford remote starter acting up but just to be sure I had my car towed to Dam Dell Nissan at Syracuse New York. I had to get professional help because I have no automobile knowledge and I have no tools or a garage. Next day the dealership said, as it turned out, my starter was broken. Since my car was right on time for a oil change, I asked them to replace the starter and change oil for me for the total of $380 bucks. After they started to work on my car for about half of an hour, the guy came over to me and told me that my alternator is toasted because it has been running without bearing and making the squeaking sound. They had me gone over to my car and hearing that sound, which honestly I didn't know existed because my knowledge of how cars run and how they should sound like is equivalent to that of a Beatle driving blonde. So after some brief hackling, I was settled with $700 bucks for replacing both the alternator and starter and get the oil changed. Now that really sucks because I can't do any of those myself and I don't know any trust worthy smaller shops that can do those cheaper in the area I live.

Anyway, my question is does nissan's quality sucks that bad that I really have to get my mechanical knowledge boosted? How much would it normally cost you cost to fix if both your starter and alternator is toasted?

 

Hey $700 sounds about right.. i am sure you could have done some wheelin and dealing. But in comparison, I live in Ontario and the "List Price" from a stealership for the starter is $450cdn.. luckily i have a friend at the dealership and got it for $300 after tax. I haven't looked into an alternator, but i'm sure its not much cheaper. As for the starter, it was pretty easy to replace, would have taken me an hour tops... my friend who happens to work at the dealership swapped the starter out in about 15 minutes.


1st post.. wooo

 

You went to the dealer, did you expect? Get your mecahnical knowledge boosted...

Starter and alternator ... 300$ .. of course with the work done yourself. Starter can be done in under 30 mins..

 

http://www.autozone.com
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=254238

 

nice hahah.. buy it.. do it..

but just cause we're on this.. most of u prefer aftermarket parts vs OE? I've been using OE parts... more than pleased car runs and drives like when it was new. However, it has probably cost me a bit more money.

 

dude i changed my started for 100 bucks from advanced and my alternator for like 175
nissan dosent sux ur knowledge does just get a haynes manual and get to learning
also the remote start from my expierence on the maxima sux i went throught 3 starters because of that damn thing it will eventually burn up the starter and u will be at step one again

 

First off, Sh*t happens and it sucks that it happens to someone with a lack of knowledge. does nissan quality suck? for the most part no, but what other car companies dont suck in their own way?...second, if you would have done it yourself it would have saved you probably 300-400 dollars and those things are relatively easy to fix. Third, you can learn by reading the stickies. Fourth, good luck in the future.

 

If I havn' gone to the dealership I won't even know it was my starter and not to mention the alternator...the alternator has beening running without bearing for weeks could caught on fire if my starter didn't "break on time" to stop me from pushing my car to the edge...

so in the end, not knowing anything could also be dangerous.

 

Find a local shop that's cheaper for future repairs, head over to the regional section and see which ones your local people recommend: http://forums.maxima.org/forumdisplay.php?f=30

 

I bet if I took my car to the dealership right now and asked them to look at it... well they wouldn't be there cause it's midnight... but if I took it there tomorrow morning and asked them to look at it... I am sure they would find $1000 worth of stuff that has to be fixed right away or the car is gonna explode!!!!
see thats how the dealership works. They have special instruments... they input your info and the instruments make an estimate as to how much money they can screw you out of.

 

I don't have a Gen 4, but don't some years have a recall on the alternator?

 

part of '98

 

okay.I'm gonna have to disagree, I work at a "stealer-ship" and as far as I can say, NONE of the technical advisors will screw you out of your money. If you dont think a part has to be fixed, go ahead and tell them. If you doubt that a part has to be replace, go ahead and ask them to show you exactly where the problem is.

Those technical advisors are friends of mine. And I've asked each and every single one of them if they've ever screwed with anyone, and they all said no. Simply because of this: "Why risk losing your job because of a few extra dollars?"

while i cannot vouch for all the tech advisors in the world, i can tell you that the Nissan i work for doesn't screw people over.

what makes you think that dealerships are the only service shops that will screw over customers?I've heard of more private shops screwing people over than dealerships.

point is, next time they "come up with 1000 dollars worth of stuff that needs to be fixed right away" ask them to show you the problem.

 

If you have a car, you should know how to work on it, not necessarily ASE cert. stuff but turning nuts and bolts. Get a Chiltons/Haynes and get educated unless you like spending that type of money. If anything let the dealer diagnose it then peel out of their lot to Autozone.

P.S. Yell haterz while doing it.

 

Isn't that a contradiction?

 

First off, . Secondly, HAHAHA. To sum it all up... HAHAHA

 

My professor for "History of Technology" argued that to own a car, you should have an intimate knowledge of it and be able to rebuild it yourself. He didn't own a car. T a limited extent I agree with him.

No matter what you drive, be as informed as you can be. No one can take advantage of you if you can see through their BS. It has nothing to do with Nissan quality, but rather who you can and cannot trust. Local shops can be just as bad as dealerships.

 

if you ever go to the stealership and you know what has to be done, get that part done and deny all other services. this is true for the most part in terms of commercial chain stores.

I was in Firestone getting an alignment and they wanted to "do me a favor" and check out the ecu code for 99.99. Blah!


In your case i guess there's nothing you could've done since u didnt know. But since your car was a '99, wouldn't you been eligible for the 97-99 alternator recall as a freebie?

 

What professor was that? If that was Prof Basalla down at U of D, it's because his house is 4 blocks from his classroom

You might want to remind the guy that he should be drilling his own cavities, performing his own surgery, and only use a computer for which he can lay out the circuit design.

But seriously, I have a Ford, Nissan, Mazda, and Mitsu in my "fleet" and EVERY ONE has discussions like this floating around. Fact is, cars are way to complex to prevent a problem, it always costs money to fix the problem, and it's not always reasonable or advantageous to have a consumer do it themselves. In fact, I've spent as much on tools as I have on parts in maintaining my cars. The good news is I'm buying less and less w.r.t. tools now after 2 years.

Regarding dealers, there are good ones and bad ones. Usually, them being 'bad' means they are moving too fast to fix the problem - such that they replace a little more than necessary to get the car back and guaranteed fixed. They tend to be effective for simpler diagnoses and install/replace jobs. You can often find it done cheaper by an independent shop, and in some cases they will have better expertise with the car, but you have to know that somehow.

One place dealers cash in like mad is those 30k/60k service jobs - they poke around a few things, change some oil/coolant, and charge $500.

The reason I don't use my local dealer much is because their parts prices are high, and they never have much in stock anyway - I might as well buy online for much less and get it in the same time.

Dave

 

no...not really...i was talking about the technical advisors i work for.

plus i know that some dumba$$ is gonna say "do you know all nissan tech advisors?"

so i thought it'd be alot easier to just put that there in the first place.

 

This was at Drexel University in Philadelphia. For as much crap as SEPTA gets, Philly's public transportation system is pretty good.

Anyway I think he was making a point with an antequated point of view, from an era when cars were not nearly as commonplace and used more as taxis than as personal vehicles. This was also back when electric battery cars were in production for urban use.

Anyway, we digress from the topic. Sorry to jack the thread.

 

Thats when they're not on strike.

 

con·tra·dic·tion-noun- A denial. Inconsistency; discrepancy.

You cant say NONE then say you dont know about the rest of techs in the world.
Go to the dealership experience forum, plenty of people will disagree with you there.

 

Haha very true. Although that's more of the unions b!tching for more money while SEPTA pays their non-union employees to sit in cubicles and read the newpaper.

 

Having zero knowledge with automobiles is not an excuse. My mom, who doesn't even drive, notices every little abnormal sound coming out of my car? Use your zero knowledge as an excuse and some day you will find your car stalled in a not so good area. Not having the know-how doesn't make you totally oblivious to possible problems especially if the symptoms can be heard. You must have known how your car sounded when you first got it and can you honestly tell all of us here that the loud failing bearing noise was inaudible to you???? You must be deaf or something. I know I heard mine, my mom even heard it, when the bearings on mine were failing.

Nissans are great cars, its the neglecting owners that are the lousy ones whom these great cars end up getting stuck with.

My 95 SE has almost 150k miles and I have never had any experience with it similar to yours. I have had 2 other SE's before as well. I know how my car sounds and when I start hearing abnormal noises, I find out what it is. In your case, you should have been paying more attention to your car. More importantly, you should be taking your in for scheduled maintenance so you could avoid being surprised. Learn from this experience.

If you still think Nissans suck, try driving a BMW or a Benz! See how you like it getting stuck with astronomical repair bills.

 

okay damn...let me rephrase myself since the grammar police is here...

None of the Technical advisors that I work with screw their customers over.

Happy?

 

Fixed

And tht matters to us Nationwide Maxima owners ....why

 

10beans

 

Don't let the kids sweat you cefiro.

Tryonetic: I agree with Max. If you own a car, you should have enough knowledge to troubleshoot general maintenance items, like change your own oil. If you don't, you have absolutley no right to come in here and expect sympathy from those like us who do.

Alternator & your starter? At the same time, month, AND year? And you didn't question it or ask to see the used parts when they took them off? Or ask to take them to a local alternator shop and test them? Next time, bend over instead of taking it standing up. It'll hurt less.

 

Very well put.

 

I don't need symapthy...I only need feedbacks from you guys so that I will know what I should have done and learn from this experience.

 

Wife took the Sentra to a big Nissan dealer for a complete service. Charged a load of money and of course this included replacing the spark plugs. Later on I discovered the two central plugs were some garbage the previous owner had put in, they were too long and it took enormous patience to get them out because the threads were protruding into the chamber and full of carbon. Needless to say the Nissan people had done sweet F-A, still, the 'replacement' plugs are right there on their bill.

Then there's the non-Nissan garage that recently changed the front struts and left the car so dangerously misaligned I nearly crashed it three blocks away, just driving it home.

The only way you can be sure is to do the damn jobs yourself as far as possible.

 

ok check it this is the second time and last time that i am gonna post in this forum because i dont want to hear that nissan sux again,or bump the thread up anymore...all i got to say to u is to get a car and get out of the building car idea if u have no idea how to work on them or find a friend that can teach u

 

Some people are constantly complaining and love to say they know how to do something themselves, so therefore anyone who pays retail got robbed and the person who did the work is a crook. What a way to go through life.

I got my chimney repointed for $285--the 2nd guy wanted $1300. I coulda done it myself for about $15 in materials. But guess what mommy? I don't have time to go up 40' in the air, mixing mortar. I would say the $1300 guy is dishonest, but not the $285.

Yes, the dealer costs more, we all know that. On some things, with a 15% discount, like the EVAP, it's worth it. Done right the 1st time.

 

My Sister-in-law works for Nissan in Palm Beach in parts and she even told me that they sometimes scare consumers into buying things or services that aren't needed. Perfect example, tell an older women that her brake pads are at 20-35%. They don't know that the pads can last longer, but hear that percentage and freak into buying. Also, don't trust some dealers, because say you go in for a oil change, they might tell you that you have a leak, and even to prove it to you, fabricate a leak very easily. Always get a second opinion. Just a lil' info. But besides that get a haynes. I am still not that mechanically savvy and i put in my own starter, radiator and oxygen sensor. All in all i probably paid about 250 for everything. i saved a lot of money from what others have told me. So go to discount or autozone and buy the book. Its a great book.

 

WTF does this have to do with nissan quality? We all know that the dealer fuccs people up the @ss. You should have gone to an independent shop you trust. Also, you have a duty as a car owner to know at least some of the stuff about the product you own and operate... and then you wont get fucced anymore.

 

would you rather have a Ford and spend more time in the repair shop than on the road?

Nissans are just as reliable as a Honda or Toyota

 

umm..because this guy is writing NISSAN..as a whole instead of the dealership that screwed him over.

he is asking about NISSAN quality...i am disagreeing with him on NISSAN quality.

also i was trying to disprove the stereotype that ALL nissan dealerships are filled with people trying to screw customers over.

 

Nissan quality is good, but their service sucks ...

 

Your statement is true. It's not likely that a Nissan is going to leave you stranded at any point. My car has 114k, and it's never done that.

Where Honda and Toyota are different, are in the initial quality dept. Nissan is fair, not even good in that dept. I have over 12 warranty claims on my 98, which I bought new. My folks own a Honda and never brought it back to the dealer for warranty. Two coworkers have Toyotas and they've never brought them back for warranty. Even BMW and MB cannot touch Honda, Toyota, and Lexus for initial quality. So let's just be clear on what Nissan is, and is not.