Hey guys, my cousin just bought an 04 Titan, and i am wondering is there any serious issues to look for, or anything i could relay to him about the truck. Really any info at all, good and/or bad. Specs and all would be appreciated. Thanks-Ryan

I bought a used 04 last year. So far I have had no problems.

I heard something about the rear brakes warping? I have no issues with that.

I think the only thing I like about the newer ones over mine is the talegate.04 gate drops hard and its heavy as hell to lift. I think all 05+ titans had the talegate with the damper built in so its easy to lift and goes down soft and smooth.

The early Titans did have issues with brake rotors warping in front. This may have been addressed on your cousin's truck through TSBs that were out on the issue. Also get under it and look for a finned, aluminum rear diff cover. If you don't have one, get with a dealer to see if they'll install one for you. That enables more oil capacity and cooler temps to make the smallish rear diff last longer. Beyond these couple issues, he should have a good truck. I have two close friends with 2004 titans....one is a 4x4 with 85k on the clock and the other is a 2wd with over 140k on it. Both trucks still run great. If you don't know the history of the truck, have your dealer flush the auto trans and replace the fluid.

The '04s had 305hp.

The front brakes were an issue. Nissan increased the amount of rotor material in updated rotors to reduce the problem. For the most part, it has alleviated the issue.

The rear diffs can be an issue. The spider gears in the diff have been known to break. Make sure, the TSB has been done at the least. I haven't bothered with it, but I plan to get a true-trak at some point (which eliminates the spider gears completely).

As for the tailgate, I bought an Easy-Lift for it and it works wonderfully. I can lift mine with one hand. Its nothing more than a torsion bar. It does require you to drill into the bed and tailgate, but is pretty inconspicuous.

The passenger seat might run into issues. Particularly with the captain's chairs. They may sway side to side. There is a TSB for the manual ones and the fix is to put loc-tite on certain screws and bolts and retighten. I have the electric seats and it had the same problem. Similar screws came loose and tightening them fixed the problem just fine.

Thanks guys i appreciate it, now its convincing my hard headed cousin to take my advice and look at these things. He is infamous for hearing "told ya so". Not one to take advice. I thank you-Ryan

The only one that can get costly is the rear diff. The brake issue is just a front brake replacement and may have been done already if the brakes were ever done before.

The chairs are are a fix it if happens issue as well.

I am not too sure if the diff failure will cause any consequential damage if it goes. If it remains isolated to the spider gears, then I would imagine one can simply replace the diff if/when it fails. My preference for a LSD is just because its fairly easy to spin a tire on these trucks. The Damned VDC light comes on for me a lot.

look for both rear axle seals leaking, front transmission cooler lines leak, there is a new condensor fan recall