Nissan Woes - Long read.
Autoplace Service Dept. - Round #1
Where do i begin. about 9 months ago, i bought an 04 Maxima from Autoplace. I also purchased the 4 year extended warranty (the best Nissan offers)…All was great. About 1 month later, i hear a constant rattle. I do some research on-line, and find a TSB on a down pipe bracket, that commonly breaks, along with pictures, instructions on replacing and even part numbers, for the new upgraded brackets. I crawl under the car, and sure as hell…there it is, broken exactly like the picture etc. so, I take it back to the dealer, so they can replace the bracket. hey, its under warranty right…let them deal with it. I go in, show them the TSB, tell them i looked for myself etc. OK fine. Keep in mind, i had to drop the car off, take a loaner etc. autoplace is like 45 mins. from me.
Next day, they call…car is ready. I go in, they tell me it was a heat shield, and they ripped it off. check that bracket? no, that wasn’t it. wtf, oh well, if the rattle is gone, that’s all i care about right now. i pull out of the building, and didn’t get 50 yards away, and there is the rattle again. I take it right back in. still there?..yep…hmmmm we will check it again. i said check that bracket!! comes back out…he says your all set…what was it? a loose exhaust clamp. check that bracket? no. its fine now. uhhh, ok…i pull out…there it is AGAIN. pull back in…still doing it. So i took the svc. mgr. for a ride, showed him…then he’s like, well, all the tech’s went home, you have to bring it in next week. WTF. If they just checked that damn bracket to begin with, it would have been fine. Needless to say, i got the car home, unbolted the bracket, removed the broken piece, tightened it back up and guess what,…NO MORE rattle.
Autoplace Service Dept. Round #2
So, about 2-3 months later, the car is do for an oil change…and just before i changed it, i noticed this “buzzing” noise coming from the motor. constant at times. sometimes it would go away if i put it in neutral or revved it a bit. I called and made the appt. The day before, it went in, i decided to change my oil since i had the time. (for the record, i always change my own oil, and am VERY anal about things like that) Anyway…oil change = noise went away…completely. I figured i would still keep the appt. because you never know, it may do it again or whatever. I also decided to keep my appt. because my driver seat would literally shift/move from side to side on turns. i figured, screw it, let them worry about that too. so, i drop the car off, get the loaner etc. i get the call that its ready, and i go back in the next day.
They didn’t hear the noise, so not much they could do about that. I understand that. I asked about the seat. he said…there was an empty Pepsi bottle under the seat. At this point, i am getting ready to lose my temper. I say to the guy…do you honestly think, that i don’t know the difference between a bottle under my seat, and my seat physically MOVING side to side? He said, well, we checked it, and its no different than any other maxima. If you want we can replace the whole seat for you, but its not covered on warranty. I said, the WHOLE seat? you sure it isn’t something with just the track? he said no, cushions and all, the WHOLE seat. WTF. Bunch of idiots. Needless to say, i went home, unbolted the seat…and found a loose clip on the end of a shaft (for power raise/lower)…tapped it back down with a hammer and socket…guess what…seat does NOT Move. That took me a whopping 30 seconds to fix. I have HAD it with this service dept. Not to mention, that the tall skinny fuck behind the counter was asking for an ass beating with his i don’t give a fuck attitude. Anywho…there is always Mike Barney right? lol.
Mike Barney Service Dept. Round #1
So, a few weeks ago, I’m getting due for another oil change and guess what…that buzzing noise is back. this time its WORSE than ever. I figured, last time i changed the oil, and it went away…the tech’s didn’t hear the noise to diagnose it. (not that they would have gotten it right anyway). I decided to wait on the oil change and get the car in while it was still making the noise. I also decided on NEVER going to autoplace again, and trying Mike barney (keep in mind, my warranty only allows me to get repairs at the Nissan dealer). I take the car in…service mgr. asks if the car is still making the noise, i said yes, its doing it right now, its running in the lot. he comes out and you can hear the noise 2 blocks away…loud, high pitched buzzing. He looks right at me and says…leave it running, sounds like a bad motor mount …??? WTF !!! I can see by this statement, i am in for a treat here.
So, they bring the car in to check it out. I wait. about 1/2 hour goes by, and he comes out to tell me the noise is coming from inside the motor. and they are going to have to tear down the whole engine (he said 15+ hours of labor…lol) and that he would need me to authorize the work, and they have to find the problem before they submit it to the warranty. In other words, sign here, so when the warranty denies the claim, your fucked for the cost. He also implied that because my oil was dirty that i haven’t changed the oil in a long time (which was BS). They also said my oil was 1 quart low. (which it wasn’t). He also told me, that the warranty will deny my claim, if i don’t provide proof/history of oil changes. (not that i cant get around this but…) This is crap also, because i change my own oil. there is no contract or agreement stating i have to take the car to Nissan for an oil change. He also, said that i need to get the previous owners oil change history. WTF. More BS. I bought the car 9 months ago, whoever had it b4 me, and what they did is NOT my problem. According to him, it IS my problem. He said they would get the info, but its illegal for them to contact the pervious owner. so if that is true, what makes it right for me to???
In any event, for shit’s and giggles, i decide to call autoplace, and ask for oil change records. and they faxed me all 3 pages (keep in mind, i bought the car with 19k on it. and made my first change at 22k) I get the fax, and the previous owners name, address, phone #s etc are all over them. The oil was changed at 2100 miles, 5300 miles, and 11,000 miles. so it went 2100 miles before the first change…3200k before the second oil change…then it went 5700 miles before the next one. The dealer is supposed to change the oil before it sells again. and i am the second owner. they have no record of doing so since that 11k mark. from So it went from 11k to 22k (when i changed it) without being changed. that’s right. 11k miles on the same oil. WTF!!! Also, per those 3 records, autoplace used 3 different oils. first it was 10w30, then it was 5w30 and then it was 5w20…WTF again!! Sure, the lady could have went somewhere else in between, but i dont know that, and cant assume. All nissan will care about it the records i can prove, there fore, they are going to look at it, as i do.
So, basically what it comes down to, is Nissan service is bullshit. since when do you NEED to provide oil change records for you, and the previous owner. I took the car to MY mechanic for a second opinion. he traced it to the chain tensioner. which he said is a VERY easy job, and told me that it is most likely sticking and not getting the right lubrication…he gets that a lot on other cars. nothing confirmed, but that’s his theory. He also double checked my oil level and confirmed it was indeed full. so fuck nuts at mike barney most likely checked the oil with the car running?!! wtf. AGAIN.
So i have this car, with this problem, and i don’t EVER want to deal with Nissan service again. I would fix it myself, or take it to my buddy, but i bought the warranty for a reason. I refuse to sign my name on a ridiculous labor bill on the chance that the warranty co. might NOT cover it because of the oil change history. I am furious to say the least. I’ve only had the car 9 months, and i love it, but I’m fearing i may have to trade it in, and get away from Nissan all together. I should get what i owe on it, but i hate the whole “buying a car” process. I’m not sure exactly what to do. anyway, mostly needed to vent and get that off my chest. There was alot of little details…aggrivating phone calls and face to face arguments etc. with some of these people, but i wont get into that. I have bought a ton of cars from dealers in the past and never experienced such poor customer service or such a shitty warranty co. /end rant
btw, anyone car sales people PM me, i think im in the market…AGAIN. (and dont worry, car will be fixed lol) jsut dont want to experience any of this again!!)
Notes…
#1 buy nissan with warranty 9 mos. ago
#2 have minor problems
#3 nissan service blows
#4 Have bigger problems
#5 take to different nissan dealer
#6 different nissan dealer blows equally as much as the first
#7 Nissan warranty sux balls also
#8 fucked with a car, that has a problem
#9 more than likely going to fix problem out of pocket to avoid the dealer even though i paid for 4 year warranty…
#10 Nissan can suck a dick…start looking for a new whip.
