2007 Maxima *new steering pump + rack & pinion??!?!?*

[k@osx71]

Hey guys/gals,
So my girl's '07 maxima's power steering went out yesterday so we just got it towed to the dealer this morning. Last week we took it in for noises when we steer and they informed us that the car needed a new rack & pinion and just a week later her car dumped ps fluid. We went with a different dealer today since it was closer to home (last week's dealer was close to her school) and they informed us that the steering pump went bad and that's what caused the rack & pinion to crack . Now her car only has 30k miles on it and I'm pretty sure this shouldn't happen so soon! The dealer we dropped her car off is currently contacting nissan hq to try and get this fixed under warranty but I was wondering if there were any suggestions in what I can do in case this has to get fixed out-of-pocket? They estimated the price for just the rack & pinion for $525 with nissan providing the part free of charge and the steering pump was loosely estimated at $1200.... That is just way too much for an almost new car with low mileage. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

[maxhopper]

See what the dealer comes back at you with. They may be able to fix it with AWA (after warranty assistance) at no cost to you.

If the dealer says there is nothing they can do, contact Nissan Customer Assistance and explain your problem (be nice), and see if there is anything they can do to assist you with the problem. Chances are you'll have the best luck at the dealership you purchased the vehicle from, or a dealership where you are a loyal service customer (oil changes, maintenance, etc).

[k@osx71]

Thank you for the reply! I'm currently in talk with the service advisor and basically they're trying to get it fixed under AWA. They're requesting any and all invoices of services we paid for in order to get the ball rolling. The dealer our car is at quoted us $700 for labor and we're still waiting on the parts order from Nissan. It seems our service advisor is working hard to get this done for us which we are very grateful for. But does this seem right? I've never experienced something like this before which is the reason for my asking. Once again, thank you so much maxhopper!

[maxhopper]

Keep in mind I have no first hand knowledge of how Nissan is with their AWA, but I've worked in warranty for four different manufacturers, and they are pretty similar in how they deal with issues like this.

A lot of times when dealing with AWA, the customer is required to pay a portion of the bill (usually 50% or less of the warranty cost), sometimes they'll cover the entire thing.

The labor cost really depends on the dealer's hourly labor rate. I'll see if I can find the recommended labor time for the repair when I'm at work tomorrow.

[MTZI30]

Car sounds pretty young, its not under the manufactures warranty anymore? I'm actually an audi service adviser and audi also has a customer assistance program they call CAP. However audi usually says depending on the situation the manufacturer, dealer and customer should share the cost. Only thing is the car had one problem that went unfixed and caused another.

[maxhopper]

I've got to say that what I'm finding looks like you may be overcharged in the labor. The labor time book that I looked at estimated the time to replace both at approx 3.5 hours. I would request a break down of the labor time and charges from the dealership (if they are asking you to assist in the cost of the reapirs).

[k@osx71]

maxhopper: Well at this point, it seems we'll be covering for the cost of labor which they estimated to $700.00. Nissan agreed to provide the rack & pinion but they're requesting service history before they provide the steering pump through good faith. We havn't really went the full mile to get service's done on the vehicle but oil changes were done every 3,000 miles and any problems we noticed were taken directly to the dealer. Unfortunately, we don't have enough paper work to back up some of this and our service rep informed us this morning that it doesn't look too good...

MTZI130: I was surprised at how fast the factory warranty was up! I have an Infiniti and that lasted up to 60,000 whereas the Nissan Maxima warranty was 3 years / 36,000... The maxima just hit the 36,000 mark 2 weeks ago so we barely passed the miles but I believe it's also past the 3 years mark as well.... One thing though, we did take the car in previously due to sounds and vibrations from the steering which the dealer just changed the belts and sent us on our way. Not too long after this happened.....

[k@osx71]

I've got to say that what I'm finding looks like you may be overcharged in the labor. The labor time book that I looked at estimated the time to replace both at approx 3.5 hours. I would request a break down of the labor time and charges from the dealership (if they are asking you to assist in the cost of the reapirs).

Well I figured if Nissan is providing the parts then either way we'll be paying about this much or more elsewhere. I've called around couple bodyshops for an estimate and they all quoted more than what the dealer quoted and that included parts and labor. Our only hope is that Nissan will provide the other parts through good faith and we can get over this problem with the car....

[maxhopper]

One thing though, we did take the car in previously due to sounds and vibrations from the steering which the dealer just changed the belts and sent us on our way. Not too long after this happened.....

What sort of time/mileage difference between when this happened and now? You could possibly persue this as and ineffective repair.

[k@osx71]

What sort of time/mileage difference between when this happened and now? You could possibly persue this as and ineffective repair.

The first time we took it in for the noise and vibration on the steering wheel was in Dec. '09 @ 22,000 miles. They topped off the ps fluid and said everything's fine and sent us off. Not even a year later, just last week, we took the car in for the same problem roughly around 36,000 miles and that's when we were informed about the rack and pinion.

So we spoke to our service rep and informed him that we don't have any invoices stating that we got service done for ps fluid. But we did tell him that the Nissan dealer we first took it to topped off the fluids and that alone should've lasted longer than a year. So at this point the service rep understood what happened and said he'll speak to hq again and let us know.

But that is a good point you brought up in regards to ineffective repair. If we're unable to get any sort of help from Nissan we might just look into that. Thanks so much for the suggestions and help!