Car Issues.

[OutdoorDan]

I'll try to keep this as short as possible, please let me know if I need to provide any more details.

 

I recently bought a used 2010 Nissan Armada. Before buying it I saw the the "Service Engine Soon" light was on, I brought this up with the dealership and they said that they would fix whatever issues before selling the car. When I picked up the car everything was fine, the mechanic told me that the code showing was from the vehicles history, that he manually cleared it and everything would be fine. This sounded plausible as I know you have to sometimes manually clear the codes even after fixing an issue. Fine.

 

So fast forward into about an hour of driving, the light comes back on. I take the car home, put an OBDII reader to it and get two codes: P0181 and P0183. Did some research and I think (I have limited knowledge) the fuel temperature sensor is broken/acting up. It seems like a labour-intensive thing to fix. What I think happened is that the problem was acknowledged at the dealership, but since with this particular is likely very on/off they likely just cleared the codes without doing any work and hoped for the best.

 

I have an appointment in their service department but my hopes are grim. The dealership is being very evasive and played a lot of ping-pong with me on the phone. In addition, there was a problem with a tire when I picked up the car - there was a leak in it and they tried to just top it off and leave it, but I noticed it was underinflated. Again, nobody wanted to do anything, eventually they did and it turned out that it was just a simple problem at the valve. I bring this up because it's relevant to how I perceive their attitude - their goal is to obviously put the least effort possible to "fix" whatever issue. I'm afraid that when I go tomorrow they are just going to continue jerking me around, reset the codes and do nothing.

 

I'm really at a loss of what to do and really disappointed in the situation. It's a downer dealing with problems like this with an almost new car, and getting people to work on your car who don't want to might not lead to a great outcome either.

 

What can I do to try for the best outcome? What is my best course of action tomorrow? What are my rights in a situation like this? I'm obviously quite ticked off at the situation but I just want a good outcome, not looking to give anyone a hard time. I figured there would be some handy guys here that could give advice.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Skipper D]

Print off what you just posted here , take it with you , then first try to let them satisfy you , if you find their attitude is still the same pull out your post print off and give it to them , let them know you plan to post a copy in the media if the car is not fixed today . Good luck .

[FUSION]

Did you buy it from a Nissan dealership or a private lot?

[OutdoorDan]

Big dealership that deals several makes including Nissan.

[jat]

Take it back and MAKE them fix it and the tire issue and don't leave the dealership until they say yes and sign off.

[mikeseb]

Print off what you just posted here , take it with you , then first try to let them satisfy you , if you find their attitude is still the same pull out your post print off and give it to them , let them know you plan to post a copy in the media if the car is not fixed today . Good luck .

 

 

x2. Theres a website www.pissedconsumer.com thats exactly for this. Post a nice report on how these lazy buttholes run what seems to be a very greasy company.

[Whitespinnerbait]

2010 ???

 

It's still under warranty......and yep, they pulled a fast one on ya :canadian:

[SirWhite]

All dealerships do this, to varying degrees. You only have 30 days, I believe, to take the vehicle back.

1st thing Don't deal with your salesmen or the sales manager as they will keep you in suspense for to long. Find out the Dealership managers (GM) name and correspond with him. The sales guys are too concerned with their next sale to bother with you. If you can show up first thing in the morning and don't leave until you've been given a "work on date" make sure its within days. AND make sure everyone you know has heard this place gave you a hard time.

[SirWhite]

Speaking from experiance, they are hoping you are just gonna go away. And for anyone else- if you see a waring light on a year old vehicle DON'T buy it.

[OutdoorDan]

x2. Theres a website www.pissedconsumer.com thats exactly for this. Post a nice report on how these lazy buttholes run what seems to be a very greasy company.

 

I'd like to see if I can get a positive outcome first before I go this route.

 

All dealerships do this, to varying degrees. You only have 30 days, I believe, to take the vehicle back.

1st thing Don't deal with your salesmen or the sales manager as they will keep you in suspense for to long. Find out the Dealership managers (GM) name and correspond with him. The sales guys are too concerned with their next sale to bother with you. If you can show up first thing in the morning and don't leave until you've been given a "work on date" make sure its within days. AND make sure everyone you know has heard this place gave you a hard time.

 

All dealerships doing this to some extent doesn't make it right and also doesn't mean that I shouldn't do anything about it.

 

You get 36 days for anything mechanical but I also got them so sign off on a 2-week comprehensive warranty before taking the car.

 

Speaking from experiance, they are hoping you are just gonna go away. And for anyone else- if you see a waring light on a year old vehicle DON'T buy it.

 

I understand that is what they are hoping but I am not going away. It's also why I'm afraid of them just resetting everything which may actually buy them enough time before the light goes off again.

 

As for buying a car with the warning light on, they said that they would fix anything that was wrong. I also knew that light had to do with the emissions systems, so figured it to be nothing major. To be safe I also got them to sign off on a 2-week comprehensive. Their willingness to do that suggested to me that it wasn't anything to worry about.

[cranks bait]

If it were me I would be looking at the fact that it is a 2 year old vehicle that was sold with problems. Then covered up a couple of times by the dealership. Leads me to believe what problems you are going to run into after a year? I would be taking the vehicle back and going somewhere else.

[irishfield]

As Whitespinnerbait pointed out... a 2010 is still under warrantee, that should have been transfered to you at purchase. ANY manufacturer has at minimum a 3 year factory warrantee on EVERYTHING these days.. .and anything related to emmissions would be even longer than 3 years.

[OutdoorDan]

As Whitespinnerbait pointed out... a 2010 is still under warrantee, that should have been transfered to you at purchase. ANY manufacturer has at minimum a 3 year factory warrantee on EVERYTHING these days.. .and anything related to emmissions would be even longer than 3 years.

 

Interesting, I didn't know that. In this case why wouldn't they just do the work no questions asked and get compensated for it through the manufacturer's warranty?

[irishfield]

Interesting, I didn't know that. In this case why wouldn't they just do the work no questions asked and get compensated for it through the manufacturer's warranty?

 

 

Usually 3 years and 60,000 km at minimum.. some even more. That would be my first question..

[SirWhite]

Tick tock(taps on watch). Go in the morning and be vocal. Nip it in the bud so to speak. Dealerships go through this everyday, you don't. Also find the part number, and ask their parts dept, if they have any. These guys are not true salesmen so generally your gonna get an honest guy, ask when the last time he remembers one going out. Indentify your vehicle but not where you bought it. I spent 2 years at Audi and one at Toyota, in sales, left because its true, the stigma/ stereotype you have to be at least a bit crooked to be successful. Any Vehicle that came in with any warning light on was purchased by the dealership at an underaverage price and are not fixed, in the hopes that they can quickly sell it at an average price to a commercial buyer (trader) thereby not costing the dealership money to have it fixed, reguardless of warranty (TIme=Money)

They want you to suffer cost as well so be wary of dates in not so near future. Read my first post again, its sound.

[OutdoorDan]

Tick tock(taps on watch). Go in the morning and be vocal. Nip it in the bud so to speak. Dealerships go through this everyday, you don't. Also find the part number, and ask their parts dept, if they have any. These guys are not true salesmen so generally your gonna get an honest guy, ask when the last time he remembers one going out. Indentify your vehicle but not where you bought it.

 

Sorry, I don't think I explained clearly. I'll be going back to the dealership where I bought the car. The service department is there.

[Billy Bob]

If under warranty, depending on your mileage, a authorized dealership should take care of the problem without too much problem....but if they have other "better paying" customers they will push you to the side for now as warranty work is paid to them at a much lower rate then the average Joe that walks in from the street.

 

I believe the fuel temp sensor on Nissan's are in the fuel tank....take a look under there and see if they dropped your tank in anyway....you could also ask for any parts replaced that you have to pay for.

 

All dealerships are crooks....that's why many refer to them as "Stealerships"...

 

Good Luck,

Bob

[OutdoorDan]

 

I believe the fuel temp sensor on Nissan's are in the fuel tank....take a look under there and see if they dropped your tank in anyway....you could also ask for any parts replaced that you have to pay for.

 

All dealerships are crooks....that's why many refer to them as "Stealerships"...

 

Good Luck,

Bob

 

Yeah, the fuel temperature sensor is part of the whole fuel pump unit. I know that on the sedans you have to yank the rear sear out and go into the floor to access it, so it's labour intensive.

 

And yeah, they are crooks. Which is exactly why people need to stand up for themselves in these situations. If I thought that this was unintentional I would be much less ticked off.

[mukluk]

Your 2010 Nissan should still be covered under the emmissons warranty as Irishfield stated. Maybe the parameters (tolerances)are set too close in the computor for the temperature. Ask the service department if any new bulletins have been issued by Nissan regarding this problem. The tech at the dealership would have to get into the vehicles computor to correct this particular problem. You can erase the codes with the OBD-2 reader but they will return within every 4 times you start the vehicle or approx. 15 km's. They will only clear when the problem is addressed. Don't be too quick to jump all over the sensor as being the problem; could be wiring between computor and sensor. (bad connections' pinched or skinned wire)

Dealership should fix it for free. 2010 Nissan. Let us know how you make out with it.

[HTHM]

Let me guess, Parkway Nissan in Hamilton?? I had fun with them as well.

[lookinforwalleye]

You shouldn`t have to tell the what to do, it should be under warranty and fixed no questions asked!!!

I am guessing you did not buy it from a Nissan dealer, I recently had a ignition issue with my 2008 Jeep had it towed to a Jeep dealer and it was fixed no questions asked gratis!

[OutdoorDan]

I got it from one of the Car Nation Canada locations.

 

http://www.carnationcanada.com/

 

As far as I understand they are a Nissan dealer, among other makes. Vehicle has 75k on it, I would be very surprised if Nissan emissions warranties didn't go to 100k at least... I still don't understand why the dealership wouldn't just tell me to go to Nissan to get it fixed then. I guess I'll find out tomorrow, and update.

[phatpelkey]

if your worried about thenm not fixing it mark the part of somthing they have to remove to get to the part so u can tell if it has been replaced

[Billy Bob]

I got it from one of the Car Nation Canada locations.

 

http://www.carnationcanada.com/

 

As far as I understand they are a Nissan dealer, among other makes. Vehicle has 75k on it, I would be very surprised if Nissan emissions warranties didn't go to 100k at least... I still don't understand why the dealership wouldn't just tell me to go to Nissan to get it fixed then. I guess I'll find out tomorrow, and update.

 

Oh, it's possible they are not a authorized repair shop for Nissan....but either way, who said this part is covered under the extended emissions warranty....I wouldn't be surprise if it's not covered under warranty....HOWEVER, you have already established this problem before you purchased it and that should be enough for them to be responsible for the repair.....but you may have to fight for that to happen.

 

Good Luck,

Bob

[spincast]

Take it to another Nissan dealer. Get them to read the fault codes and give you a print out, along with a written estimate for repairs, including a detailed list of part. Then take this to your dealer and demand they do the repairs.

Tell them you want the parts they replaced as proof the service was done, and for them to pay for the costs to get the readout. Get them to initial documents indicating the date you brought the vehicle in ( to establish the required repairs are necessary and within the timeline stipulated in the terms of sale with you). Be sure to include the GM of the dealership on this part - he will recognise the signs of documents that will get them hanged if things dont get settled the way the law requires and other course of action (small claims court) should come into play.

Good luck.

Oh, and when it is all done, maybe leave them a copy of the Grinch - they can play it for the kids of parents who buy their next car there.