I have owned my pathfinder for 3 weeks now. I have had nothing but dealership problems in those 3 weeks. Is this normal?

what kind of problems?

Yeah more details are needed. Problems with the service department or the sales team?

Yeah, what are your specific problems?

My Dealer so far has been straight with me and I have had my Pathy for only 3 months. Didn't really have to ask for much yet but when I did they were helpful.

I've owned three Nissans, two of which I bought new from dealers. My first purchase was straight forward, fair and easy. My second experience was awful. The dealer used their whole make me wait for hours until was exhausted trick. I'm embarrassed to say what I paid for my second Frontier...I was only 21 years old. A third visit, eight years later, to look at Pathfinders make we swear to never step foot on Nissan dealership grounds again.

On the other hand, I've experienced really good service for repairs in their service department.

It all depends on the location, although from what I've seen of customer service surveys....Toyota is the worst and I would agree. They just don't seem to hold their dealers accountable. My nearest Nissan dealer seems ok, but I've only been there once in 3 years. My wife's Toyota has been in six times in the first year and they've been HORRIBLE every time. I would recommend you just try a new dealer. I know if I drive an hour there is a terrific Toyota dealer but that just hasn't been convenient yet. I'm sure you can find a good Nissan dealer as well.

I avoid every dealer like the plague. Money sucking vortexes, all of them!

That being said, the Honda dealer near my place has a good body shop. But usually my insurance company pays for that. This time around they asked if my 08 civic 'needed anything, oil change, etc'. NOPE!

I do it all at home.

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Ok guys bare with me I will try to make this short.

A couploe months ago I started looking for a replacement for my 2002 ford explorer v8 with 200k miles. I wanted something the same size but with more torque primarily. I had always been fond of pathfinders and researched the R51 extensively. I liked the size and the fact that I could get the 5.6 liter engine in it.

I finally found a good match for what I wanted but it was 250 miles away. It was a 2008 black on black v8 with 50K miles. The warranty I had negotiated goes up to 120K miles with basically everything covered. So I arrange a tentative deal and drive down to trade my car in and pick this car up. Everything seemed fine at the dealer.

Driving the car home (250 miles) I noticed several small issues.

1. Rear tailgate was chirping like crazy
2. There was a loud tapping sound coming from under hood at highway speeds. Clearly wind related noise.
3. On crosswinds my doors would shudder with wind on highway
4. Steering and handling seemed poor. Noticabbly worse than my explorer.
5. The hood was flexing up and down at highway speeds.


The next day I relayed these issues to the dealer and sales guy. They assured me that I can just take it to my local nissan dealer and that everything will be covered. The next appointment that worked with my schedule and dealer was 10 days away. SO I waited and took the car in. The dealer gets back to me in a couple days and says they cant find my warranty so they cant fix anything. They also add that even if I had a warranty the noises coming from the front would not be covered because that is an adjustment in the dash. So they are misdiagnosing that problem completely so it would not be covered.

I contact the dealer I bought it from and they said they would contact the other dealer and set them straight. They never did. So now I have one dealer saying these repairs arent covered and the dealer I bought it from not doing anything about it. I have not had my car for a week at this point. Its just real frustrating.

Clay350 wrote: 1. Rear tailgate was chirping like crazy

remove the rear lock and tighten the screws

2. There was a loud tapping sound coming from under hood at highway speeds. Clearly wind related noise.

more info please. "loud" doesnt really sound wind related

3. On crosswinds my doors would shudder with wind on highway

its a 2008, maybe time to change the rubbers on the sides of the doors

4. Steering and handling seemed poor. Noticabbly worse than my explorer.

check bushings and stabilizer, also if steering is vibrating at rough roads, could be the suspension is leaking

5. The hood was flexing up and down at highway speeds.

have had this since i bought mine brand new but doesnt bother me

i agree they can be a bit frustrating, but at the end of the day, you're buying a 3 year old car. its expected to have a few minor imperfections, and most are easy fix.
hope you enjoy your new ride.

Clay350 wrote: The warranty I had negotiated goes up to 120K miles with basically everything covered. So I arrange a tentative deal and drive down to trade my car in and pick this car up. Everything seemed fine at the dealer.

Driving the car home (250 miles) I noticed several small issues.

1. Rear tailgate was chirping like crazy
2. There was a loud tapping sound coming from under hood at highway speeds. Clearly wind related noise.
3. On crosswinds my doors would shudder with wind on highway
4. Steering and handling seemed poor. Noticabbly worse than my explorer.
5. The hood was flexing up and down at highway speeds.


The next day I relayed these issues to the dealer and sales guy. They assured me that I can just take it to my local nissan dealer and that everything will be covered. They also add that even if I had a warranty the noises coming from the front would not be covered because that is an adjustment in the dash. So they are misdiagnosing that problem completely so it would not be covered.

I contact the dealer I bought it from and they said they would contact the other dealer and set them straight. They never did. So now I have one dealer saying these repairs arent covered and the dealer I bought it from not doing anything about it. I have not had my car for a week at this point. Its just real frustrating.

understandably frustrating
there are several issues at hand here..........
i understand that driving 250 miles for service would be a major PITA, but under the circumstances, it may be worth the trip
some (or maybe even all) of these issues may not be factory defects, but adjustment or wear items instead
not every complaint is a defect, and warranties generally cover defects only
for example, worn or improper tires or even tire pressures can cause poor handling
or maybe the handling is fine but you just are not used to it
not only does the dealer that you took it to for repairs not have access to your extended warranty info, but they may be trying to avoid a costly expenditure of time & materials just to research your complaints about the truck
most dealerships will give you an estimate to diagnose a problem, and if a problem is found that is indeed a defect, and there is warranty coverage for that defect, then they can bill the manufacturer (or the warranty company) for the repair
otherwise, the cost of the investigation is the responsibility of the customer
now back to the selling dealer..........
if you were told:

Clay350 wrote: They assured me that I can just take it to my local nissan dealer and that everything will be covered.

you may have better results going back to them for your repair issues since
1) they made a commitment to you that the repairs would be covered by a Nissan Dealer
&
2) they apparently failed to transmit the warranty information more than once

BTW: is the extended warranty a Nissan warranty, or an aftermarket warranty (non-Nissan)?

mar1 wrote:

Clay350 wrote: 1. Rear tailgate was chirping like crazy

remove the rear lock and tighten the screws

2. There was a loud tapping sound coming from under hood at highway speeds. Clearly wind related noise.

more info please. "loud" doesnt really sound wind related

3. On crosswinds my doors would shudder with wind on highway

its a 2008, maybe time to change the rubbers on the sides of the doors

4. Steering and handling seemed poor. Noticabbly worse than my explorer.

check bushings and stabilizer, also if steering is vibrating at rough roads, could be the suspension is leaking

5. The hood was flexing up and down at highway speeds.

have had this since i bought mine brand new but doesnt bother me

i agree they can be a bit frustrating, but at the end of the day, you're buying a 3 year old car. its expected to have a few minor imperfections, and most are easy fix.
hope you enjoy your new ride.

Mine did that too and it is only 3 months old. I added a Bug Deflector and I have not seen the hood flexing since. I guess it acts as a spoiler in a way.

disallow wrote:I avoid every dealer like the plague. Money sucking vortexes, all of them!

When I bought the Pathfinder, I sent emails out to about 8 dealers within about 500 miles of me. I told them exactly what I wanted & exactly how much I would pay them. Since I was buying new, I had to order mine because nobody had anything on their lots with my specs. Ended up hitting the exact price I was looking for & avoided all the dealer crap, at least until I had to go pick it up and spend most of the day with the paperwork. Of course the accountant tried to throw some extra garbage into the contract & I ripped him a new one until he redid it. That's the only way I'll buy a new car again in the future.

hfrez wrote:

mar1 wrote:

Clay350 wrote: 1. Rear tailgate was chirping like crazy

remove the rear lock and tighten the screws

2. There was a loud tapping sound coming from under hood at highway speeds. Clearly wind related noise.

more info please. "loud" doesnt really sound wind related

3. On crosswinds my doors would shudder with wind on highway

its a 2008, maybe time to change the rubbers on the sides of the doors

4. Steering and handling seemed poor. Noticabbly worse than my explorer.

check bushings and stabilizer, also if steering is vibrating at rough roads, could be the suspension is leaking

5. The hood was flexing up and down at highway speeds.

have had this since i bought mine brand new but doesnt bother me

i agree they can be a bit frustrating, but at the end of the day, you're buying a 3 year old car. its expected to have a few minor imperfections, and most are easy fix.
hope you enjoy your new ride.

Mine did that too and it is only 3 months old. I added a Bug Deflector and I have not seen the hood flexing since. I guess it acts as a spoiler in a way.

I'm not a fan of the bug defelctor, but might try that. My 08 had a hood shimmy that I fixed for the most part with the rubber hood stops underneath. Every now and then I still see the shimmy and it's rather annoying. My 99 Jeep that I took off road all the time never had that issue.

This thing is not aerodynamic at all. It's a brick...but looks good

skinny2 wrote:This thing is not aerodynamic at all. It's a brick...but looks good

That is the truth.