Manufacturer's defective crank position sensor caused the vehicle to stall unexpectedly in the middle of freeway, causing a potentially dangerous situation.
2005 Nissan 350Z engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 19 of 19, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Engine quite on highway, causing loss of power steering and power brakes, nearly causing a crash on a dangerous mountain road (highway 17 in california). The check engine light came on and stayed on. The dealer, santa cruz nissan dodge (state reg. # aj-35673-n) traced the problem to a faulty crank position sensor which was replaced on 4/3/06 (repair order no. 157547). A problem with failed crankshaft position sensors caused a recall for 2003 350z with VIN's in the range jn1az*4**3t 000001-100167. The engine problem recurred two days later on 4/5/06 at an odometer mileage of 8,513, again causing the loss of power steering and power breaks, again nearly leading to a crash on a freeway. This time the problem was described as engine code po420, po430 -low catalyst efficiency. The dealer replaced the catalytic converter (repair order no. 157686). Since then I have had four additional engine failures during freeway driving with similar symptoms but the check engine light did not stay on and there was no code indicating a failure when I took the car into the dealer at 12,679 miles on 11/22/06. The dealer did not service the car at this time (repair order no. 165910).
This has happened three times now. I have been driving my 350 down the highway at about 65 MPH and it just stops running I can push the pedal down and nothing happens. I had it towed into the dealership the first time and they said it was the cam shaft sensor. No big deal right? Well about 2000 miles later it happened again same exact thing. On my way to work in rush hour traffic the car just stopped again, and I was almost rear ended. After sitting in the fast lane for about 3 minutes the car finally started again and I got out of the way and they towed my car to the dealership again. The call came that for the second time the cam shaft sensor was bad, it was replaced again. The last time this happened I was on my way home and the car started doing the same thing. This time I smelled smoke like something was on fire. The car was towed and the call came the next day saying the cam shaft sensor went out again and that this caused the catalytic converter to brake and the beads were sucked up into the engine which caused the engine to catch on fire.
Consumer states that the vehicle is stalling while driving without any warning. First time it happened when the car had 10400 miles on it. When pulled to the side of the road was able to restart after few attempts and resume driving. The dealership has found bad throatle sensor and replaced throatle chamber/reset system under warranty. Second time it happened when the car had 16600 miles on it. The car has stalled while entering a highway! Was able to pull to the side of the road again, but all attempts to restart the vehicle were unsuccessful. Had to tow it to the dealership. The dealership has found an internal failure of the air flow sensor, which was replaced under warranty. Concerned about safety of this vehicle.
The 2nd time the crank sensor went out I was traveling down the freeway at about 75-MPH when the car just died - I mean no power and no warning. I had to make my way across all lanes to the right shoulder with only a prayer! *jb I've contacted nissan direct on several occasions where I've been advised ridiculous things from the "specialist" like they put my car on the scope and there was no reading of a bad part (see other complaint about the transmission replacement) - question is how do you scope a shifting problem with a manual transmission??? And "why was I so upset when the crank sensor was only a cosmetic thing" - a what?? If you call having your car shut down driving down the freeway a "cosmetic thing" I think the so-called "specialists" are a farce and stall tactic, nothing else. After the 2nd time the crank sensor went out I was told by nissan (not the dealership but nissan corp) that the "master tech drove the car at 80 MPH and couldn't get the crank sensor to go out again" - that's funny, the 1st time it went out I was in a parking lot doing about 15 MPH so why have they acted as if the situation only happens at a certain MPH??? Makes you wonder if they know a lot more than they're saying! There was a recall for the crank sensors for the 2003 & 2004 cars, which they say my VIN number does not meet the criteria. Well what does then?? I understand on an overall basis from the reports I've read the 350z is a good car - what I'm the most disappointed with is nissan's extremely poor customer service attitude and lack of acceptance when there are legitimate problems. At this point I will never purchase another nissan product - they are not the only game in town. I pay a healthy price for the privilege of driving a new sports car - I expect to get what I pay for even if nissan has to bite the big one on this particular vehicle.
I purchased a 2005 350z in nov 2004 - where do I start. To date I've had the car in for service on 7 occasions ranging from minor annoyances of the gauges coming on saying I had low tire pressure when I didn't, the utility plugs not working where I was told even though my phone charger works on every other car known to man it must be bad there couldn't be a problem with the car's plugs, having the transmission replaced, the front caliper replaced and the crank sensor replaced twice. Each time I've taken the car in for repairs the 1st responses are "we cannot duplicate the problem". I was told that 3 times before they replaced the transmission (at only 7,000 miles I might add). Strange how it can go to "nothing wrong" to "we have to replace the transmission". In addition, when I picked up the car after the 2nd crank sensor replacement the porter shifted the car and to my joy the service advisor heard the clunk I had been telling them about they said "they couldn't duplicate". The service advisor then drove the car, then sat in the drive at a stop shifting from 1st to 2nd and each time hearing the loud clunking noise. He agreed the transmission is still not correct so I was to bring it back the next week, which I did. This time they brought in the "master tech" who said he couldn't duplicate the problem. This says to me that even though a nissan service advisor has admitted he's heard and experienced the problem, which I've stated is not every time I drive the car, the master tech can pop in and say "nope, no problem here" and nissan feels no obligation to did deeper into the problem. Are they saying their service advisors are morons and don't know what they're talking about. That's odd, my service advisor use to be a tech. **see additional info about the replacement of the crank sensors.**
Dt: caller stated 4 different times the crank position sensor shut the engine down while driving 65 MPH. Twice he had close calls. Cars around contact's vehicle had to slam the brakes. This happened on march 17. Twice on july 28, and on july 30, dealer had vehicle three different times for same problem. Manufacturer has been contacted 3 times, and they have not called contact back. This is was a leased car.
We purchased our 2005 nissan 350z on 4/15/05. When we purchased the vehicle we were told how reliable the z was, and how they never have any problems. We found that statement to be untrue. On 5/16/05 with 612 miles on the vehicle I made my first visit to service. This I was not happy about. The vehicle needed a new steering angle sensor assembly, and mass air flow meter. Ok I figured lets get it done and over with and move on. On 7/1/05 I make my second visit to the service department. This time the matter is more serious. I have noticed my oil pressure gauge was dropping down to zero. I checked the engine oil on the dipstick and noticed it was empty. I was concerned because the car is not supposed to have an oil change for at least 3months or 3000 miles (dealer states 3750 miles). I was not at either. I take the vehicle into the dealership with my complaint and also tell them about the vehicles bad idle. They look into it and change the oil. The vehicle was about a quart low. I expressed my concern with this because the vehicle has so little miles. The dealer stated that in order for them to determine that vehicle is consuming oil they would need to perform another 2 oil changes and document the amount of oil lost. I also had a concern with this. The vehicle during its first two months of ownership was used as a daily driver.
Dt: 2005 nissan ,xterra, consumer drove the car less than 150 miles, and the first time it had been driven above 65 MPH. Heard a pinging noise, pulled off the road, noticed smoke coming out of engine and exhaust. However, did not see any fire, but called the fire department. The car was at dealership, and they replaced the engine block and catalytic converter.
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