2003 Nissan Altima: excessive oil consumption

Filed Sep 20, 2018 · Engine · 95,200 miles · CA

Excessive oil consumption starting at 94,000 miles. No leaks or exhaust smoke. Have read catalytic convertors were poorly designed resulting in low oil level and engine damage. Car still runs well but concerned about safety and reliability. Nissan forums full of similar comments including nissan's awareness of the defect and lack of action. Car has died in traffic on a few occasions but runs well otherwise.

Filed Nov 10, 2017 · Engine · 79,000 miles · NY

Every 100 miles car start burning oil to fast..engine start running slow..check engine light start blinking on and off

Filed Jul 7, 2017 · Engine · 25,000 miles · OH

Takata recall engine was remanufactured april 4th, 2012. Engine burning oil, more then likely catayltic converter, throwing codes. Cost around 5,000. Engine having symptoms...again, for the same thing. Nissan offered to diagnose for free, but states the warranty period is over. Also found that the engine was used, by source other then the dealership. Would like someone to honor this recall, as in 2012 it should have been replaced for free upon recall. Is there anything anyone can do to help the situation? Car began shaking, and losing power, on the road, had the car towed home. 25,000 miles on the reconditioned engine, oil blowing, 4 quarts in 3 miles.

Filed Nov 3, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 90,000 miles · MD

Everything I have had to replace/repair on this car is linked to recalls, but nissan is denying this & refusing to help. They said my vehicle was not part of any recalls but everything that's failing is related. It has died on me in the middle of highway traffic w/ my child in the car several times. This car is defective & no one from nissan is concerned!!!! Butterfly screw/valve issues, cam/crank shaft issues--related to engine cooling, high oil consumption; alternator failing; oil leaking

Filed Jun 29, 2015 · Engine · 97,496 miles · WI

This nissan is burning oil like crazy. It started in jan, 2015, engine was making terrible noise, oil level checked, completely empty. I took it to nissan who said it wasn't a problem and did oil change. Then, just this saturday, june 27th the car was hard to start and sounded like metal so I turned it off and checked the oil- completely empty again. We had to pour 4 quarts in!!! It does not have a leak, nothing is ever seen where it has been parked. It is just burning oil like crazy due to some type of defect from nissan that hundreds and hundreds have complained about on line if you google nissans burning oil... And dangerous situations that have occurred . I do not want to wait for an accident, please, please, listen to all of us and get nissan to address this failure with their vehicles. This vehicle only has 100,000 on it and I have changed the oil every 3500 miles without fail. I did nothing to cause this along with the other hundreds to thousands of other nissan owners that have complained about this. I have called nissan in the past on my other altima about their AC that fails due to it always running with defroster and it doesn't turn off then so it's always running. Also, I see many other rusted out floorboards, causing the passenger seat to not be bolted down in this same year that I had happen to me 2 years ago and had to spend $2000.00 to fix that they said the same, sorry , this is not our problem. What would have happened in an accident, the passenger would've not been protected when their seat flew off. Please, please go after them ....they are terrible.

Filed Mar 13, 2015 · Engine · 105,000 miles · MO

We purchased the vehicle from a private individual. It had 105000 miles on the odometer, it is a 2003 nissan altima with a 2.5l (4 cylinder engine) shortly after purchase.. We noticed a very foul smell coming from the exhaust and into the passenger cabin. Also the engine consumed 1 quart of oil per 50 to 60 miles. No exaggeration ! I discovered a recall on the altima concerning it's precat/catalytic converter could over heat, break into pieces and some of the pieces could be sucked back into the engine, scoring the cyclinder walls and causing excessive oil consumption. I emailed nissan with my concerns. They assigned a case # to my concern. They asked for a nissan dealer to evaluate the problems and give them a formal diagnostic of the issues. The altima had a new catalytic converter installed in 2007. A oil consumption test was done on the car and the oil topped off and we were told to come back in 250miles so they could check the oil. In 160miles we returned and there was no oil on the dip stick! Also the check engine light was on and a code for "catalyst" problems was in the computer. This was all sent to nissan via email. Now instead of a rep. Handling the issues.. They have sent it to a regional rep. And we are awaiting their "goodwill" decision. That year altima and engine has repeat issues even after recall repair. Tpart of the recall states that if the owner does not check the oil often and ignores engine noises that it could result in a fire! Supposedly a exhaust hanger catchs debris and causes the fire??? Lol who are they kidding?

Filed Oct 1, 2014 · Engine · 190,000 miles · MS

Driving legal speed on interstate highway 59 south from meridian ms to slidell louisiana. Car started using oil every 20 miles. I have taken vehicle to nissan dealer on 3 different occasions. It ws determined that the engine and catalytic converter is bad. I have contacted nissan north america to ask for them to repair under recall #03v084000. This recall states that the catalytic converter will cause engine damage. Nissan declined to fix my car. I contacted the better business bureau and they did not help. I don't know what to do next.

Filed Nov 12, 2013 · Engine · 92,000 miles · TN

While my son was driving, the engine began missing and started to smoke. At the same time the heater quit producing heat. The check engine light came on. Engine diagnostics indicated cylinder # 4 misfire. Took to independent mechanic where it was confirmed that the engine was destroyed by failed catalyst in the pre- catalyst. Oil had fouled the missing cylinder's spark plug. The engine oil level was full and there had no previous indication of oil consumption, but the oil was found to contain coolant. These cars are popular for parents to purchase for teenagers and appear to be hazardous. The federal safety agency campaign id number: 03v084000 indicated that this pre-catalyst issue was a fire hazard back in 2003. It appears whatever was done in this recall did not solve the problem. This failure seems to be fairly common occurrence.

Filed Aug 28, 2013 · Engine · 132,000 miles · VA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 nissan altima. The contact stated that while driving 25 MPH, the vehicle stalled without any warnings. The contact mentioned that the vehicle had been consuming oil excessively before the failure. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that the catalytic converter was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance since the vehicle had been repaired under the federal safety agency campaign number: 03v084000 (engine and engine cooling ). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 132,000 and the current mileage was 133,931.

Filed Nov 29, 2012 · Engine · 130,000 miles · CT

Suddenly starting using 1 qt. Oil every 600 miles. No leaks, no smoke, no check engine light ever came on. Took it to my local nissan dealership. They said oil consumption was from catalytic converter breaking down and getting sucked into engine absorbing the oil and scoring lower engine (cylinder block walls), thus causing oil blow by. They recommend catalytic converter and engine replacement at $5,000 dollars. There is a history of these converter failures from 2002 in nissan products. My local dealer said my vehicle wasn't on recall. The biggest concern in this matter was that check engine light never came on and had I'd gone another 1000 miles this car could have seized up on the interstate.

Filed Oct 25, 2012 · Engine · 68,835 miles · NJ

I bought nissan altima 2003 on august 20 2012. I drove it around 800 miles and did oil change at lube express they changed oil at 67290 miles, after driving for around 200 miles car was making weird noise from engine. I got help of a local mechanic, he confirmed that there was no engine oil in the car !!! He put full 5 quart engine oil. I again got it inspected at lube express, they also confirmed there was no leakage. The third refill does not last for long. After 3 days again 5 quart engine oil was disappeared from engine. I again got it inspected at nissan dealership on 10/09/2012 they also confirmed that there was no oil leaks and they did burning oil consumption test, again there was no engine oil in the car. They had suggested me to change entire engine!!!. I can not drive car at all. The engine may caught fire !!! I surfed lot of websites and found that in nissan altima 2003, lots of people have experienced the problem and it had occurred after 60,000 miles I.e. After warranty expires and same happened with me as well. I complained at nissan but they replied that they can not do anything since warranty expires. Problem in altima occurs after original warranty expires!!!! Nissan is selling cars which can cause serious accidents and I want to stop this. Problem in engine occurs after warranty expires. Please help since this may case loss of life and serious accidents. Nissan can not escape from its social responsibility since they are selling junk cars to americans. I can provide lot of website and blogs to prove that nissan sold 2003-altima with faulty engines. They must recall altima 2.5l - 2003 and they must find amicable solution for this problem. I know that I am at a big loss but my effort will help to save lot of lives who are driving nissan cars on highways with huge risk. I trust in god and law of the united states of america. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Jul 23, 2012 · Engine · 140,000 miles · CA

My car began to shake uncontrollably and my check engine light started to flash. I've brought it into a shop 3x now and they can't seem to find the problem so my car has been sitting in my driveway since the incident. My oil is burning at an extreme rate. I only drive max. Maybe 20 miles in 2 days and keep having to put 2qts. Of oil in my car. It's smoking really bad too. I keep paying for labor when the problem hasn't been solved. I found the following on nissanhelp.com: ntb03-070c safety recall campaign -revised- 2002-2003 nissan altima, 2002-2004 sentra; voluntary recall campaign engine exhaust pipe hanger pin and pre-catalyst for 2002-2003 model year altimas and 2002-2004 model year sentras, there is a possibility that certain engine operating conditions may cause damage to the pre-catalyst. Material from inside a damaged pre-catalyst could enter the engine and result in increased oil consumption. If the engine oil level is not checked on a periodic basis and drops below the low level, and the driver continues to operate the vehicle ignoring noticeable engine noise, engine damage may occur which could result in a fire. I don't know what to do. I keep paying money, but no one seems to fix the problem and I need a car.