X-Trail Oil Consumption

I have a problem which originated under warranty and will cost me maybe thousands of dollars to fix and the dealership doesn't want to know.
When about 2 yrs old it began to use oil with no apparent evidence of leaks anywhere. I went back to the dealer on 3 separate occasions under warranty and they told me the oil consumption was within their specs - I'm talking "no oil showing on the dipstick" between one service to the next. They ran tests and said "all normal". I also reported on two occasions a strange rough idling vibration and growl upon starting the car. On the first occasion they changed a part (they said) and on the second they reported they could not locate any problem.
The problems continued with Nissan saying "all is normal" , by this time the car began to use some water with no apparent leaks anywhere. The car came out of warranty. By then I had rough idling (particularly on start up), high oil consumption, and high radiator water loss.
The vehicle is well looked after, carefully driven and has just reached 100,000 (the warranty is 100,000kms or 3 yrs).
The problem is so bad now that I took the car to a recommended independent mechanic for an opinion and repair and it broke down in his driveway and I couldn't restart it. I just reported to him the oil loss, rough idle (particularly at start up) and the ever increasing coolant loss and he said - "obviously a head gasket or cracked head". I said how do you know, he said "basic symptoms in mechanics, any mechanic would know that and the dealer's mechanics would too". He tested the car and said definitely head gasket (1 week and $1200 - $1600, or cracked head, which could be $1600 - $3000), and he said that any good mechanic would pick those symptoms.
When I told him of my episodes with Nissan service he said -"they would have known!" This is a highly regarded mechanic, he works on racing team vehicles here and in the U.S. and he lectures at TAFE in NSW and he is prepared to document any evidence of wear and tear consistent with the problems that I reported to Nissan.
I have had the car serviced, I have on 3 occasions officially reported it to Nissan Service to have it rectified and it seems that just as the car passses 100,000 kms (and it is like new in every other way - in fact we love this car) I'm suddenly on my own!
It shouldn't happen in a well engineered car with an international company who say they back their vehicle!
DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE SIMILAR PROBLEMS?

[exy]

Hello Peter.
Sorry I havn`t got back sooner. We have been away. My diesel X-Trail as done 39K miles and it is 4K miles since its last service. I checked the oil level last Friday, before we set off back. The oil was still at HIGH mark on the dipstick. So I am not expecting to have to put any oil in untill its next service.:)

[mpe235]

What engine is in the x-trail?

Originally Posted by Peter Johnson

I have a problem which originated under warranty and will cost me maybe thousands of dollars to fix and the dealership doesn't want to know.
When about 2 yrs old it began to use oil with no apparent evidence of leaks anywhere. I went back to the dealer on 3 separate occasions under warranty and they told me the oil consumption was within their specs - I'm talking "no oil showing on the dipstick" between one service to the next. They ran tests and said "all normal". I also reported on two occasions a strange rough idling vibration and growl upon starting the car. On the first occasion they changed a part (they said) and on the second they reported they could not locate any problem.
The problems continued with Nissan saying "all is normal" , by this time the car began to use some water with no apparent leaks anywhere. The car came out of warranty. By then I had rough idling (particularly on start up), high oil consumption, and high radiator water loss.
The vehicle is well looked after, carefully driven and has just reached 100,000 (the warranty is 100,000kms or 3 yrs).
The problem is so bad now that I took the car to a recommended independent mechanic for an opinion and repair and it broke down in his driveway and I couldn't restart it. I just reported to him the oil loss, rough idle (particularly at start up) and the ever increasing coolant loss and he said - "obviously a head gasket or cracked head". I said how do you know, he said "basic symptoms in mechanics, any mechanic would know that and the dealer's mechanics would too". He tested the car and said definitely head gasket (1 week and $1200 - $1600, or cracked head, which could be $1600 - $3000), and he said that any good mechanic would pick those symptoms.
When I told him of my episodes with Nissan service he said -"they would have known!" This is a highly regarded mechanic, he works on racing team vehicles here and in the U.S. and he lectures at TAFE in NSW and he is prepared to document any evidence of wear and tear consistent with the problems that I reported to Nissan.
I have had the car serviced, I have on 3 occasions officially reported it to Nissan Service to have it rectified and it seems that just as the car passses 100,000 kms (and it is like new in every other way - in fact we love this car) I'm suddenly on my own!
It shouldn't happen in a well engineered car with an international company who say they back their vehicle!
DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE SIMILAR PROBLEMS?

[jalalski]

Hi Peter,

I wish I had come across your post earlier than this or seen your story told on the Australian X-Trail Forum.

Based on what you stated in your post and the symptoms you have described, you have experienced the Loose Intake Butterfly Screws Defect.

This is a known problem to Nissan (refer to U.S. Recall for the Sentra Spec-V & Altima QR25DE Engines), but Nissan Australia have not announced a recall for this, although it happened to a number of our forum members (including a very recent case)

Please refer to THIS thread on our forum and start adding your information there, as that thread is monitored by Nissan Australia and I am personally involved in communicating with Nissan about this.

We're now considering a class action or a petition against Nissan which will hopefully force them to issue a formal recall for this defect.

You shouldn't have been asked to pay a CENT for this repair and it should have been covered by warranty (even if outside of the warranty period)

Look forward to welcoming you on our forum.

P.S. Your first post on the forum needs to be made in "Introductions" to gain membership and you can then make a post in the above thread.

Also, have your xtrail been affected by the Pre-cat. failure and recall and if so, was the cat. converter replaced?

NOTE to mpe235: Hi mate, It's Jalal from the Australian X-Trail Forum. I am the head admin and owner of the Aussie Forum. We're now experiencing the Loose Intake Butterfly problem which was previously experienced by the Sentra Spec-V and Altima vehicles. The Nissan X-Trail shares exactly the same engine with these 2 models (QR25DE 2.5LT Petrol engine). So far we had about 10-11 confirmed cases of this defect taking place (that we managed to count) and this new case mentioned here is yet another one proving that the Butterfly Screws failure is real and affects the xtrails. Nissan Australia AND Japan are refusing to admit this defect and refusing to admit that it affects the X-Trail, so they're dealing with them on case by case basis. In all cases where this defect had happened, it resulted in major damage to the engine and some customers were forced to pay for the repair when it is not a fault of their own. Just thought I'd make you aware of this, as the recall bulletin for the Sentra Spec'V posted on the NissanHelp website was the starting point for my research into this. Cheers mate.

[zooropa]

Hi, we have consistant problem of oil consumption of Nissan X-trail with Yd22DDTi engine. The basic leakage is from the bad quality Turbocharger. If not looked after the entire oil goes of within 1000 miles of driving.

[Esteban Fosco]

Hi everybody. It seems that I have the same problem with my QR25 X-Trail motor. ¿Have you any notice of recalls about this problem?

[chook81273]

I purchased a 2003 Nissan X-Trail from a Nissan dealership 16 months ago. It started running rough a couple of months ago and the spark plug gaps kept shortening. Finally my baffled mechanic took the head off and discovered that the intake butterfly screws had come loose and were dancing around in the cylinder. Digital pictures of their observations were taken (I haven't seen these yet). A total quote for this repair is difficult to ascertain as it will depend on the serviceability of the aluminium head and the repairability or cost of the manifold. The pistons and bottom end appear to be satisfactory luckily. Unlike most, the mechanic was able to get to the problem before the motor was completely ruined. He called Nissan Customer Service and denied any knowledge of the problem My vehicle is well out of it's new car warranty. The dealer warranty doesn't seem to hold much value as I had an lpg conversion and thus the vehicle was serviced with the lpg fitters. I am waiting for final word from the dealership as to who's liability this is.

Has anyone considered going 'public' with this issue? I'll bet there are many more who have not found a forum on the problem. Maybe the RACQ/RACV etc magazine or a current affairs program? It's just so wrong that Nissan failed to maintain an acceptable level of quality in this part of the vehicle and the unsuspecting buyers wears the cost. I also read about a possible class action... I'd love to know more.

Danielle

[Esteban Fosco]

Hi chook81273. Contact me at guchifosco@hotmail.com