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If NCAs does not do anything to help you, make sure you document your call to them, who you spoke to, what they said, etc. If you don't get satisfaction from them, your last result before having to get legal counsel/advice involved is to take your Altima to another Nissan stealer near you that you haven't brought your vehicle to before. Tell them, your local stealer dismissed and poo pooed your problem. Other stealers LOVE to hear how badly another stealer treated you and many times will help you more knowing they have gotten your business over one of their competitors stealers, due to poor customer service.
If that Nissan stealer pulls the same thing as your first one, then your going to have to get a lawyer involved most likely. The problem your describing sounds very serious. It might have something to do with the transmission or it might not, I have no idea since I have not experienced anything similar to that on my Maxima but its certainly possible. Like I said, though there have been much less numerous problems with the 2nd Gen CVT, there are still some people having trouble. The problem is getting a stealership to listen to you and finding out exactly what the problem is.
Best of luck on finding out what is wrong. If I were you, I would follow those steps I mentioned before having to get into the sick mess of legal/lawyer help.
Mike
This is my second Altima, my first never had a problem so i thought i would be a loyal customer. I'm hoping no other problems occur.
Did they give you any trouble any advice?
Says it has a 60 Month 60K Power Train warranty.
Just good to check before going into the nearest Nissan dealer. Thanks for any advice.
FWIW, I have a 2010 Altima 3.5, albeit w/ only 1500 miles, but I've had no problems. Granted, it did take some getting used to, but now I actually like the linear power feel. It's like a light switch w/ a dimmer vs, a 3-way switch, right?
I had read about such issues prior to purchase in July, but with a 10 yr warranty, I figured I'd roll the dice.
Best of luck.
I hope everything works out for you. If I am not mistaken, starting in 2010 Nissan put a better/net generation CVT into the Altima's? A friend of mine used to own the 2007 2.5S and let me test drive it. The CVT is way better in the 2010 compared to the 2007, in my opinion.
The dealership tells me that this is normal for the CVT transmission.
Upon taking off in the morning, shortly after the automatic doors lock, a clunk clunk sound with vibration is heard and felt. The dealer representatives do not seem to hear or feel this problem. They tell me the car is fine.
I pointed out that mileage is the pits, - 43L/400 km. They had a mumbo jumbo answer for this as well.
I also pointed out that the tail pipe on the muffler has a very serious rust spot. The dealer representative pointed out to me that this was normal, and proceeded to show me the tail pipe of a car on the showroom floor which also had rust.
he said that they receive them this way!!!! :lemon:
I guess they are making these cars with tin cans from Mexico.
I purchased a brand new Nissan Versa 1.8L SL with CVT transmission.
I purchased the car in July 2010 and all was well until mid September when the weather cooled down a bit.
1. By mid September at 3289 km it started to make a whistling noise on deceleration. The noise is quite irritiating after a while when driving in the city. The noise was pronounced enough that on a few occasions pedestrians have turned their heads and looked over at me.
2. The other noise it started to make was a clunk clunk noise with vibration immediately after the automatic doors lockafter ltake off. This can be quite pronounced, and you wonder whether you are going to loose your transmission or your engine.
The Nissan dealership where I purchased the car says that the whistling noise is normal for the CVT, and that they do not hear the clunk clunk sound I am complaininmg about.
3. I have also noted the smell of antifreeze from time to time in the passenger compartment. I am now monitoring the antifreeze coolant level.
4. I have complained about gas mileage. The CVT is supposed to give better gas mileage; however I am only getting 43L/400 km.
5. I recently noticed a major rust spot at the seam of the muffler tailpipe.
The service manager told me that this was normal, and he proceeded to show me a Versa on the showroom floor with rust on the same location. He says that is how they arrive? I guess they accept rusted product from Mexico????
They seem to have no shame here, and I am wondering what Nissan in Nippon is doing. What happened to quality product?
Please respond if you have any advice on how to handle this.
Dixie
If you have any updates on the matter or if you are still doing class action.
Thanks
My car is a 2010 with the 3.5L, just purchased new two weeks ago, car had 543 miles when purchased, and I noticed the clunk the very next day. I read the manual to see if there was anything special that I had to with the car, and it does recommend letting the car warm up, which I do, as this was a requirement with my last car to warm up the turbo, so by default I've followed the required warm up and cool down periods as outlined in the manual.
I've just completed the break in period, and the clunk has gotten progressively louder. I'm going to wait until my first oil change to bring it up with the dealer.
Also, it will be of MUCH more benefit to you to try to work this out with Nissan (perhaps via your dealership) directly than to go through a class action suit - both financially and in terms of speediness. Those suits generally take years and would possibly be resolved after you no longer own the vehicle. Additionally, resolution to the individual in these cases is almost always less desirable than what you'd get on your own - for example, in a class action, you may be awarded a small lump sum, a certificate for $X off service or the purchase of a new Nissan, or a replacement transmission (which wouldn't do you any good several years from now).
Your best bet is to document the problems that you are experiencing, and print out identical complaints from other owners as you find them. IMO, your worst path is to give up fighting this personally and just hope a class action lawyer takes over.
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188K year to date through Oct 2010
203k for 2009
269k for 2008
660K altimas sold, I would assume that at least 85% or more where CVT's ( i'm still searching for the numbers) and lets just asume that 200k ( I would assume is much more that that) were sold in 2007, which was the first year for the CVT, that's 860k atlimas sold, or roughly 731k with CVT, that's a lot of cars. I think it's safe to say some folks are having good luck with the CVT otherwise I think we'd see more than 135 posts here. So for thoses having good luck with the CVT whats the secret, should we suck it up and follow the preimum maintenance schedule? Is city stop and go traffic going cause more wear and tear to the CVT than a standard transmission?
Frankly, I like the fact that I can drive my car, with good acceleration and never exceed 3000 rpms, I love the smooth acceleration and the way the car handles, but i'm still concerned with the ultimate Total cost of ownership. Only time will tell.
1. I have a whistling or whining noise which is particularly pronounced upon deceleration coming to a stop.
That's called the engine breaking. You will feel more when you go down the hill.
2. Shortly after take off from the curb, the automatic door locks clink on, and shortly therafter, I have a " clunck clunck clunck clunck with vibration"noise coming from the underside of the car toward the back. All of my passengers in the car have experience these noises with me.
That's the ABS activation. I'm not too happy with the noise as well but that's how it's. You only hear that first thing in the morning after the car has been stopped for a couple hours.
That's the ABS activation. I'm not too happy with the noise as well but that's how it's. You only hear that first thing in the morning after the car has been stopped for a couple hours. "
Thanks for the clarification.
Do not get me wrong, I'm loving the V6.
:shades:
Since 2009+, the 2nd Gen CVT has been implemented and the amount of problems with the 2G CVT are tremendously less than the 1st Gen since the efficiency and kinks were worked out on the newer generation, just like when the 3G CVT comes out it will be even more efficient and better than the 2G.
So far I have almost 15k on my 2010 Maxima and the CVT has been flawless leading to great mpg for the powerhouse under the hood (26-27mpg avgs).
I'm not saying the CVT is perfect and there aren't people who are having trouble, but that is what the 10yr/120k warranty protection if for b/c Nissan is sticking to the CVT for the long haul.
Thanks to the reply regarding my noises with the CVT and the "clunk clunk clunck clunk noise with vibration" on my new Versa 1.8 L SL with CVT.
1. You say we should get used to these noises, but these are the kind of noises an old car makes or a car that is getting ready to break down.
As a matter of fact my 1994 Infiniti J30 (3.0 L V6) and my 1987 Plymouth Reliant LE (2.5 L 4cyl) have never made these noises, nor did they give the vibration I am experiencing with this new Versa 1.8 L SL.
2. Last week we spoke to our contact at Enterprise Car Rental. They had a lot of Versas with CVT transmissions in their fleet, and they had a lot of problems with their CVT transmissions.
3. I spoke with my mechanic re: the story about the ABS settling in making that "clunk clunk clunk noise with vibration". He said "it just doesn't fit". We'll all had cars with ABS brakes, and no vibration and clunking noises were heard.
4. Any whining noise coming from an assembly of metal parts is definitely cause for concern, ....check any tribology manual.
5. Also check with any mechanical engineering department, and you will be told that vibration leads to metal fatigue, metal wear & eventual breakdown of the component.
6. We do not even know what kind of mettalic alloys have been used in the Versa CVT components, but remember that the weights involved with the centrifugal action may be causing the clunking noises. I think that makes more sense than having the clunking noise coming from the ABS breaks.
7. If the clunking noise is coming from the weights of the CVT setting up, then the vibration experienced during clunking will cause wear on the metal components of the CVT.
God knows what can be happening to the polymer belt in the CVT transmission.
I know polymers, and they break down with time.
Does anyone have the phone number to the Nissan Engineering Department in Japan. We need to speak to them to find out what is wrong with their lemons. :lemon:
Why should we, the consumers be trying to solve their LEMON :lemon: problems ourselves?
Dixie
If your car is the only car that has that noise, you should be worry but if all Altimas and Versas have that noise, I don't think you need to be worry much. It's either the noise is normal or they will have a recall in the future to fix the issue. I just don't think Nissan can ignore that mass number of defects if it's real.
Thanks for your reply again. It is much appreciated.
My Versa is brand new, it has 4000 km on it. When I first got the car in July 2010, it had no whining noise on deceleration, and certainly no "clunk clunk clunk noise with vibration"". These noises began around 3289 km.
As we have all had cars with ABS braking systems,- what kind or quality of ABS Nissan has placed on the Versa.
We could have purchased a Honda Civic with the same money, and I believe we would not have run into these problems.
CVT transmissions are found in snowmobiles which I believe have 2-cycle engines.
I do not think the CVT is an appropriate transmission for a car. Check out the Altima Forum on this site, they are reporting lots of problems with their CVTs and some engine failures.
I am hoping my noises on the Versa will go away. In the interim, I am not enjoying my experience with Nissan, and in all good conscience I cannot recommend a Nissan to anyone.
Dixie.
Best of Luck1
When I was driving back, it was raining and I was driving around 75mph and was a windy too.
Is this normal? Could there be a problem? Any feedback would be appreciated.
Almost has 10K miles on it.
Thanks,
Jeannine Fallon
Corporate Communications
Edmunds.com
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Thought this might be of interest, since some of the material for the story was based on complaints found in these forums.
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