I will never own another Nissan

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Carl Fisher

Carl Fisher

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
2,792
Location
Cape Coral, FL
I really dislike Nissan at this point. By far the most problematic and difficult vehicle brand I have ever had to work on. Absolutely no thought was put into making maintenance easy or even possible without major disassembly of unrelated components.

A 2 hour job to replace the strut mounts on Chrissy's Murano today turned into an 8 hour waste of my Saturday. I've put a good solid 3 weekends now into just doing normal front end parts replacement. Struts, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc...and I still have to order and replace the lower control arms because the bushings are not serviceable and you have to buy them already installed on the new arms. Not to mention it still has to go to the mechanic next week to replace the power steering high pressure line because I won't touch that the way it's run through the engine bay.

A few weeks back a 30 minute belt change turned into almost 3 hours because of what had to be manipulated to remove and re-install the 2 belts.

By comparison, my 4Runner is a dream to work on. Well thought out and very serviceable with little hassle.
 
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Never had problems with my Nissan. However, had 2 Mazdas with less than 90,000 miles on both and the transmissions went out on them. Both were serviced by Mazda dealers and all maintenance as related to the transmissions was performed by the dealer. That doesn't speak highly of that brand either.
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Everyday I'm vertical is a great day
 
Loved my Datsun (That tells you how long ago THAT was). I have a Toyota Tacoma now and love it. Also you will have to pry my Ford Focus out of my cold dead hands. 34mpg city and 40mpg cross country.
 
$400 to change the plugs on my wife's 04 Expedition. I won't even attempt it. It only has to be done every 100K miles so next time it will be someone else's problem. the read two plugs on the passenger are almost impossible to get at and I think the dealer is allowed 6hrs to do it. The engine is so far back under the cowl and all stuff on the firewall makes it hard then top it off with Aluminum heads and steel plugs make for an interesting time. Changing the water pump on my Toyota Tacoma is another bad story you have to take most the front of the engine off to get at it and the 13 bolts holding it on, it is seeping now so I will take in after we get back from vacation, have to change the timing belt at the same time. Both vehicles have been trouble free up to now so I can't complain to much just glad I don't a have front wheel drive mess to take care of. did look at some new cars but decided that with the prices we can buy a lot of gas and repairs if need for the cost of new vehicles right now. At our age the next new ones will be our last in fact my Toyota may be my last one.
 
I think you will find most new cars this way. On Ford trucks, some engine repairs list "remove cab from truck" as the first step. I guess they are all taking Henry Ford's statement to heart. The one where he would give cars away if they could only come to him for repairs and parts.
 
I have seen picture where they have raised the whole body of the Expedition or Pickup to work on the engine. When I worked for the Calif Highway Patrol, we made enforcement vehicles out of Expeditions and F150's among other brands both Black and Whites and under cover vehicles. One time I had a Volvo in my stall to make into a Black and White CHP car as a test. But the time I really go into it, I had take over two stalls one with the car and one with all the part I had taken off to run the wiring for all the equipment. This was pretty common with some vehicles. People would come through the facility on tours and be horrified on what we were doing to the vehicles. The interiors were pretty well gutted on some of them. Try putting the same equipment from a Big ole Crown Vic into a Taurus, or a Camray, or a small Chevy model or a Mustang or Camaro, not fun.
 
I hear ya on most new cars. Seems to be a draw back of entire assemblies being made in different factories in different parts of the world and then slapped together. So you end up with an assembly that can't be maintained once part of the whole.

I had to take the entire manifold off of her engine to change the back 3 plugs. Talk about silly design.

The only thing that really gets me is that most new cars shouldn't need this much work at only 75k miles. I was hoping to get at least 100k out of it before having to do so many major repairs.
 
Carl Fisher said:
I really dislike Nissan at this point.
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I decided that in 1976 when I bought a Datsun Pickup Truck. About a dozen trips back to the dealer before they could get it to run more then 5 miles without stalling, sputtering, coughing and etc. Got that fixed finally (a really simple carb problem) and then the tail gate broke under the weight of about 4 bales of hay. Traded it in less than a year.
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In my case, ...

It was the Fiat Spider.


4 Cylinders. If you want to replace the spark plugs, 3 came out easily. You had to pull the carb to get the 4th.

If you wanted to replace the thermostat (like end of winter or end of summer) You had to pull the the radiator to get at the hose to replace the thermostat.

Oh yes the the battery was in the trunk.
 
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Love the 383 stroker in my '65 Chevelle, plenty of room to do anything needed, the front end was totally rebuilt last month not cheap but not a major job. Back then they made cars you can work on.
To pull the motor on a Ford pick-up the dealer has 12 hours just to pull the cab to get to the motor.
 
OKLAHOMAN said:
Love the 383 stroker in my '65 Chevelle, plenty of room to do anything needed, the front end was totally rebuilt last month not cheap but not a major job. Back then they made cars you can work on.
To pull the motor on a Ford pick-up the dealer has 12 hours just to pull the cab to get to the motor.
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I didn't know GM made a 383. But on my 67 Chevy Impala 396 there was one plug that was a challenge - back plug on the driver's side of the car was a bear to get at.
 
Smitty a 383 is a 350 with a special 400 crank giving more HP and a longer stroke, giving it a 383 displacement, thus the name 383 stroker. Not a stock engine from GM, it's a built engine and most hot rodders will build it for their cars.
 
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And people wonder why I love drive 70s and 80s full sized trucks.

No transverse mount engines. No computers. No hiding components behind "Doesn't it look great" plastic covers.
 
OKLAHOMAN said:
Smitty a 383 is a 350 with a special 400 crank giving more HP and a longer stroke, giving it a 383 displacement, thus the name 383 stroker. Not a stock engine from GM, it's a built engine and most hot rodders will build it for their cars.
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OK, I think Chrysler had a stock 383 and I was wondering if you were pluging that in. I have a fairly good handle on stock GM engines from that era but I'm not filled in very much on the hot rodder mods. When I was the age that most hot rodders got into it I couldn't afford it. When I could have afforded it I got interested in Standardbred horses.
 
I had a 2001 Pathfinder that I ran till 160K miles. Finally replaced it and got a 2004 Pathfinder I am still running and they have been bulletproof. I don't see buying another one as they have changed them drastically...
 
Last car that I owned that I could work on was a '64 Ford Falcon Sprint. Had all the bells and whistles under the hood with a beefed up front and rear suspension. I dusted a few kids with Cameros It was a fun little car, everything under the hood easy to reach and work on. Never did find out what it would do on the top end

Ben
 
The mid seventies Chevy Vega was an easy car to work on...they included a few tools and the owner's manual told you how to replace a lot of the parts and gave you some hints on troubleshooting. It's the only car I ever owned that I did a lot of the fixing on. Most of them my attitude was Auto Mechanics don't fix computers cutting into my job so I won't fix cars cutting into theirs.
 
Back in 1982, I "suffered" through owning and semi-restoring a '57 Vette. It was then my every day driver for about 10 years. Just an oversized go-cart...engine (283, dual 4-bbl yielding a stock 283 HP), drive-train and wheels. Could touch, reach and work on everything, and I did. The REAL 'Good Ole Days'.
Steve
 
Smitty37 said:
The mid seventies Chevy Vega was an easy car to work on...they included a few tools and the owner's manual told you how to replace a lot of the parts and gave you some hints on troubleshooting. It's the only car I ever owned that I did a lot of the fixing on. Most of them my attitude was Auto Mechanics don't fix computers cutting into my job so I won't fix cars cutting into theirs.
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Way back in high school, I paid $100 for a '71 Vega GT. It was a fun little car and was easy to work on, but it had to be because it was a junk box.

My current 'toy' car is a '93 Cadillac Allante. It is a great car, but it is not exactly user serviceable. For instance, the starter in it's Northstar V8 is underneath the intake maifold. Also, the way that the engine is shoehorned in, you must remove the radiator in order to change the alternator.
 
I wouldnt blame Nissan solely for this every car manufacturer now puts stuff in non easy to maintain areas. its the nature of crumple zones safety and MPG standards. Stuff more things in smaller packages that weigh more.
 
sbell111 said:
Smitty37 said:
The mid seventies Chevy Vega was an easy car to work on...they included a few tools and the owner's manual told you how to replace a lot of the parts and gave you some hints on troubleshooting. It's the only car I ever owned that I did a lot of the fixing on. Most of them my attitude was Auto Mechanics don't fix computers cutting into my job so I won't fix cars cutting into theirs.
Click to expand...

Way back in high school, I paid $100 for a '71 Vega GT. It was a fun little car and was easy to work on, but it had to be because it was a junk box.

My current 'toy' car is a '93 Cadillac Allante. It is a great car, but it is not exactly user serviceable. For instance, the starter in it's Northstar V8 is underneath the intake maifold. Also, the way that the engine is shoehorned in, you must remove the radiator in order to change the alternator.
Click to expand...
Just goes to show ya different experience.

I had a '75 Vega hatchback that we drove until '79, loaned it to a friend for a year, and then let our son drive it for a year until he left for college ('81 - '82 school year)where he couldn't have a car until his senior year. We then used it for another year and finally sold it in 82 after 7 years and about 115,000 miles.


We did have the engine replaced after 50,000 miles but that was under warranty. GM came out with a special unconditional 60,000 mile engine warranty for them just after we bought the car - and they honored it.


Other than that I think I replace a coil, bought two sets of tires, replaced the plug in the oil pan and did normal maintenance - plugs, plug wires, oil changes, filter changes etc.
 
I have had 4 Nissans since 82 and they have been virtually bulletproof. Had way more issues on the chevy's and fords that i owned up to that point. Love nissan and will buy another one when my 2005 Frontier wears out. As far as the work on them ,they all are a pain now.
 
love my Nissan. have had 2 Xterras, 2 Frontiers, a Pathfinder and a Titan. loved them all and will only buy Nissan unless something changes in the future.
 
I had just one Nissan for 17 years. It didn't owe me a thing. A 1990, 4 cylinder pickup. Great little truck. It was still running well at 488,000K (about 300,000 miles) when I replaced it. Easy to work on if you wanted to and the service departments at 2 dealerships went above and beyond for me. I wish I still had Scruffy. :crying:
 
Smitty37 said:
sbell111 said:
Smitty37 said:
The mid seventies Chevy Vega was an easy car to work on...they included a few tools and the owner's manual told you how to replace a lot of the parts and gave you some hints on troubleshooting. It's the only car I ever owned that I did a lot of the fixing on. Most of them my attitude was Auto Mechanics don't fix computers cutting into my job so I won't fix cars cutting into theirs.
Click to expand...

Way back in high school, I paid $100 for a '71 Vega GT. It was a fun little car and was easy to work on, but it had to be because it was a junk box.

My current 'toy' car is a '93 Cadillac Allante. It is a great car, but it is not exactly user serviceable. For instance, the starter in it's Northstar V8 is underneath the intake maifold. Also, the way that the engine is shoehorned in, you must remove the radiator in order to change the alternator.
Click to expand...
Just goes to show ya different experience.

I had a '75 Vega hatchback that we drove until '79, loaned it to a friend for a year, and then let our son drive it for a year until he left for college ('81 - '82 school year)where he couldn't have a car until his senior year. We then used it for another year and finally sold it in 82 after 7 years and about 115,000 miles.


We did have the engine replaced after 50,000 miles but that was under warranty. GM came out with a special unconditional 60,000 mile engine warranty for them just after we bought the car - and they honored it.


Other than that I think I replace a coil, bought two sets of tires, replaced the plug in the oil pan and did normal maintenance - plugs, plug wires, oil changes, filter changes etc.
Click to expand...

I think that you probably didn't account for the fact that you are probably thirty or forty years older than I am, so the age and condition of the two cars were drastically different than one another. You bought a car brand new and took care of it for it's entire life. I paid $100 for a thirteen-year old beater.
 
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sbell111 said:
Smitty37 said:
sbell111 said:
Smitty37 said:
The mid seventies Chevy Vega was an easy car to work on...they included a few tools and the owner's manual told you how to replace a lot of the parts and gave you some hints on troubleshooting. It's the only car I ever owned that I did a lot of the fixing on. Most of them my attitude was Auto Mechanics don't fix computers cutting into my job so I won't fix cars cutting into theirs.
Click to expand...

Way back in high school, I paid $100 for a '71 Vega GT. It was a fun little car and was easy to work on, but it had to be because it was a junk box.

My current 'toy' car is a '93 Cadillac Allante. It is a great car, but it is not exactly user serviceable. For instance, the starter in it's Northstar V8 is underneath the intake maifold. Also, the way that the engine is shoehorned in, you must remove the radiator in order to change the alternator.
Click to expand...
Just goes to show ya different experience.

I had a '75 Vega hatchback that we drove until '79, loaned it to a friend for a year, and then let our son drive it for a year until he left for college ('81 - '82 school year)where he couldn't have a car until his senior year. We then used it for another year and finally sold it in 82 after 7 years and about 115,000 miles.


We did have the engine replaced after 50,000 miles but that was under warranty. GM came out with a special unconditional 60,000 mile engine warranty for them just after we bought the car - and they honored it.


Other than that I think I replace a coil, bought two sets of tires, replaced the plug in the oil pan and did normal maintenance - plugs, plug wires, oil changes, filter changes etc.
Click to expand...

I think that you probably didn't account for the fact that you are probably thirty or forty years older than I am, so the age and condition of the two cars were drastically different than one another. You bought a car brand new and took care of it for it's entire life. I paid $100 for a thirteen-year old beater.
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Yep sounds like you're my kids age give or take a bit.

But even when I was in or just out of high school (mid/late 1950s) if you bought a $100 car you didn't expect to not have to put some work into it.

I'd say this though, you could really do a lot on them yourself - we used to talk about an engine overhaul where you might put in a whole host of new parts - transmissions and rearends were easy to find and not too hard to replace. Some of my buddies (not me I joined the Navy and didn't need a car) bought junkers and nursed them along for 2 - 3 years or more.
 
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