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The cat, burning oil, loss power, yes I've read a lot already please advice!! Forums > > The cat, burning oil, loss power, yes I've read a lot already please advice!! The cat, burning oil, loss power, yes I've read a lot already please advice!!
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  #1  
Old 10-16-2012, 12:42 PM
canuckerjay canuckerjay is offline
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Default The cat, burning oil, loss power, yes I've read a lot already please advice!!

Hi. So this cat failure p0420 is a popular one. I have tried to work with the loads of advice on this forum and others. A lot of people have been down this path. But I haven't read anything from people at this point. If Anyone has some advice for me now as to what is likely the condition of my engine, how much life the car has left, and anything I can do to extend it (I need another year at least out of it) I'd really really appreciate it.

Got the 2003 Altima 2.5L as a hand-me-down from family -- $3500 (what the dealer would give him for a trade in -- nice uncle) in 2005 with 70k on it.

The car has always burned a bit of oil. But the past few months, the exhaust grew louder, began to lose more & more power, fuel economy was terrible, then rough accelleration from slow speeds.

After loads of reading, replaced both o2 sensors, and the manifold/cat assembly last week. Right before I did the repair, it had burned through 4L of oil in a month. After the repair, It drove great! For two Days!!

Then the same symptoms started to gradually appear. Right now, it's getting loud again. It is quite rough accellerating from low speeds. It's getting a bit worse every day. No new codes are flashing. I'm about to do a seafoam treatment on it. When I took off the manifold/cat, it was pretty black inside. The exhaust 'ports' (?) coming from the cylinders to the manifold also looked quite black.


Has anyone replaced all this stuff and still had issues? Does anyone who's been down this hellish road have an outcome they could share? Or a remedy they could suggest?

Thanks to anyone who can help.
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  #2  
Old 10-16-2012, 08:50 PM
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smj999smj smj999smj is offline
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Sounds like you need an engine! First, I would contact Nissan to see if there are any campaigns "open." Nissan had a campaign to address these issues but some still have them despite have the recall done. To understand the problem, you have to understand how the EGR system on the QR25DE engine works. Instead of using a conventional EGR valve system, the QR25DE uses the variable valve timing for EGR. It does this by slightly opening the exhaust valve during the intake stroke to suck in exhaust directly from the exhaust system. Apparantly the original programming of the ECM was managing the engine in such a way (too rich, probably) that it was causing the media in the primary catalytic converter to break down. The catalytic converter is part of the exhaust manifold on these engines. As bits of media broke off of the catalyst, they got sucked back past the exhaust valve into the combustion chamber where they scored the cylinder walls, creating an oil burning engine. Nissan finally figured out what was going on and started a multi-tier campaign. Depending on what condition the engine was in and production date determined the course of what was done under the campaign. Parts of the campaign could include reprogramming the ECM, adding heat shields to the exhaust to replacing the engine short block and exhaust manifold/converter assy. If you are burning that much oil and the new converter is already showing signs of burnt oil, I can pretty much guarantee you that you will need to replace or rebuild the engine, be it going with a short block, long block assy., or installing a used motor (in which you take your chances; make sure you get a warranty if you go this route). If there is no record of the campaign being performed, I would have the ECM P/N checked and updated, if necessary, to the latest program. The other option would be to sell it or trade it in on another vehicle. Seafoam is not going to do anything to help your oil burning issue.
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Old 10-17-2012, 11:51 AM
canuckerjay canuckerjay is offline
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Any idea on how long this engine will last until it is totally done? I could use every day I can
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Old 10-17-2012, 12:36 PM
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bennyb53 bennyb53 is offline
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1. As suggested by "smj999smj" with your VIN #, talk to dealer service advisor if there's outstanding recall on your vehicle.
2. For a modest investment of about $30. send out for oil analysis. It can tell you a lot of what's going on inside your engine.
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  #5  
Old 10-18-2012, 06:54 AM
DCARLTON DCARLTON is offline
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One other thing to consider. You stated 4l of oil in a month; how many miles? My daughter's car used about a quart every 3500 miles with 210,000 miles on the car.

Using that much oil, does your car smoke real bad? After a problem getting a spark plug out of my daughters car (it broke), had to have the head removed and the remaining part of the plug removed. In putting it all back together, the PCV valve was broken in half with one part in the valve cover and the other part in the hose. This caused the car to smoke like a chimney until I discovered this was the problem. Once I replaced the PCV valve, I drove it about 3 miles and it didn't smoke a bit after that. She drove the car for another 15k to 20k miles before she totaled it, still using only about 1 quart every 3500 miles.

4 liters (a little over a gallon) is a lot of oil; Altimas only hold 4.5 quarts or so of oil. People who have had catastrophic pre-cat failure have reported a quart every 750-1000 miles which multiplied out would be 4.6 quarts per 3500 miles.

If this is what's going on with yours, then evidence would point towards your engine being toast. I seriously doubt that Nissan is going to do anything on a car that is 10 model years old. You bought it in 2005 with 70k on it, what is on it now?

Nissan screwed these model years up with this 2.5 but they have corrected this issue. My daughter bought a 2012 Altima with the 2.5 in it and currently has 30k on it (in less than a year). I personally love the 3.0's in the older Maxima's and have read great things about the 3.5's.

Good luck to you!
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2012 Altima (daughter - replaced 2002 with 8 miles, now with almost 30,000 miles)
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