I need car repair advice

[bigtallguy]

My wife bought a 2007 nissan altima several months ago. Long story short it broke a few weeks ago, we were told we needed to replace a part which would cost us $1,000, which we did, then we still have the exact same problem.

We took it back (dealership) and they looked at it again, didn't know what to think and called the higher up nissan tech. They weren't sure what to think either and said to "try" replacing the wiring harness and "maybe" that's what's broken ($2,000) but that's not guaranteed to fix it.

So seeing that this situation is unacceptable I'm planning to start moving up the chain to see it I can get it repaired free, since this is an unusual problem that shouldn't be happening in such a new vehicle. It has 42k miles now.

I've never had a car with a problem like this so I'm new to the dance. Anyone that has gone through a similar situation have any tips to make this process easier for us? Thanks.

 

[Big-D]

OK, so I have to ask! What is/was your Nissan doing when it broke? What are/ were the symptoms that led up to your breakdown.

Why would the entire wiring harness need replacing, short of having a fire. My daughters Mitsubishi had a field mouse get into the engine compartment and chewed up the wiring coming out of the harness leading to the headlights, parking lights and turn signals. He chewed the wires down to little nubs. With a little patience and several hours, I was able to solder all of the eaten wires and get everything back to working again.

Fill us in on the details and you will probably receive some good info on your problem. And tell us your skill level as far as performing auto maintenance.

 

[Patriot]

My family is big on Honda's. Every service occurance with a dealership produces an eval card for the customer to fill out.

They take these VERY seriously and vigorously ask if the customer is going to give less than all 5's, give them a chance to make it right and completely satisfy.

I would take the time to mail in a praise letter, and still do, especially for comission or managers/techs who rely on profitability, but go the extra miles and don't put that over customer satisfaction (when the customer is reasonable, of course). So I have a good repore and reputation with the local dealership.

I made friends with the dealership service manager who was overall very sympathetic and helpful. When the problem would cost him >$1000, the area manager had to be called in. Again, they always satisfied me except for once when during a warranty repair, my third party battery died. I insisted since it was fine when I brought the car in, and was internally dead shorted when I went to pick it up, it was on them to replace it or make it right. The "new" service manager was uncooperative (talking about <$100 retail) and full of excuses that "obviously" it was defective beforehand. I mentioned they had to disconnect the battery to do the work and maybe by accident a tool was put across the posts to short it out or something. He gave me the "my techs are professionals and that would be impossible to happen." So I threatened to give him a very low eval on the card. He threatened to write that down in his private list book so he would always remember that in the future. I called the area rep toll free number and the guy actually called me back the next day. He remembered me from the previous "problem", noted my family had purchased like 5 honda/acura vehicles in the last 10 years, and asked me my problem.

I got my battery and the service manager was gone within 6 mo of that incident. I always recommended the first guy that retired and his practices.

 

[bigtallguy]

The problem we're having is, while driving, the gas pedal just quits working, it's like you're not even pushing it. The car continues to idle fine but you stop and turn it off and back on for it to work again (most of the time). Sometimes it starts working again without turning it off and sometimes it takes two re-starts to get it going. There is no pattern to it when it happens, totally random. They decided it was a bad throttle body assembly the first time so we got to donate $1,000 to nissan for nothing.

I know that building rapport with the dealership would help but that takes years. The service dept. lady we've been working with has been great and seems to be empathetic but the problem is above their heads apparently.

It bothers me that the tech they turn to for help with problems doesn't know what to do either.

I really don't know why we'd have to replace the whole wiring harness, I guess they think it's a bad wire or connection somewhere in there. I can work on motorcycles but the new cars we have now are too complex and cramped for me. All I do with them are oil changes and simple stuff like that.

 

[Big-D]

I perform most everything on my vehicles, which include my kids cars also. Yes, there are certain items that are difficult to work on, but mostly its the diagnostics that require the high-dollar equipment.

Anyway, the link I've attached below is (or can) be a life saver for anyone that may have basic skills when it comes to any automobile. AllDatadiy.com is a website where you can access anything and everything about your car. It is the same data the dealerships, workshops or any other automobile mechanic would access when working on your car. Does it cost? Yes, it will cost you about $26 for a one year membership on a vehicle, with additional vehicles being about half price. As an example, I purchased 5-year programs on my three vehicles plus my daughters three cars. A total of six vehicles. It paid for itself on the very first repair. I have since used it on three of our vehicles to repair everything from a window regulator, wiring being chewed by a mouse and a transmission speed sensor that tells a automatic transaxle when to shift.

Its well worth the investment of under $30. It'll also tell you of any recalls and the actual definitions of any service codes. Ask the dealer what service codes were coming up, then you can look them up yourself. It will give you part numbers, allocated time it should take to repair or replace anything and complete instructions with photos on how to do anything on your car. I wish they did this for motorcycles, but they don't, I've already looked into it. Oh, it'll also tell you how much the (OEM) part will cost. If you go to the website, I believe you can look around.

Let me know if you check it out.

Link Below

AllDatadiy

 

[El Toro]

My family is big on Honda's. Every service occurance with a dealership produces an eval card for the customer to fill out.They take these VERY seriously and vigorously ask if the customer is going to give less than all 5's, give them a chance to make it right and completely satisfy.

I bought 4 Honda Accords in a 5 year period in the late 90's early 2000's. Then the first one's transmission failed to the tune of $3700. The vehicle had 78000 miles on it. The local dealer told me to bite the big one. The corporate rep in California actually told me "The warranty is for 50,000 miles, so if the whole car evaporates at 50001 miles, we owe you nothing." I bought all four Accords new from authorized dealers. I tried to get them to work with me a bit, like maybe I pay for parts at their cost, and labor at their actual costs. Nothing doing.

I would have been happy if they'd just said "We're sorry, but there's nothing we can do." Instead they wanted to rub my nose in it. I'll never buy another Honda automobile again.

I ended up taking the car to the local transmission shop where they rebuilt the transmission for $1800. The next week I bought a Toyota, and since that time I've had 5 new Toyotas. No more Hondas for me. Its a shame, because back in the day, I worked in a Honda motorcycle dealership ... we were offered the car franchise when Honda decided to break into the US car market, but we passed. I had a soft place in my heart for Honda, until the local dealer, the local field rep, and the corporate facilitator all basically said that if a transmission fails at 78000 miles, no one should be surprised, or expect any better.

 

[HYCLE]

Your car is drive by wire. So when you press the gas pedal you are just telling the computer you want to go faster. The computer then looks at what is happening now with the transmission, Engine speed,wheel speed and more. If things all look ok, then it will command the electric motor attached to the throttle butterfly to open. The throttle actuator has two position sensors to tell the computer how far it has opened and the computer then adjusts the throttle to the desired amount set in the computers program. If one of the inputs to the computer is out of whack the computer might just tell the throttle to stay at idle (limp mode) to keep you from becoming a Prius.

Usually it takes turning the key off, which gives the computer a chance to recheck inputs when it comes back on. Then the normal program will run again until the glitch happens again.

From a mechanics view this can be very frustrating to diagnose. Alot of time is involved testing and praying the fault will last more than a few nanoseconds.

The typical repair will be based on "Pattern Failures", like we changed this part on 10 other cars and it fixed them.

Your car might be the one of only a few, with this problem, that replacing the throttle actuator didn't fix.

See if you can get more information about codes or stored data. Could be you have a bad ground spider. :dribble: :dribble:

'

 

[Bounce]

A servicing dealership with spares often does parts swaps until they find the problem. Some charge you time but only the final product they find needed replacing. Some will charge you for every new part regardless of if it fixed the problem - which is what it sounds like yours is doing. Your problem is a lack of spares to swap in and that electronic items aren't returnable from a parts shop once you've installed them. Like Hycle said, it could be any of the (3) parts in the loop (2 sensors of main CPU) - or the wiring in between - that are bad. It would be nice to just swap a CPU with a known good one to see if it fixes the problem and swap back in your current one if it doesn't. Maybe you can find a dealership or service shop that will do that (maybe not). Check the salvage yards for a main CPU and, if affordable, do the swap yourself. It might work and save you some cash. If it doesn't work, you've probably spent less than the dealership would have charged you for labor alone to do the same thing.

 

[bigtallguy]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I talked to the manager today and got the ball rolling with nissan, best case would be a good faith repair but who knows if I'll get that or not. I'll let you guys know how it turns out...

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

... I'll let you guys know how it turns out...

Yes, please do.

I'll never buy another Honda automobile again.

I've done similar because of similar.

There are a 'ton' of Nissan Altimas on the road.

To add a little different view to the discussion:

Heres a sample of some of the prices (used) of parts discussed -- at my local U.Pull & Pay:

• CPU (computer) -- $35
• Throttle body -- $30
• Transmission -- $100

 

[bigtallguy]

Found out today that nissan won't help, something about us not buying from a nissan dealership makes us ineligible for any assistance.

Turns out my wife works with a lady who's husband works for nissan, he's the guy they send to figure out what's wrong with cars when the dealer can't. Sounds like the perfect guy for this situation so we'll see what he says....

Also, I'm planning to show my ass tomorrow and ask for a refund for the first job since it didn't fix the problem, is that a reasonable expectation?

 

[jcyuhn]

Found out today that nissan won't help, something about us not buying from a nissan dealership makes us ineligible for any assistance.
Turns out my wife works with a lady who's husband works for nissan, he's the guy they send to figure out what's wrong with cars when the dealer can't. Sounds like the perfect guy for this situation so we'll see what he says....

Also, I'm planning to show my ass tomorrow and ask for a refund for the first job since it didn't fix the problem, is that a reasonable expectation?

Yes, that is a reasonable expectation. They are experts on repairing Nissan products, you paid them to fix the car, they did not fix the car. You should not have to purchase unneeded repairs & parts while they attempt to diagnose the problem. Start with your service advisor, then talk to the service manager and dealership general manager if you do not receive any satisfaction. Be calm and polite, but firm and specific in what you are asking them to do.

Did you pay by credit card? If the dealership does not resolve the problem, consider disputing the charge. Frame it as you paid them to diagnose and repair the car, they did not deliver that service, therefore you dispute the charges.

It's not surprising that Nissan won't help out here. Might be a reason to choose another car company next time, though I'm not sure which automakers are better about standing behind their products.

 

[El Toro Joe]

or you could try this...

 

[bigtallguy]

And the exciting conclusion:

Me and the wife were on the way to the dealership when a friend called us and gave us some good tidbits about the car. He has a friend at the dealer that pulled the maintenance history on the car (more detail than carfax, which was worthless to us) and the car is, to them, a lemon. It has been in the shop for one reason or another since the mileage was 12. Unfortunately Nissan didn't consider it a lemon so we got to buy it.

That news changed the plans for the day, the goal was now to simply get rid of that car without losing our massive fortunes in the process. We did address the refund for the work done but got nowhere, there were notices (unnoticed notices?) posted up everywhere about the no refund for work done policy, and they seemed to believe it too.

So after a breifly heated discussion, we hooked up with a sales guy and made a suitable deal for the trade. Suitable means we ended up $4,000 upside down, but we were able to make up for it by using a friends (same one as above) nissan discount thing (I'm his brother-in-law ya know). So the deal worked out as if we just walked in a bought a new car without discounts. That wasn't really the financial plan we had in mind but that car was a money pit and we didn't see another choice.

So tomorrow we pick up a brand new altima, with a 6yr/100,000mi warranty just in case.

Thanks for all the imput guys!

 

[ALF]

buy a new one and enjoy life.................................................before the world ends