My 3.5 has just 72K miles and is in nice condition except for a nonworking ABS, and one thing that is really annoying me:
Noise and vibration.
On tickover I can feel the engine vibration through the steering wheel and when I accelerate it's really noisy, even worse in the passenger side. The noise goes away over 3000 rpm but how often do I drive at more than that rpm? Ha.
The transmission and motor seem in 100% great condition, the shifts are perfect, stall test speed 2300, transmission oil perfect, etc.
I thought: engine mounts. Local mechanic thinks they have all been replaced not too long ago.
Eventually I took it to the dealer who thinks I should spend a huge amount of money replacing the non-OEM mounts with original ones (at parts and labour cost of about 1/3 the car's value)
After a lot of research I found a Youtube video of a guy with a Gen 6 Maxima that made exactly the same noise, same rev range, caused by the exhaust gussets. Unfortunately the Altima 3.5 doesn't have the exhaust gussets ...
Surely someone else must have had this experience? Anyone?