NAC: Nissan Problem, Brand Reliability Thoughts

[Cody Forbes]

1.8t engines have oil sludge problems that caused catastrophic failures at low miles. They also initially had a very aggressive timing belt interval (120,000) that got lowered to 105,000 then 90,000 after numerous failures.

The 4.2l V8 third gen from a B6/7 S4 was another huge problem child. At first there were cars with under 10,000 miles needing replacement engine because the cylinders were bored out of round at the factory. After that around 50k the intake manifold runner control flaps started breaking and falling in to the intake ports. Then around 75k the plastic guide rails for the timing chain are known to break and cause a major failure - I've got one in the shop right now with about $9,000 in damages to the engine.

2.0t FSI engines have problems with the mechanical (camshaft driven) high pressure fuel pump can follower so much that VAG extended the warranty to 120,000m for all cars with that engine. A total failure of the cam follower kills the fuel pump ($800) and the intake camshaft. I've replaced dozens of them..


So yeah, VAG has had some pretty major engineering failures these days. The I5 cars go huge sums of mileage with little likelihood of major mechanical issues. I think the accountants caught on and told the engineers to spend less time/money.

-Cody Forbes (mobile)

On Oct 13, 2012, at 10:48 AM, "mboucher70 hotmail.com" <mboucher70 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Other than looking after my Audi, I inherited the job of looking after my mother's Nissan Altima.
> 
> It developed a really bad idle when in drive, and warmed up. Couldn't find any vacuum leaks. Thought it might be the equivalent of the ISV. Her mechanic thought so too and changed the ISV, but the problem persisted, and then he said it’s the intake manifold gasket. Needs to be changed which is roughly $20 in parts and $1200 in labor.
> 
> Funny thing...she bought that car as a safe, reliable, cost-effective drive for a senior. She’s maintained it religiously and never driven it hard. It’s a 2000. What’s more, in 2006, at something shy of 160,000km (100,000 miles), it needed a completely new (rebuilt) engine. Don’t recall what the problem was, (possibly a bent camshaft)?
> 
> Other than the idle problem, car drives great. Lots of power, good mileage, comfy ride. In fact it’ll even idle ok with the A/C compressor running since the idle is adjusted. Problem is that its got to pass emissions testing next May, and with the current idle and resulting check-engine light, it won’t.
> 
> 1.) Any thoughts on whether its worth fixing, or scrapping
> 2.) Any recommendations for a garage/mechanic in the Toronto area
> 3.) Is this the kind of repair that a DIYer with a good set of instructions and enough time would be advised to attempt...A DIY'er who's never pulled apart a complete engine.  I found a quote on the internet, "Chilton's says "Out of all makes and models that Chilton's has published, no intake manifold gasket is harder to replace that the 1996 Nissan Altima.".  The 96 to 2000 shared the same basic engine design, with a major redesign in 2001 or 2002.
> 
> 
> and
> 4.) I guess this gets me thinking about the larger question of quality engineering, and brand reliability. Apparently intake manifold gasket failures were such a common problem on that era Nissan, and also on many GM vehicles in the 80’s, that there were some successful, or attempted class-action suits.
> 
> Owning a 1990 Audi, I’ve certainly been through my share of repairs, but they’re things you’d classify as “small” or “medium”. I can’t conceive of any Audi’s I know developing such a major problem when it was 6 years old, that made the decision to fix-it v.s. scrap-it a close call. And then again 6 years later. Every car has problems, but I’m curious to know which, if any Audi models had reliability issues where something major would often fail and require a complete engine teardown or replacement, thus rendering the car almost not worth fixing. Also hoping there’s nothing lurking deep inside my I5 that I don’t know about. 
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