Bought the 00 Altima off Craigslist with 33k original miles. Around 50k when I had the car in drive and would come to a stop, whether it was a stop sign or red light, my engine would sputter almost like it was going to stall. It never did but I knew it wasn't normal. Changed the spark plugs but it didn't help. Took it to a local garage that had been in a partnership with Ken Pollock Nissan. They quickly determined it was a gasket that needed to be replaced. They said the part was inexpensive but the labor was costly because it was located under the engine. Paid around $500 and haven't had a problem since. I have put about 10k more miles on the car since with no problems.

My wife and I regularly use expressways and long bridges that often have vehicles in distress crashed into by the traffic before the occupants can exit. If this known Nissan defect had disabled our car in such circumstances, I am sure my son-in-law with a prominent local attorney in his immediate family would have seen to it that my six children and four grandchildren would now be majority stockholders of the Nissan Corporation.

Within 15 minutes of normal start, with maintenance up-to-date, and all fluids at proper levels, the engine began to run rough and "Check Engine" light came on. Very quickly, the "Check Engine" light began to FLASH and engine started shaking the whole car. Just barely made it to my driveway as the engine was trying to stall. This defect can immobilize your vehicle FAST! Because of radically increasing the temperature of catalytic converter to at least red hot, I suspect this Nissan defect has caused previously unexplained vehicle fires in Nissans operating on high-speed expressways.

Codes: Knock and Cyl.4 Misfire

No thanks to Nissan, my first awareness of this Nissan defect came from online searching, NOT from the notification that anyone would reasonably expect to come from a responsible manufacturer.

OMG! I’m so happy I found this site! My car has been giving me the same problem for almost a year now. I guess its way more expensive to do car repairs here in Hawaii because I have paid over to $2000 in parts, labor and tow truck fees. Every time a diagnostic was done it was always something other then the intake manifold gasket. It really sucks that Nissan isn’t compensating any of us for all the trouble that we have gone through. My 1 year old daughter and I was driving on the freeway and the car started shaking and white smoke along with a nasty smell was coming out of the back end of my car then the car lost power and we had to pull over. We were an hour and a half away from home and had to call a tow truck my poor baby had to wait in the hot sun for 3 hours until the tow truck showed up. I’m calling to get my gasket fixed tomorrow I’m hoping it isn’t another arm and leg to fix. We really should file a lawsuit against Nissan and demand to be compensated not only all the money we spent but embarrassment and time away from work as well. Hmm I wonder if we could do such a thing?

The issue was not a big deal for me until I need to do the State inspection!!

A regular mechanic will tell you to do a full tune-up! After it they may say all kind of thinks as the mention in in this page.

My recommendations: 1) Tell the mechanic that you suspect in the intake manifold gasket 2) Ask him to run a test for leaks. AFAIK there are two way of testing it, using a smoke machine or using water. This will tell you for sure if this is the issue or not. If your mechanic doesn't know how to do it or is lazy about doing so, take your car to other place. 3) Ask for the price the job, since will take from 4 to 6 hrs.

In Firestone they do it for $513 + $25 of the gasket. What I did: Buy a gasket in Autozone for $7 (ask for the best one! it will take like 3 days to get and the difference in price is 50 cents, you could also buy it online). I took it to different place and they charge me $120 for the installation.

Good look in the adventure of fixing this issue!

My Nissan Altima is supposedly missing on the number four cylinder. (So says the computer). I've heard that this is due to the placement of the egr valve on the valve cover. The car almost dies out when stopped. On this site it says that the manifold intake gasket is gone because of this. I've changed oil, spark plugs, spark plug wires, fuel filter, distributor cap, rotor button, valve cover gasket. I was sick of fooling with it until i ran across this site and seen so many other people with a Nissan Altima have the exact same problem. I am with anyone wanting to file a suit against Nissan.

The car was shaking badly while idling while in drive. As others have mentioned, it was not as bad when the engine was in neutral or park. The check engine light would come on at times, go away, then come back again. I originally replaced the spark plugs, wires, rotor, and cap but that did not solve the problem. I wish I would have found this site but the spark plugs had carbon deposits on them and were due to be replaced anyway. I hope this does not happen again as others have had issues with it reoccurring.

My car shakes upon stopping at intersections like a "paint mixer". Had the plug wires and plugs replaced (needed to anyhow). Didn't solve the problem. My mechanic is looking into the matter further and I forwarded the link to this site. I sure the hell am not going to spend $700- $800 on the fix if it in fact is the manifold gasket which is what its looking like the more and more I read here. I sure as hell won't be buying a Nissan again. Yeah, I have 160,000 miles on the car but I've been spending a fair amont of money fixing it over the past 80,000 miles. I'll keep you all posted on what is determined to be the problem.

Wish I had found this site sooner. Had mine replaced last year and it seems to be going that way again. (Have added about 35000 miles since then) I had a Sentra before with 170,000+ miles and never had any problems like this. I will never buy another Altima. Sentra was great though. Also have check engine light on for over 1 1/2 years. It is rubber hose in gas recepticle. I recently was reminded of it when I got my oil changed (like I can't see it is on) and when I said it is only the rubber hose where I put in gas, the service man said " it is the ??????" (can't remember the name) and went on his way. Doesn't seem to be a big deal but I agree with another poster, don't really know when a real problem occurs.

Hi everyone! I'm a French Canadian, so excuse me but my English written skills aren't that good. I was shocked when I read your comments about the gasket manifold intake. My car has been shaking really bad at red light or stops since few weeks. Yesterday, the mechanic replaced the rotor, distributor, bulbs, cables and the car is still shaking. He suggested that the problem could be the gasket manifold intake and asked me to come back on Monday. After reading you, I'm dawn sure that this is the problem and that this is going to cost way to much money for a 10-year old car. I'm very upset 'cause my mom I've had this car for 9-year without any major problem... just regular maintenance. She sold it to me last year and I sure thought it was a great deal. In the French Canadian Magazine " Protégez-vous", this car "year and model" was highly recommended. I will never buy a Nissan again. Many of my friends drive a Toyota and none of them have had engine problems... ever. Yup! This car is unreliable and definitely a pain in the ass................

This is a true PITA problem with these cars I see as I didn't know b4 I bought thei car. Im driving home with my wife and 18 month old daughter and stop at a stop light waiting for it to change. Light green start to accelerate and.."Thump, Thump" the car starts shaking and trying to stall and all of a sudden smoke billows from the exhaust and fume omit into the car and it seems as if its going to freaking BLOW UP! I need to get a group of all the people on this site together and lets file a class action suite against NISSAN to pay for the cost of repairs and or replacement to our vehicles! I have read on some Nissan sites.."They are aware of this problem and at this time do not feel it is an IMPORTANT ISSUE"! WTF?? What does it have to be to be important?? If I have to I will buy another car and drive this POS right through NISSAN's Corporate doors with a note attached" Sorry for the damage but I dont feel its an Important Issue at this time!

Car started acting like it was going to die every time I was sitting still. While driving it's very smooth. I've had several solutions to the problem, and none of them have worked: new fuel filter, new plugs, replaced battery, added fuel system cleaner., etc. I was told it was the intake manifold gasket, but another mechanic said if the car wasn't doing it all the time, that was not the problem. However, recently it has been getting worse and worse. I don't have $800 to fix the problem. I was told the actual part would cost around $5.00 - $600, but the labor would cost around 600-800????What is up with that?? Now I've read that this is a typical problem with Nissans?? I want another Honda.

The car was acting like it wanted to die when there was a lot of rain, so brand new battery, new plugs, wires, distributor cap, etc...(tune-up). Problem solved, or so I thought. Car is idling so bad yet I have been told by nissan and more than one mechanic that is normal for the amount of miles I have on the car. Uhmmm ok, female but not stupid! I kept asking the mechanic to check the gaskets and the sensors. And of course no mechanic is really willing to do a diagnostic on a car unless with check engine light is on and by that time the problem is worse and could have been fixed prior to the damn light coming on! Nissan has no answers and refuses to own up to the problem. I just need this car to last another year or so and then I'm going back to VW's or Hondas.