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2013 Altima engine noise recall Forums > > 2013 Altima engine noise recall 2013 Altima engine noise recall
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  #1  
Old 11-09-2012, 07:06 PM
acoustic58 acoustic58 is offline
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Default 2013 Altima engine noise recall

For those of you, including myself, that was anxious and couldn't wait to pre-order the new 2013 Altima, this is something that you need to be aware of.

There seems to be a common complaint about the noise level on the 4 cylinder 2013 Altima's that seems to be coming out of the engine / transmission. It's frustrating for those that are dealing with this because it was not an issue with the 2012's and it is also not an issue with the six cylinders. I dont blame the local dealers because most of the sales staff did not have any idea what the 2013 would bring except for what they found on-line and in the brochures. Basically the same information the consumer can find on their own.

This low rumbling sound during acceleration became annoying to the point where I brought it back to the dealer and drove another Altima with the same engine to compare them both. Surprisingly, the second car did not have an issue. After many conversations between the service manager and Nissan headquarters, it was determined ( listen up ) that the first group of Altima's that were shipped out had an engine belt that was the wrong size. The result was that a loud obnoxious rumble sound was created during acceleration. The second car that I drove had the correct size belt so that was fixed by Nissan before it was shipped out. This seems to be a known issue at Nissan but for some reason there is no recall, which clearly needs to happen for the early released cars.

Now that the rumble noise is gone, I am hearing a new sound which is a high pitched whine coming out of the engine compartment. This seems to be another known issue because many people have contacted Nissan about this and the comment that most people are sharing is that Nissan's response was " the sound is coming from the power steering motor and it is normal " if that is true, it is a slap in the face to every customer that they have because they think we are that stupid to believe that we are supposed to be hearing a noise like that on a brand new car, especially after paying $30,000 for it. Nissan needs to address this issue as well.

To sum up the the 2013 Altima, I would say that it is beautiful both inside and out but after already having two recalls, and now this belt issue , plus the whine from the power steering unit, I would never recommend this car to anyone until they get their act together. I believe Nissan truly cares about their product but in the case of the 2013 newly redesigned Altima, they should have waited to release it until is was mechanically ready.
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  #2  
Old 11-10-2012, 04:21 AM
Steveatl Steveatl is offline
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Things like you cite are one reason I have never bought a new car in the first model year of a redesign.
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  #3  
Old 11-10-2012, 12:06 PM
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bennyb53 bennyb53 is offline
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A little over two months ago Nissan hired David Champion, the senior auto reviewer at Consumer Reports Magazine. He was a Nissan engineer in the 90's and he will be working at Nissan testing center at Stanfield, AZ. Obviously Nissan continues to have Quality issues on Altimas. You guys should email him and tell your stories.

I will be in a market for new vehicle within three years so I am watching intently what owners are reporting the last two model years. I am looking to hear about the new ESP (electronic stability programp) that is mandatory for 2012 models. I am not hearing any of that, instead noisy electric PS motor. Aren't electric motors more quieter? Wrong size belt installed?
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  #4  
Old 11-10-2012, 04:40 PM
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Aenergy Aenergy is offline
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My 3.5S also has the high pitched whine sound too during cold start.(gone after car warm up)
And the problem is the power steering motor hose is touching the top of the reservoir, if I twist the hose 1cm away from the reservoir....the sound is gone.
Looks like this is not just for 2.5 I4...but also 3.5 V6 too.
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  #5  
Old 11-11-2012, 05:22 AM
acoustic58 acoustic58 is offline
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i bought this Altima based on the reputation that the car had, which is great not to mention the over the top high praised Nissan name brand. The Toyota Camry has been the #1 selling car in the country for years with the Altima coming in second. My thinking was that if that many people were buying it, the quality has to be there.

I was never a fan of the look of the Altima but the redesigned 2013 is beautiful both inside and out. We knew we love the look and Nissan was dangling a 2 year free maintenance offer on all pre-sales, so we went went for it. The truth is, when Nissan first started promoting that, it was a straight forward two year free plan. It turned out to be a very limited Free maintenance plan which basically covers oil changes and a few small other items tossed in. To break it down even further, Nissan recommends oil changes ever 3,700 miles or close to that. The maintenance deal only covers every 7,500 miles so the customer is paying for every other oil change.Clearly not the way it was promoted.

Having said all that, I hope these issues get resolved because at this point in time, all i want to do is bring the car back and buy another toyota which is the brand that my entire family has owned for 30 plus years. None of my cars had issues especially a new car going ack to the shop to be fixed with less than 700 miles on it and lets not forget, two recalls within 3-4 months of a release date.
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  #6  
Old 11-11-2012, 09:54 AM
Steveatl Steveatl is offline
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"Nissan recommends oil changes ever 3,700 miles or close to that. "

I've never followed that on 5 Altimas. I have always changed every 7500 miles and never had an Altima use a drop of oil in between.
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  #7  
Old 11-11-2012, 05:43 PM
acoustic58 acoustic58 is offline
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Good to know that. I should clarify that the driving my wife will do on this car is generally less than 10 miles a day and Nissan considers that " extreme driving conditions " many of the cars I looked at wanted the oil changed at 10,000
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  #8  
Old 11-12-2012, 10:55 AM
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1. acoustic58 - if your information of wrong size belt were installed on a certain production batch then you guys should contact NHTSA. Nissan is obviously not doing anything because everyone already knows the CVT engines are noisy. Nissan head of R&D Carla Bailo knows its noisy but she thinks customers are not paying too much attention to it. Nissan leads all car makers in using CVT transmissions. Ford and GM for most of their cars have given up on CVT going forward.

2. There's only been 1 recall on 2012/2013 Altimas and it involves the same issue. One transverse links bolt and power steering rack bolt not properly torque. Altogether almost 14k Altimas are affected and all came out from Canton, MS plant. If the plant made a mistake in 2012 involving 8,420 cars, it happened again on 2013 models affecting 5,500 cars. So somebody is sleeping on the job.
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  #9  
Old 11-12-2012, 11:26 AM
jagger jagger is offline
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This is really unfortunate. I am very very surprised that Nissan hasn't done anything about this issue. There are a good number of people complaining about the very same problem, the whining whistling noise allegedly coming from the electronic steering pump. I, myself, am experiencing the very same issue with my new Altima and it has certainly been a nightmare having to listen to it every time I'm in the vehicle. Instead of having a pleasant experience, I find myself irritated every time I'm driving. This week, I'm scheduled to bring in the vehicle to the dealership after having brought it 3 previous times for the whistling noise and another noise that comes from the rear of the vehicle. I do have a case with Nissan right now but even then, I'm being told to bring it back to the dealership. This is the my 5th Nissan and will be the last. I am so disappointed. The worst of it all is the fact that I actually considered buying an accord or a Toyota and wounded up buying this vehicle which was big mistake. For those of you interested in buying the new redesigned Altima, yes be aware and do your research before you find yourself wasting time back and forth to the dealership.
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  #10  
Old 11-12-2012, 11:32 AM
jagger jagger is offline
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Any advise on what you've done so far to resolve this? I'm getting desperate as to how to fix this vehicle...
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  #11  
Old 11-12-2012, 09:24 PM
acoustic58 acoustic58 is offline
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Benny,

Thank you for letting me know about the contact for the belt. I already have a complaint out with Nissan about the engine noise. Just for the record, the noise I was speaking about was not your normal 4 cylinder noise because the service manager drove it and said there was a problem. At least I have the dealership on my side. You may not know this but there was a recall for the 2013 Altima's to have the CVT transmission reprogrammed. I got a card in the mail for this.

For those you getting sent back and forth to the dealer, it's important to remember that there is a lemon law in every state and I believe that if a dealer cannot fix the problem after three tries, the dealer can be forced to take the car back and you lose nothing.
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  #12  
Old 11-13-2012, 01:01 PM
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Generally speaking, 3 or 4 attempts by manufacturers (or authorized agent - usually means dealerships) to fix the same problem, or 30 days out of service. In some states, 1 attempt if it involves catastrophic result such as serious injury or even death. If you believe your vehicle is a lemon, you must notify the manufacturer in writing that you are exercising your rights under the Lemon Law of your state. To help your case, submit documentations such as dates, names including dealership and persons, names you've spoken to on the phone,etc. It would not be a bad idea to send a copy of that letter and documentations to the Office of the Attorney General of your state as it is the office that administer the program.

Here is a snap shot of the State of Florida Lemon Law (1995): it requires that after a reasonable number of attempts to fix the same problem, manufacturers shall repurchase or replace the vehicle. If the same vehicle is sold within the state, a notice must be posted in the vehicle describing the defect and manufacturer must correct the defect and new warranty of 1 yr. or 12k miles. New buyer must sign form and duplicate filed with the state. The state also revealed of the total vehicles repurchased by manufacturers, only 12% were resold within the state as evidenced by the form returned to the office of the AG. It is assumed the rest were shipped out of state.

The law was strengthened in 1996 that requires vehicles repurchased by manufacturers (at any time once the vehicle is entered into lemon law decision) shall have the word "MANUFACTURER BUY BACK" stamped across the face of the certificate of title. This ensures that subsequent out-of -state buyers know vehicle was reacquired under Lemon Law. Many believes this compelled manufacturers to exercise a "goodwill buyback" before the vehicle is entered into lemon law arbitration.

CAVEAT: I am not a lawyer and I'm not pretending to render a legal advise. What I am doing is for informational purposes only. As always, consult an Attorney for proper legal representation.
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  #13  
Old 12-11-2012, 07:09 PM
altimaissues2012 altimaissues2012 is offline
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Default New Transmission anyone?

Let me start out by saying I love(d) my 2013 Altima 2.5 SV. I loved it for a month...then since then I've had nothing but issues.

I started having issues with my navigation screen randomly turning on and off. Dealership had no idea what was wrong with it, so they chose to replace it...problem was that the part is back-ordered for 2 months. So to make me happy they pulled a unit from a car on their lot and put it in my car...that created issues for the now radio I have registered to another individual as they sold the car it came out of.

Then I started hearing what could only be described as what we would all do as kids...we would put a baseball card in the spoke of our bicycle wheel to make it sound "cool". Well I didn't really enjoy that noise coming from my engine compartment so I brought it back in for service. First it was diagnosed as "too much transmission fluid" and I was told it was drained to the correct level. Took it back, noise was still there...brought it back, more tests were done...determined "noise is normal and coming from air intake". No flipping way. Drove to another dealership and dropped it off - next day I get a call telling me my transmission is bad and needs to be replaced. Only issue with that is THAT too was on back-order and they did not know when it would be in. Fast forward 18 days later, I have my car back not making the noise. Final cause...bad final gear (whatever that means). Now the car makes a bunch of different hissing noises when I'm driving it.

Among other issues that are clearly overlooked when manufacturing this vehicle (quality control...hello?) I have had multiple more issues such as a bumper not molded correctly to the car, features such as text messaging not being compatible with...wait for it...an iPhone. Lets see passenger airbag staying off when a normal human being is in the seat, so called "predictive course lines" when you back up not actually working as described in the owners manual, and most recently...auto headlights remaining on when it's sunny out.

I have begun the lemon law process for the state of Florida as this car can only be described in three words - piece of crap. Now I can't say ALL Nissans are bad...I was in the most stripped down version of the 2012 Altima for a rental car for the 29 days my car was out of service (yes folks...that long for all these issues - I was starting to wonder what car I was paying for) and had no issues but lower MPG's. Nissan customer service? Basically - we don't care...we only respond when we get lemon law notifications. I am only hoping that they will take this car back so I can run to either the nearest Toyota or Honda store...I should never have left those trusted brands. Tomorrow morning Nissan has their "final inspection/repair" attempt and I get to meet with a head engineer. It should be an interesting meeting.
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  #14  
Old 12-12-2012, 01:59 AM
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Oh good, you're meeting with the head engineer. Frankly, I'll be more excited if I'm meeting with the Head Nurse, lol. But kidding aside, I hope the head engineer can solve the noise problem. I am curious if your Altima was assembled in the same Canton, MS plant.
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  #15  
Old 12-12-2012, 05:07 AM
altimaissues2012 altimaissues2012 is offline
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I just checked the window sticker...it states that the final assembly was in Canton...not sure if that's good or bad.
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