2002 Nissan Sentra: engine overheating

Filed Sep 15, 2014 · Engine, Fuel system · 146,500 miles · CA

While driving up a steady grade the 'service engine soon', battery, and oil lights all came on simultaneously. A few seconds later, or possibly at the same time, the engine stalled and all forward power was lost without prior warning (except for the warning lights a couple of seconds earlier). I steered to the shoulder of the road using the existing momentum. The temperature gauge had been normal up until the incident but showed an overheated engine after turning off the car and turning electricity back on (the engine would not start at this time).

Filed Mar 8, 2010 · Engine · 108,000 miles · ND

This is pertaining to an existing campaign (#03v084000). I bought a used 2002 nissan sentra ser spec-v in may 2007. Shortly after my purchase (june 2007), I had this outstanding recall, including several others performed. The above recall states that the pre-catalyst could overheat and disintegrate, blowing particulate into the combustion chamber, scoring the cylinder walls, and cause excessive oil consumption and possible engine damage, requiring engine replacement. There was approx. 65,000 miles on the car at this point. Last february, I was driving along the highway when I suddenly lost power. I pulled over to the side of the road and found the engine would barely run and would not rev over 2000 RPM. I had this car towed 20 miles to my local nissan dealership. Upon inspecting the vehicle they told me that the pre-catalyst that I had already had replaced on the recall, had disintegrated, plugging my exhaust, blowing chunks of debris into my engine, therefore destroying the engine. I was told I'd need to replace the entire engine at a cost of $4300.00. This car only had another 50,000 miles on it after the initial recall work was done. Since what happened to this vehicle was exactly what the original recall was supposed to prevent, I went to nissan, requesting that they stand behind this obvious design defect and at the very least assist me in replacing this engine. I was given several different stories ranging from accusation that I did not maintain this vehicle (even though I do so religiously at nissan dealerships) to stating the dealer I had the work performed at was at fault and I should pursue restitution from them, to the fact the car was no longer under warranty and I was sol and this was 'normal' wear and tear. Now, I can understand normal wear and tear but no catalytic converter should be designed so that it will destroy an engine if it fails and this was supposedly addressed in the above campaign.

Filed Nov 12, 2008 · Engine · 32,000 miles · CA

My 2002 nissan sentra w/ 1.8 engine started dying at low speeds. My mechanic said it was a known defect of the camshaft position sensor & a recall was issued for the 2.5l engine, but not for my 1.8l engine. It cost me $408 to fix. Here is the 2002 nissan sentra defect summary: on certain passenger vehicles equipped with a 2.5l engine, the crankshaft position sensor can overheat causing a brief interruption in the signal output from the sensor. Defect consequence: if the interruption in the signal from the crankshaft position sensor is so brief that the electronic control module (ECM) logic does not have time to diagnose the condition, the engine may stop running without warning while the vehicle is driven at a low speed increasing the risk of a crash.

Filed Aug 20, 2008 · Engine · 190,000 miles · CA

1. Car overheated first night it was bought new zero miles. Dealership fixed a stuck thermostat. (car should have been checked before it was sold to the customer!) this may have forever damaged this car. 2. 59,000 miles - car blows head gasket. Fixed by dealership. 3. ~60,000 miles - car running rough because the spark plug sleeve was not put in correctly after head gasket was replaced at the dealership leading to a pressure leak in a cylinder. This miss should have been found by the dealerships mechanic before releasing the car back to the customer. Fixed by dealership. 4. ~119,000 miles - car blows second head gasket. Dealership and nissan both say they wont help pay because the car has too many miles on it. 5. Car is currently at dealership where they are repairing the head gasket at my expense of 2,000 dollars plus I won't have a car for over a week. I asked if I would have to pay another 2,000 dollars in 60,000 miles for another head gasket because of this defective engine. I was told that it was a possibility. I did a google search on this model nissan sentra and found this to be a common issue. We even purchased a warranty that is good for 100,000 miles or till 2009, whichever comes first. We are just barely out of that warranty which we spent extra money on.

Filed Jul 15, 2006 · Engine · MD

At 6:30 am, I was driving, trying to defrost the windows with the defroster at a light and the car started a jerking motion and overheated. I parked the car at family member's residence. I took the car to the dealer and was told that the engine needed to be replaced; however, the replacement was covered under the warranty. Nissan needed to be contacted and they were. My case was in the warranty department for 3.5 weeks, mean while I was without transportation I wasn't approved to have a vehicle supplied by nissan. Nissan made a decision not to replace the engine in my 4 year old car that received regular maintenance; but to replace the cylinder head gaskets (which from what I am told is a temporary fix). This is because I am at 58,000 miles and my warranty is up at 60,000 miles. Beware of nissan and their warranties.