I had to take my baby into the dealership this morning. The engine sounds bad! I was going home last night - as I was merging into traffic I dropped the car into fourth and floor it, once I had merged I shifted to fifth. Then as I put my foot down to overtake someone, the engine oil light comes on and car shuts off! I fight the car over to the shoulder and wait a minute and try to start it. It tries to cranks but it sounded real bad. So I wait. Five minutes later I crank it and it starts. So off I go, oil light remains on, but I notice accleration is sluggish and there is a heavy vibration in the gear shift. So pull over, leave the car running and step out. The engine is going clickety-clack, clickety-clack. The oil light is on. This sucks! less 10,000 miles and this is the second major problem with this car. Looks like I got the one that was built on friday at 4.59pm.

So any theories??

 

Ouch, thats sucks man. Good luck with the shop. What was your first major problem?

 

Oh crap! Do you have oil in your car?

 

Sounds bad.. I had an engine problem yesterday morning... I drove my car to work, everything's ok... I go out on break, start my car, (I sometimes go outside on break to rev my car just to hear the rumble from the exhaust, I'm not crazy am I ).. Anyway, as soon as the car starts I feel a vibration, so I decide to drive it around and see if it stops, the faster I go the more i feel it, I also smell antifreeze.. Then the engine srvc light comes on.. I go to the 7-11, get something to drink then start car again and everythings fine.. Weird.. Anyway I'm getting a new CD player tomorrow, so I'm going to have them check that out... Hope you get yours fixed....

 

Yeah that was the first thing I checked. Oil was fine, and there were no leaks.

 

Clutch failed after 4500 miles. Had it the entire clutch replaced.

 

hmmm....that sounds serious... timing chain ok?

 

Yeah - Looked fine - the tech said it looked fine, but who knows until the start digging around.

 

A mechanic that does vehicle inspections for lemon law cases and such has told me that he has seen a 5th gen with a failed oil pump. I think he said the oil pump or the pickup tube failed and fried the engine. Hopefully this isn't what happened to you!! Good luck.

Dave Z

 

OMG!

(PS: Hi Dave. Long time no see! Did you ever make peace with Nissan over your fuel-cut issue?)

 

What's up? No, I'm still fighting Nissan. I might have some news in a few weeks as to my progress (or lack of). I will post when I have more information to tell, but we all know that with Nissan it is a fight till the end and more so when dealing directly with the corporation. Even though the new 2002 Max looks nice with the extra HP and 6 speed, I think I will look at either the IS300 5 speed or CL Type S with 6 speed as a possible replacement if I end up getting rid of my car. I'm tired of dealing with Nissan's poor customer service and quality, and I can live with spending a little more to get a better quality car and service. I know some people have had absolutely no problems or complaints with their 5th gen, but I was not so lucky and I am getting sick of it.

Dave Z

 

Uh-oh...after the tech did the once over - and couldn't see anything that looked out of place - the first words out of his mouth "could be the oil pump failed?" Lets see.

and yeah I'm curious too if you settled your dispute with Nissan?

 

oil pump failure could mean a new engine for you..... ask for a 3.5L swap...