I’m the original owner of an ’01, but never received the recall notice. Happened to read about it, and immediately brought my car to the local dealer (the dealer where I bought it from is long gone). They did level 2 repairs and fiberglass repairs to both the left and right sides.
I have major concerns about whether or not the work was done correctly, and if the dealers are merely using the recall as an excuse to get older vehicles back into their shops so they have an opportunity to scare owners into paying overinflated prices for other work that’s not needed.
After I dropped my truck off they called me claiming that my truck needed new struts that would cost $780 including parts and labor. First of all my truck does not need new struts, and even if it did you get buy well known brand name aftermarket ones for $50 each. Dealer price for the part alone is a breathtaking $329 each for genuine Nissan ones. And the labor charge was bogus as Nissan was already paying the dealer to remove and reinstall the struts as part of the recall repair.
When I told them I did not want the work done, they tried to alarm me by claiming the truck might not ride the same after removing and reinstalling the existing struts.
They also told me I needed new rear shock absorbers at a cost of $396 including labor. Besides the fact that my truck does not need new shock absorbers, you can buy well known brand name ones for $25 each (dealer price for the part alone is $104 each, and there’s no way it would take more than an hour (the dealer’s labor rate is $115 per hour) to replace them.
Finally, they insisted my truck needed to have the fuel injectors cleaned (it doesn’t), and they proposed to do this for $175!
They called me later in the day and told me the recall repairs were complete and that my truck could be picked up, despite that it was raining. Guess they missed the section of the recall instructions from Nissan that tells them that the undercoating needs 24 hours to cure before exposure to water.
So I wonder what other short cuts they took that are not apparent yet.
Finally, when I picked up the truck, before I even drove away I noticed the check engine light was lit. I had to sit it their customer waiting lounge for nearly an hour while they took it back into the shop. They told me that during the technician had to turn on the ignition for some reason, and that fact that some wire was disconnected turned the light on. Fair enough, but why would they return the truck to me with the light on? Another indication of corners being cut…
A few hours later I went to use the truck, and the light was back on. I called the dealer, and told one of the service writers, Richard said (contrary to what I was told when I picked up the truck) the code indicated a problem with the purge valve). I told him I would call back to schedule a time to bring the car back.
I happen to have a code reader, and that evening I pulled the code, p1130, which indicates an issue with a swirl valve. When I called back the next morning to make an appointment, I told Dominick (another service writer the indicated code, and he told me the swirl valve and purge valve are the same (they are not even related). I brought the car back, and waited while they looked at it. After about 90 minutes they told me they found that their technician had reversed two of the vacuum hoses, and everything now seemed fine.
Out of curiosity this weekend I took a look at the repairs, and noticed one of the bolts that holds the airbox on the car is missing (see the first attached pic, this is where the airbox should be attached to the fender). Is this a serious issue?. Also, note the second pic which shows serious rust where the top of the left strut tower is welded to what I think they call the strut housing panel.
I read the Recall Campaign Bulletin, and it mentions nothing about rust in this location, but isn’t this serious? I’m very surprised they would give me the truck back without making a similar repair here. No way the tech working on my truck could not have noticed as it was right where he was working under the hood!