17 nissan pathfinder warranty issues

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If this is in the wrong section I apologize. Here is my dilemma. I purchased my vehicle in March 2018 with about 28,9xx miles, the vehicle just passed 50,000 and I had an issue with smoke at startup. Took it to the Nissan dealer who said it was a leaking injector which was getting dripping down after car was off. He did some diagnosing and said they will submit a warranty claim. The next day I received a call that they wanted him to remove the valve cover and if it was sludgy in there they would make a decision about repair or complete engine replacement. After removing he said they wanted to change the engine instead and that I should get any of the oil change records from when I owned the vehicle (explained what I needed for times i did my own, receipts, etc...) and he said "meanwhile hes going to get some additional pictures for them". I returned back from travelling for work later that week, found 3 shop receipts and the purchase receipt from my most recent change which I did myself.
THEN I get an email that he sent my oil out for analysis because it "looked like a lack of maintenance and was worse than he thought". Also mentioned that other dealers he worked for would have rejected it immediately and gave a cost for "putting it back together for the customer to take" which scared me into thinking are they going to charge me for the pictures they wanted in the oil pan etc that he never asked me to do just said he was doing. He said since my log was handwritten (I also gave him the advance auto purchase receipts), and the 3 prior receipts from the shop were handwritten and signed by the shop owner they need to analysis to "try and help me because there is significant sign of lack of maintennance".
My questions are:
1. Are they really going to try and freaking charge me to put my uppipe and oil pan back on if denied?
2. What is the purpose of sending out for analysis when I changed the oil less than 2k miles ago and that was after a flush and fill so what can it possibly show that I havent already shown?
3. How can they use this against a problem that they said was a leaking injector that has nothing to do with oil?
I dont even want an engine, I just want it to not smoke when I start it which is an injector issue that I can have my personal mechanic do, but now I feel like they are holding my car hostage.

Any info would be appreciated...thanks.
 
Sounds like they're feeding you a bunch of B S.
Ask for the oil analysis results. I wouldn't be surprised if they never did the test.
Tell then you've taken serious offense to being calling a liar and accused of not changing the oil.
Mention that you would be happy to get a lawyer involved.
This should move things along.
 
Yet another case of "$tealership".

Actually seems like they are trying to find a a way to soak either Nissan Motors Corporation or you (or shared) to foot the bill for an engine replacement that isn't required at all.
Fraud Alert!!!!!
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I would get Nissan Motors America on the phone STAT. This, "I'm really trying to help you but..." speak is standard vocabulary for a scammer beginning his con.
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Originally Posted by wemay
I would get Nissan Motors America on the phone STAT. This, "I'm really trying to help you but..." speak is standard vocabulary for a scammer beginning his con.
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Most definitely. It also has to be considered that the OP didn't own this vehicle for the first 29,000 miles of its life. What happened in that time frame should not be blamed on him.
 
If you are missing the first set of oil change receipts maybe get a carFax and hope went to a place that actually reports back the oil changes. Many chains and dealers do this.

It is quite possible the first oil change happened before it was sold to you. Good luck
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
It is quite possible the first oil change happened before it was sold to you. Good luck


Since he bought it with 29k miles one would hope the first oil change happened before he bought it.
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One would hope it's had at least 4 OCs.


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It also has to be considered that the OP didn't own this vehicle for the first 29,000 miles of its life. What happened in that time frame should not be blamed on him.


Certainly he's not responsible for what happened before he owned it but should Nissan be obligated to do warranty work if in fact regular maintenance was neglected prior to OP's ownership? Photos of this neglected engine's internals would be appreciated by BITOG.

It smells fishy, if a leaking injector is suspected why pull a valve cover to look for sludge anyway? Good luck to the OP as this sounds like the beginning of a charlie foxtrot.
 
Originally Posted by AZjeff
Originally Posted by madRiver
It is quite possible the first oil change happened before it was sold to you. Good luck


Since he bought it with 29k miles one would hope the first oil change happened before he bought it.
frown.gif
One would hope it's had at least 4 OCs.


Quote
It also has to be considered that the OP didn't own this vehicle for the first 29,000 miles of its life. What happened in that time frame should not be blamed on him.


Certainly he's not responsible for what happened before he owned it but should Nissan be obligated to do warranty work if in fact regular maintenance was neglected prior to OP's ownership? Photos of this neglected engine's internals would be appreciated by BITOG.

It smells fishy, if a leaking injector is suspected why pull a valve cover to look for sludge anyway? Good luck to the OP as this sounds like the beginning of a charlie foxtrot.





This is the conundrum. Hopefully the OP comes back to fill us in more on this.

Extreme example. Original owner buys the vehicle and never changed the oil from the outset. The Nissan dealer gets the vehicle in a trade and upon inspection notes the oil is in horrible condition and changes it. I would imagine that nothing will be on record about that and in that scenario the next owner gets screwed.

This is definitely the time to take this to the next level by contacting Nissan America. The fact that this person didn't own the vehicle for the first half of its life is key.
 
Originally Posted by DiaQui
Also mentioned that other dealers he worked for would have rejected it immediately and gave a cost for "putting it back together for the customer to take" which scared me into thinking are they going to charge me for the pictures they wanted in the oil pan etc that he never asked me to do just said he was doing.


Same thing happened with a Cadillac I took to the dealer for the check engine light due to timing chain stretch. They said, yea, it's under warranty. Then a few hours later they call me back saying they had started taking it apart, pulled a valve cover and found sludge, so no warranty coverage. They said I can pay $2,500 for the repair out of pocket or $500 to put it back to the way it was when brought in. I argued back and forth and settled on paying one hour labor and towed it home where I fixed it myself.

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Originally Posted by Chris142
Go there yourself and ask to see the sludge.

+1. Maybe they showed you a "stock" set of photos of a poorly maintained Pathfinder. It may not even be yours. Seeing is believing. Show me, pal. If your oil change records are more than 7-8K miles apart, you may still have a problem with a warranty claim. This is an example of why I've never bought a used vehicle that didn't have oil change records. Last step: get an attorney if you must.
 
I assume your 2017 Pathfinder was an ex-rental? I've bought several ex-rental Nissans over the years, with my most recent being my 2019 Pathfinder that had ~23K miles on it when I bought it. One thing you can try is to setup a myCARFAX account for your 2017. All you need is the VIN. It will show when/where the vehicle was put into service, all registration and inspection data and any/all services done where the shop's data populates to CarFax. Just because ti doesn't show an oil change doesn't mean oil changes weren't done in it's first 28K miles.

Unless the thing had 1 oil change in 50K miles or was run out of oil, I can't see why this particular dealer is giving you so much grief? The whole powertrain is covered for 5yrs/60K miles regardless of who owns it, or how many owners it's had.

If conversations with this dealer's service manager aren't getting you anywhere, I'd ask them to escalate to the next higher up. Maybe I've just been lucky with my local Nissan dealer, given I've had things covered outside of warranty on other Nissans, but I had to go above the service adviser on duty and speak directly with the dealer's service manager. I once asked if I could make a call to the Nissan regional rep and I was told I cannot. The service manager said he had to do it and he did.

Keep us posted! The 2017+ Pathfinders have an "all new" direct injected VQ35DD engine which you hear nothing about. I really hesitate to believe you have a "leaking injector". I would think you'd have other issues that being the case.

What you're saying so far in regards to oil makes me glad I just changed oil on mine after owning it just a week or two even though the dealer records say they just changed it. Mine came from a Toyota lot and had a Napa ProSelect oil filter on it. The oil looked like it had more than a couple 100 miles on it for sure.
 
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Thanks for all the feedback...waiting on the oil analysis results to come back with my fingers crossed. I've had for just over 20000 miles and have done 4 oil changes (all just below 5k miles). As a previous reply mentioned, it was, in fact, a rental previously. My biggest concern now is getting it back if they deny the claim without having to pay a [censored] to "put it back together" as a previous person had mentioned.
I will keep everyone updated as I get the updates.
 
Thanks for all the feedback...waiting on the oil analysis results to come back with my fingers crossed. I've had for just over 20000 miles and have done 4 oil changes (all just below 5k miles). As a previous reply mentioned, it was, in fact, a rental previously. My biggest concern now is getting it back if they deny the claim without having to pay a [censored] to "put it back together" as a previous person had mentioned.
I will keep everyone updated as I get the updates.
 
Quote
It smells fishy, if a leaking injector is suspected why pull a valve cover to look for sludge anyway? Good luck to the OP as this sounds like the beginning of a charlie foxtrot.



The initial purpose I was told was they wanted to see if there was sludge there to decide if they were going to replace the injector and clean the engine or replace it altogether because the videos he did and showed me didnt show sludge so they wanted to make sure or soemthing like that.
 
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Our conversations over the last couple days. I feel like he is trying to help but Nissan is being difficult, is that what it looks like?
 
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Did you buy it from this Nissan dealer? If so then they sold you a sludged engine. If they accept your proof of 5k OCs then they have to admit it and they would probably eat the repair not Nissan.
 
Is this guy a service adviser or the service manager for this particular Nissan dealer?

It sounds like he's trying to do his best, but all the fluff about his previous places of employment is irrelevant nonsense.
 
Also fuel breaks down oil causing sludge. Remember carburetor days. Viscosity of oil drops thus causing wear. It is a cycle that takes a long time and at your mileage it seems unlikely. If I read correctly you ran an engine flush before last oil change so question is did you suspect sludge?
 
In light of this topic, I emailed my salesperson in regards to the fact my recently purchased 2019 Pathfinder only has two documented oil change records for it's first 7mo and 23K miles of life.

Within minutes I was called by the dealership's service manager. His response was much like the above. in the unlikely event of some catastrophic engine problem within the 5/60 warranty, they would have to examine the engine and oil for signs of neglect and send out an oil sample. His only recommendation is that I save all oil change documentation going forward. So clever of them to not give me anything in writing here, but I don't blame them from a business standpoint.
 
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