CVT is failing leaving the car unable to start and runs rough. Will not shift. Been towed several times.
Nissan Sentra misfire problems
38 of the 5,835 owner complaints about the Nissan Sentra describe misfire or rough idle, most of them for the 2004 model year.
- owner complaints
- 38
- worst model year
- 2004
- typical mileage
- 77,650
Is there a fix? There are 7 recalls for this area of the car. See below
By model year
Often reported together
Check engine light 19Stalling 7Overheating 4Fuel pump 3Loss of power 2Fire or smoke 2Engine failure 2Won't shift 1
Trouble codes mentioned
P0303 3P0300 2P0420 1P0304 1P0302 1P0301 1P0174 1P0171 1
What owners say
The car quits as I’m driving it , The headlights and the dome lights go dim and radio light flickers then it goes completely out and when I’m driving the car it has a rough idle and in order to keep the car running when I get to a stop light or stop sign is to put the car in park .
The contact owns a 2004 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH, the engine began to run roughly and the vehicle was shaking. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact pulled off the road safely where the vehicle stalled. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle, but eventually had the vehicle towed to his residence. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact researched the failure online and related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 06V242000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.
The idle on my 2017 nissan sentra sr turbo surges every now and then, and when it is below ~55 degrees outside, it feels like it runs rough when it is in neutral (6 speed manual).
All ignition coils and spark plugs are failing after 2 months of being replaced. $700 was paid back on may 20, 2019 to replace all coils and spark plugs. Engine misfired again the other day and same issue diagnosed with coil/plug failure! There is an underlying issue that nissan needs to have addressed within engine as something is causing the coils to continually misfire! My car was driving straight the other day on sunday when the vehicle started to buck wildly and check engine light flashing on.
Pcm ECM ecu engineering flaw. Engine kicks into safe mode while in operation or completely stalls, check engine light on, when restarts will misfire. Diagnosed with faulty control module (the second one in this vehicle since I have owned it)
Intermittant engine misfire, car will shut engine off while driving or ramp up RPM causing car to jerk forward. My daughter was driving 45 MPH giing around curve when engine shut off , she coast to side of road. Restarted and engine started misfiring. Check engine flashed and then went steady. Diagnostics showed p02 cyc 2 misfire. Cyc 2 coil replaced and now two weeks later the car is misfiring, jerking engine was on, drove to nissan dealer they run diagnostic and it came back with no codes in history.
August 2014:I was driving home from work on a city street doing about 45 when the car just shut off. I was able to coast into a parking lot with the residual power the car had. Luckily no one was next to me. The steering was gone since there was no power. After many attempts, I finally got the car started but had to put the car into neutral whenever I was at a light (because the RPM was at 500 and it kept shutting off when I applied the brake). Managed to make it home. Ended up being the cam/crank sensors that went out. Fast forward to november 2015 and I had to replace the cam sensor again!! Car still idles at 500 RPM and always feels like it's going to shut off. Next issue is the power windows. Drivers side gets half-way down, but you have to pull the switch up quickly in order for it to roll back up. Cannot open/close passenger window from drivers side, only passenger side. Next issue is random leak in the trunk where the spare tire is stored. About 1-2 months after we had gotten some heavy rains, I noticed a slight mildew smell in the cabin. I sniffed around, didn't see or feel anything that was wet. Figured it was a cabin filter that needed to be replaced. Another month goes by and I can still faintly smell it. I open my trunk and it's coming from there. I pull everything out of the trunk; nothing feels wet, nothing looked wet, nothing had water stains on it (books, clothes). I pull back the trunk carpet, the trunk stabilizer and I notice there's mold on it and the mdf covering the spare is wet. I pull it off and there was about two inches of water in the spare wheel well! When I was driving to get stuff to clean it, it sounded like I had a kiddie pool in the trunk! To this day, I have no idea how it got in there - again nothing was wet or water-stained in the trunk. Also experienced misfires, fuel gauge (due to fuel pump). I don't feel safe in this car at times.
While driving down the road at 40 plus miles an hour the catalytic converter clogged and caught fire causing a misfire in cylinder one and ruining the ignition coil for that cylinder. I contacted nissan after seeing online that the exact same part has malfunctioned on several other cars of the exact same year make and model. I was instructed to take it to a nissan dealership and have them diagnose the problem for a $89 fee. Even if I had the 89 dollars to pay to have it diagnosed it would not have paid it. I did not use faulty material in the manufacture of the vehicle and feel that any diagnostic fee should have been absorbed by nissan north america since they voluntarily recalled the part. It could have burst into flames and ignited the unused fuel in cylinder one killing me and my children. Upon further investigation into my vehicle it had already had the part replaced once and it started to fail again after I was the unlucky person to buy it. After the purchase of this vehicle, I have replaced the head due to a sand like material that eats away the head gasket. This material is a product of the catalytic converter crumbling and being sucked into the engines cylinders. I have replaced countless sensors and even the cars computer to try to solve the issue. After fixing the issue myself and removing the suspect part I have not had any issues with the vehicle. I am very displeased with the way nissan has chosen to deal with the issues that consumers of their product have. It was explained to me that since the dealerships are privately owned they can charge for diagnosis even if it is to verify if the previously recalled part is eligible for the recall. Had it not been eligible it would be responsible for any repair attempts made by nissan. So I fixed it myself and vowed never to buy another nissan vehicle.
I currently own a 2002 nissan sentra se-r spec v and it is old but has been taken good care of and it only has 110,000 miles on it. Vehicle problems smoke black really bad, uses up to 5 quarts between oil changes, idles rough, runs rough. It has had a couple recalls I checked up on like the pre cat header it had been replaced in 03. I replaced coil packs, spark plugs, mass air flow sensor, cam sensor, and crank sensor. All this virtually did nothing and with vehicle oil consumption and fuel usage the engine is shot and will be in need of rebuild or replacement. I have read many reviews of others with the same car and have had the same and worse problems, and it just makes no sense how nissan can screw up that bad and screw that many people out of money because of manufacturing defects. I also called nissan and told them the problem and they basically said to bad nothing we can do you are on your own. I still own the car and feel like as many of these car owners have experienced the same issues it is obviously something nissan did wrong and should compensate me and others with this defect.
Related recalls
Engine and engine cooling
- What is wrong
- 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.
- Risk
- 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.
- Remedy
- Dealers will reprogram the ECM free of charge. Certain my 2006 altimas which have been previously remedied under recall campaign 06v223 (nissan r0606) are not included in this recall since the reprogramming for 06v223 also included this reprogramming. The recall began on december 31, 2007. Owners may contact nissan at 1‑800‑647‑7261.
Recall number 07V527000 · Recall details
Engine and engine cooling
- What is wrong
- On certain passenger vehicles equipped with a 2.5l engine, the crank angle sensor is affected by temperature variations. Under certain driving conditions, these variations in temperature can be large enough to cause a brief interruption in the signal output from the sensor.
- Risk
- If the interruption in the signal from the 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.
- Remedy
- Dealers will reprogram the ECM free of charge. The recall began on august 21, 2006. Owners may contact nissan at 1‑800‑647‑7261.
Recall number 06V242000 · Recall details
Engine and engine cooling
- What is wrong
- Certain passenger vehicles equipped with 2.5l engines may experience excessive engine oil consumption as a result of improper performance of the piston rings.
- Risk
- If the oil is not maintained at least at the minimum level, engine damage can occur and in extreme cases result in an engine fire.
- Remedy
- Dealers will reprogram the electronic control module (ECM or engine computer). Your vehicle will also be inspected to determine if it has been consuming engine oil at a higher than normal rate. In a small percentage of vehicles, engine replacement will be needed. On june 9, 2006, nissan notified owners of the possibility of excessive oil consumption and the importance of maintaining the oil at a proper level. Follow-up letter to owners advising them of the status of the recall was sent during august 2006. Followup letter to owners was sent on november 15, 2006. Owners may contact nissan at 1‑800‑647‑7261.
Recall number 06V223000 · Recall details
Engine and engine cooling
- What is wrong
- On certain electric vehicles, the front suspension transverse link's ball joint bracket may break from stress concentration at a notch created by surface roughness and the shape of the material cut-line.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the bracket on these vehicles. Owner notification began december 15, 2003. Owners should contact nissan at 1‑800‑647‑7261.
Recall number 03V511000 · Recall details
Engine and engine cooling
- What is wrong
- On certain passenger vehicles, the circuit board for the crank position sensor or cam position sensor may have an improper solder joint due to solder deformation caused by heat stress accelerated by the existence of flux residue during the soldering process.
- Risk
- This could cause the "service engine soon" warning light to come on, create a no start condition, cause reduced engine power, or cause the engine to stop running without warning during vehicle operation, which could result in a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the crank position sensors. Camshaft position sensor(s), and in some cases, the variable timing control sensor(s). Vehicles involved in a previous recall campaign, 01v357, are also included in this new campaign. The replacement sensors used in that campaign are also affected. Owner notification began on december 22, 2003. Owners should contact nissan at 1‑800‑647‑7261 or infiniti at 1‑800‑662‑6200.
Recall number 03V455000 · Recall details
Engine and engine cooling: exhaust system: manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe
- What is wrong
- On certain vehicles equipped with the 2.5 liter engine, the exhaust pipe hanger pin may catch debris from the road that could be ignited by contact with the main catalyst. Also on 2002 altima and sentra vehicles, certain engine operating conditions may cause the pre-catalyst to overheat and damage the catalyst substrate.
- Risk
- Either of these two conditions could result in a fire.
- Remedy
- Dealers will remove the protruding portion of the exhaust pipe hanger pin. In addition to the corrective action, in order to reduce the risk of fire in the event of poor or improper maintenance that could result in oil spillage, heat shield(s) will be installed on the pre-catalyst and exhaust tube. Owner notification began on july 28, 2003. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact nissan at 1‑800‑647‑7261. Nissan recall nos. R3007, r3014, r3015, r3016, r3017. Also on 2002 altima and sentra vehicles, certain engine operating conditions may cause the pre-catalyst to overheat and damage the catalyst substrate. If substrate particles enter the combustion chamber, they could score the cylinder walls, resulting 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. The pre-catalyst will be tested to ensure it is working properly and replaced if necessary. If damage is found inside the pre-catalyst, it will be necessary to replace the engine.
Recall number 03V084000 · Recall details
Engine and engine cooling: engine: gasoline
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles equipped with a 1.8 liter engine. The engine could stop running while being driven due to a defective crank position sensor. This could also result in the "service engine soon" warning light coming on or reduced engine power.
- Risk
- If the engine stops running while the vehicle is in motion, it could result in a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the crank position sensors. Owner notification began december 10, 2001. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact nissan at 1‑800‑647‑7261.
Recall number 01V357000 · Recall details
Questions about the Nissan Sentra misfire
Which Nissan Sentra years have misfire or rough idle problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2004 (9 complaints), 2005 (8 complaints) and 2003 (7 complaints).
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