[smj999smj]

It's an issue for many, but not all, 2005-2010 Frontiers/Xterras/Pathfinders with the VQ40DE engine in North America. The timing set was made by Borg-Warner and as the dies that were used for stamping the links of the upper timing chains wore, they started stamping out links that had edges that would cut through the plastic, upper tensioner faces. How much wear was on the tooling at the time of the links stampings determined the quality of the link stamping, which is why some chains start making noise at low miles, some at high miles and some never at all. The updated chains should fix the problem permanently. There was a TSB on the issue, but warranty was limited to the factory 5-year/60,000 miles unless you had an extended warranty to cover it.

 

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The only person that wins in the class action lawsuit is the lawyer.

I got $7.50 from the Red Bull settlement! Whoo-hoo!

 

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Been down this road. The lawyers will get rich and everybody else a $10 voucher for your next Nissan purchase.

I got a total of $7 from the Red Bull class-action lawsuit! As Chapelle used to say, "I'm rich, *****!" LOL

 

[smj999smj]

I went ahead and fixed mine. Should be interesting to see how they intend to compensate me for my work...::wink::

Typically when a recall comes out after you had the repair done, they will only compensate repairs if you have a receipt from a dealer or a professional repair shop. If you do it yourself at your house, you're pretty much out of luck!

 

[smj999smj]

I have been compensated for parts only on recalls when I fixed them at home prior to a recall being issued. It helped that it was a OEM part purchased from the dealer. The dealer just verified my repair was correct to clear my VIN from the recall.

There's a good chance they reimbursed you for your parts and then charged Nissan for the whole repair under recall. Nissan wouldn't question it if your VIN was showing as open for the recall and Nissan never calls back the parts from recalls. Technically, that would be fraud on the part of the dealer, but it works out well for you!

 

[smj999smj]

True only if it's a Recall.
But s faulty timing chain won't be categorized as a Recall by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) since it's not directly affecting the safety.

Well, there are two kinds of recalls. Mandatory recalls are directed by the NHTSA and are safety related. The other recall is a voluntary recall, which is created by the vehicle manufacturer and not mandated by the NHTSA. Those recalls are usually customer satisfaction campaigns and typically have a time limit. Examples would include the 96-97 Pathfinder campaign where they updated a number of parts, replaced tires in some cases and adjusted the load sensing valve to make them similar to the 98 models or the fuel injection campaign on the 84-89 Z cars, V6 200SX and 85-88 Maximas. The idea behind most of those is that they are trying to look good for people who buy their most expensive vehicles in hopes that they will continue to do so.

 

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I'm glad to hear Nissan took care of you! There are many times when they should do the right thing and unfortunately they don't. Then they wonder why their customer satisfaction ratings aren't too good! I worked for Nissan for 16-years before leaving them in 2003, starting out working on Datsuns and early Nissans when they were a great product until Renault stepped in and changed a lot of things. They can be a really frustrating company. They have the potential to be just as good as Toyota and Honda but they are just too inconsistent. Some of their vehicles are pretty good and some of them are just terrible. Hopefully, they'll get their act together some day!

 

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Good news if you live in California or Washington, but what about the rest of us? Also notice they do it for 05-07 models of Pathfinders and Frontiers, but the problem existed in 08-10 model years, as well.