After getting the car when it had 7 miles on the odometer, I never expected the issues ten years later that I would face. Driving down the highway I looked like I had a giant plume of white smoke following me. I looked like a skywriter in an airplane driving down the freeway. Want to know what I was writing? "I'm a damn fool for believing Nissan would make a quality vehicle." 85000 miles in ten years. Only 3 road trips, 2 were 4 hours to LA, 1 was to Farmington.

You never expect it to happen to you. When it does, it's never forgotten like a cheated relationship.

I AM THE ONLY OWNER OF A 2006 NISSAN ALTIMA. IT HAS ABOUT 135,000. ABOUT A MONTH AGO I DID A TUNE UP ON THE CAR BC CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. THE CODE WAS FOR A TUNE UP. THE CAR HAS NEW COILS, NEW SPARKS PLUGS, AND BATTERY TOO. ON TOP OF THAT IT WAS ALSO TIME FOR AN OIL CHANGE SO I DID THAT TOO. THE CAR WAS STILL DRIVING ROUGH AND IT SEEMS TO LOOSE SPEED THEN IT PICKS UP ON ITS OWN AGAIN.

THE ENGINE LIGHT CAME BACK ON ABOUT A WEEK LATER. THIS TIME I WAS DRIVING AND NOTICED THAT MY AC WASN'T COOLING ANYMORE. WHEN I LOOK DOWN AT MY TEMP IT WAS ALL THE WAY TO THE MAX. I PULL OVER LET IT COOL DOWN. THEN CHECK MY ANTI FREEZE AND THERE WAS NONE AT ALL. I DIDN'T HAVE ANY LEAKS BUT MY CAR WAS DRINKING THE ANTI FREEZE ABOUT A BOTTLE EVERY 2 DAYS. BY THE TIME I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER IT HAD A BLOWN HEAD GASKET.

THE ONLY OPTION THE DEALER GAVE ME IS TO REPLACE ENGINE FOR $5,700 OR TO BUY A NEW CAR.

i want to thank the people that posted before me. I thought I had done something to cause the problem. I maintained this 2006 Altima meticulously. every oil change, flush, etc on schedule. I was hoping to get another year or two and run it up to 150-175K miles.

in may the check engine light comes on; I thought I didn't tighten the gas cap. then it would go off and come back on. I saw some posts about oil consumption. I was wondering why I kept having to top off the oil and that started way back. too early for a car w/less than 100K (at the time).

now how the heck can you figure out you are leaking coolant when its going into the engine not on the floor. I only had my car serviced at Nissan dealers and a VERY reputable local mechanic. the service writer at the dealership even used this mechanic. one night it overheated and I saw my coolant was a little low. beginning of the end. had my mechanic pressure test the radiator, check the thermostat. but he would not have known what Nissan mechanics know...

so took it to the dealership and amazingly in less than an hour they knew what the issue was. why because they have seen it before and know what is going on. it was starting like it was under water and the engine would shake. I had the ignition coil and plugs replaced (even though I had replaced the plugs prior) and still didn't resolve the issue. they told me it was probably the head gasket but at 10 hours labor (at 125/hr) it wasn't worth it to maybe find out the engine was completely cashed.

dealership cant accept it on a trade cause they have to send it to the boneyard. cant sell it to CarMax because that wouldn't be ethical. so now I have a car with NO resale or trade in value. Nissan will cut a check to the dealership for maybe half to fix it...why not just give me the check so I can get some value or a down payment towards ANOTHER manufacturer's vehicle.

out ot warranty...I NEVER had a vehicle cash out like this. i got 175K out of '94 Cougar before it started leaking oil. if you would have asked me a year ago what my next car would be I would have not hesitated and said the Altima. now its on to Hyundai, Honda, or Kia. very disappointing and I got royally burned.

Update from Aug 14, 2015: It gets better. after replacing the head gasket, at 145K service engine light comes on AGAIN. the dealership told me I needed ignition coils, plugs, valve cover just to start. that was a waste of money. my mechanic looked at it and determined it must be the cylinder head cracking/warping. he sent out the cylinder head (same shop he uses at his dealership) when he replaced the head gasket and it came back OK. so when I sold the car to CarMax I was told; "we would have been surprised if the floor panels were NOT rusted". all in all you could park a brand new Nissan in my driveway and I would give it to charity. so I am now buying a Subaru. don't buy an Altima.

I thought these were suppose to be "good" cars. My service engine light has fluctuated on and off for the past 3 months. Start up was a monster. It would kinda idle or I guess misfire on start up, but after about 10 sec or so it would run or seem to run fine. After my tune up, I kept getting a misfire in #4 sensor, No one could figure out what was going on since the coils and crank shaft sensor had been replaced. My car was overheating and my coolant would run out every 3 days or so but we never saw a leak on the ground. So finally a mechanic figured it out after he drove it for awhile, my head gasket was blown but the cylinder wasn't affected though thank the good Lord or I would have needed a new engine (really a new car). I never got any smoke from my tail pipe, I just knew something was wrong by the way my car started up and by my coolant disappearing.

I have had this car for about four months. yes it was used and had over 130,000 miles but i was told that altimas were a good car. The engine was starting to missfire and i had it looked at to find out from my mechanic that " these things are known for blowing head gaskets" turns out it was losing antifreeze and had two frozen spark plugs. So I contacted the guy i bought it off of and he set me up with a mechanic to have it fixed. He covered some of the cost but I still ended up paying $1766 to have it fixed. I have it back for three days and my check engine light comes on. Evap problem now. These cars suck my ford lasted longer than this piece of crap. Does anyone know how to get involved with the class action lawsuit against nissan for this problem??

I bought the car in 2010. It is a 2006 altima and it had 31000 miles. Problems from the beginning. Check engine light came on about 6 months after I got it. After I got gas and drove it would go off. I assumed it was gas cap. But this went on for about 9 mos. Then the car would start rough and sputter and feel like it was going to stall. Nov. 2011 car was about to stall and Check engine light on. Auto zone said misfire. My husband changed spark plugs. Light still on. Called Nissan service they said bring it in before power train warranty is up. Took it at 57000 miles and they said nothing wrong. we changed the gas cap. So light on again and now I am 60900, past warranty. Take it back and it was a blown head gasket which leaked coolant into cylinders. Prior to all this oil was burning quick , car overheated and the coolant was having to be refilled often. So I get my car back 4 days ago and guess what????? Ohhhhh my effing check engine light is on again. 61123 miles. Really??? I am going back to driving a Toyota or Honda

This 2006 Nissan Altima Ser was driven strictly highway miles. The oil (synthetic) was changed regularly as well as all maintenance performed before or at the actual date suggested by NISSAN. The original issue was thought to be a Thermostat but it was replaced and the car once again overheated. This is the most outrageous problem and it wasn't covered under warranty for a car with 97,000. If this car lived up to being a High Performance car like Nissan claims this should not have happened. I had 98 a Dodge Avenger with 257,000 miles never had a single engine issue! Nissan won't even acknowledge there is an issue with their Altimas and blown head gaskets. The Nissan service shops all claim that this is a common problem with Altimas. SHAME ON YOU NISSAN!!! I will NEVER buy another NISSAN!!!