Nissan Problems

Our Nissan specialist, Jerry Newman, says the only timing chain failures he has had to repair on the Navara are because of poor maintenance, mostly because the oil hasn’t been changed, and the tensioner has failed leading to the failure of the guide and the chain. It’s vital to keep up the maintenance.

Our Nissan specialist Jerry Newman services a dozen or more turbo diesel Pathfinders and he hasn’t seen any with overheating problems. The only issues he has seen are related to the variable build quality coming out of the plant in Spain, and they’re usually rattles and squeaks etc.

Nissan’s recommendation is to use 95-octane fuel, and it says it is suitable to run on E10.

It’s obviously frustrating and of course will affect the resale value when you come to move it on. There’s not much you can do about it; perhaps you could consult the consumer affairs people to get their opinion on whether Nissan should provide some compensation for what would seem to be an issue with their cars. One way of reducing the wear on seats is to slide the seat back before getting out, that way you won’t rub the seat as you exit. It’s the same when you get in, if the seat has already been slid back you won’t rub across the bolster as you enter, and of course you then have to slide the seat forward to your normal driving position.

It should tow your trailer without a problem, as long as the trailer is braked, and you are sure it weighs less than 1000 kg when loaded with all of your gear. In addition to the cars you are looking at there are plenty of other cars that could also tow your camper, like the Hyundai Santa Fe, Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V etc.

The owner’s book will tell what oil you should be using, but it’s generally a high-grade gear oil, like 81-40 GL5.

The door locks are a known problem on the Maxima and you might be able to get that fixed free by Nissan if you go to a Nissan dealer. The company has a service alert out on the problem and has been fixing cars free of charge. Otherwise the Maxima is a reliable, sturdy car with no serious mechanical issues.

For some reason it’s going into ‘limp home’ mode and the reason for it doing that needs to be found and fixed. You have clearly had the runaround from the dealer and Nissan, and you would appear to have been extremely patient, but it’s time you got nasty. You need to take control of the situation and demand that the car be fixed. Ask for a meeting with the dealer and a Nissan rep and request a plan of action they will undertake to fix the problem. If that fails use the powers you have under the new national consumer law to pursue Nissan. Don’t worry that Nissan’s warranty might have expired, because the company is still responsible for the product under the consumer law if it has sold you a car that is unfit for purpose or they have failed to fix a problem with it. I think you have a very good case against the company under the provisions of that law. Phone the ACCC on 1300 302 502 or go to www.accc.gov.au for more information on the law.

Like it does with all of its models Nissan doesn’t recommend that you convert the Pathfinder to LPG, but that’s because it doesn’t want to carry the can for any problems that might arise because of the conversion. Aside from Nissan’s aversion to LPG there isn’t any real issue with converting the Pathfinder as long as you use an experienced and skilled converter and a recognized system. The system you will find you have to use is the more expensive vapour injection system, which does a good job but costs more. I would believe the Pathfinder would be a good car for your wife if she’s comfortable with the size, but it would be relatively heavy on petrol, and with the mileage I guess she could be doing it might not be viable to convert to LPG. I would consider the diesel.