Half Shovel Titan Saga Continues

[Half Shovel]

Well, so far I've had a bunch of stuff fixed - brakes twice, seatbelts, rear center one twice, loose dash stuff, hissing AC, rattling back seat, radio problem....

The latest is the passenger side exhaust manifold(leaks) and passenger side seat(loose, like it's falling apart). I've been waiting weeks for parts, which finally came in. They fixed the exhaust manifold, but called and said they had the "wrong parts" for the seat. Between ordering the manifold and seat and when I brought it in, the HVAC vent selector (I don't know what you really call it) has started making a horrendous noise when switching the airflow direction from defrost to front, or front to defrost. It grinds and shudders. Now they have to fix THAT. More parts on back-order, which means after THIS visit, I'll have to take it in AGAIN.

In addition, my driver's seat is now creaking.

Is stuff ever gonna stop breaking?

Sigh. My last Nissan.

Half Shovel

[honeykeeper]

Hang in there......don't give up yet.....when we finish getting it right a big check will probably come in the mail right??!!! A free aluminum differential cover and easy-lift-tailgate spring hinge mount would do for starters to all who have put so much time into finding and persuing the problems that have occured...any more time should be good for new brakes and rotors.....and maybe even tires since the stock offroad tires have tread about 1/2 as deep as what I'm used to buying!!! Don't forget free gas too!!! Best of luck and hope you can enjoy very soon..the TITAN.

[Half Shovel]

Originally Posted by Tom Mincarelli

Hang in there......don't give up yet.....when we finish getting it right a big check will probably come in the mail right??!!! A free aluminum differential cover and easy-lift-tailgate spring hinge mount would do for starters to all who have put so much time into finding and persuing the problems that have occured...any more time should be good for new brakes and rotors.....and maybe even tires since the stock offroad tires have tread about 1/2 as deep as what I'm used to buying!!! Don't forget free gas too!!! Best of luck and hope you can enjoy very soon..the TITAN.

You know, I enjoy driving my Titan A LOT. Unfortunately for Nissan, I come from Toyotaland - I've had 4 Toyotas in my lifetime, and they are just MUCH better built. I expect better, because I've had better.

The driving experience of the Titan is without question, awesome. You know, now that I think about it, the driving experience of any Nissan product is pretty damn fun. They load 'em with horsepower and handling and style. That's great. Still, it makes me wonder if they spend too much R&D on flash and boom, and not enough on quality. Toyota is probably guilty of the exact opposite - they usually are short on HP and style, but they are very reliable. I guess when it comes down to day-to-day driving, I'll take the Toyota experience.

[1blackx]

I HATE READING POSTS LIKE THIS!! I desperately want a Titan but posts like this make me stop and think differently. I have owned my Xterra for almost 4 years and have had almost no problems with it (except lack of hp ) I just can't help but think that Nissan makes quality products. Best of luck to you with your troubled Titan.

[CaliforniaTitan]

Half-Shovel,

Unfortunately I think you are in my old boat. We got early build Titan's and have been the beta testers for 9-10 months now.

How many miles you got on yours now? are you considering a LL or trade into a late '04 or '05? IF you read my thread in the General section then you'll know that what we ended up doing. So far the truck is much better overall than the first one.

I have felt your dilemma.

Chris

[Masa]

Originally Posted by Half Shovel

You know, I enjoy driving my Titan A LOT. Unfortunately for Nissan, I come from Toyotaland - I've had 4 Toyotas in my lifetime, and they are just MUCH better built. I expect better, because I've had better...Toyota is probably guilty of the exact opposite - they usually are short on HP and style, but they are very reliable. I guess when it comes down to day-to-day driving, I'll take the Toyota experience.

I know exactly what you mean. I've also had 4 Toyotas in the past and have the same opinion as you do. I've had my '04 LE CC since the end of May. It now has 6,000 miles. It's been at the dealership for warranty repairs many times, totaling 30 days as of today... That is 30 days within less than 6 months! It is there with the service department from yesterday, and I hope to get it back before the weekend... I'm thinking about asking Nissan to buy back my Titan. I have no faith in this vehicle to be reliable short term or long term. I thought about going with an '05 Toyota Tundra. However, I'm willing to give another chance to Nissan with their '05 Titan. It appears that Nissan did address many issues. Like you, I love my Titan except for the quality/reliability issues... Good luck!

[pagerdaddy]

Originally Posted by 1blackx

I HATE READING POSTS LIKE THIS!! I desperately want a Titan but posts like this make me stop and think differently. I have owned my Xterra for almost 4 years and have had almost no problems with it (except lack of hp ) I just can't help but think that Nissan makes quality products. Best of luck to you with your troubled Titan.

Everyone's experience is different, 1blackx. Although my truck only has
9K miles on it, everything is the same as the day I drove it home. My build
date is 12/18/03. I'm sure that on average, Toyota builds quality vehicles.
So does Nissan.

I've never owned a Toyota. Every time we've gotten ready to trade and went to look, the Toyota dealers never seemed to want our business. We always get way more on trade in than what they will offer. I'm not unreasonable, but I do expect something close to average trade in as defined by NADA, Kelly, or Black Book. I'm buying a car, not looking to join a country club.

Half-Shovel, most of the stuff you mention sounds pretty minor, but I
know it is pretty aggravating to have a bunch of little things accumulate.
I hope you have found a dealer that can fix things on the first try.
Otherwise, I'd find somewhere else.

Chris, I'm glad you're happy with the new truck. I'm sorry that you won't
be able to experience the beauty of the Sedona color in various shades
of sun, or watch the drool drip from Lon's chin when he heard the sound
of my Flowmaster 40's fire off.

Steve

[TriKKy]

In another 2 years or so I expect I will trade the Titan in on a Tundra (mmmm more powerful tundra coming)...my past two cars I went with Honda, and now Nissan, and neither of them can come CLOSE to Toyota for build quality.

[Half Shovel]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaTitan

Half-Shovel,

Unfortunately I think you are in my old boat. We got early build Titan's and have been the beta testers for 9-10 months now.

How many miles you got on yours now? are you considering a LL or trade into a late '04 or '05? IF you read my thread in the General section then you'll know that what we ended up doing. So far the truck is much better overall than the first one.

I have felt your dilemma.

Chris

Chris,
I feel like a damn beta tester, that's for sure. I don't think I could take the hit on a trade in. I've got 12K on her now. I don't think I'd qualify for a lemon law claim, because I haven't had any issue come up more than 3 times - there's just LOTS of issues. Also, right now I think my wife would shoot me if I suggested getting another Nissan product. Listening Nissan? She's telling ALL of her friends. Women talk.
HS

[Half Shovel]

Originally Posted by Masa

I know exactly what you mean. I've also had 4 Toyotas in the past and have the same opinion as you do. I've had my '04 LE CC since the end of May. It now has 6,000 miles. It's been at the dealership for warranty repairs many times, totaling 30 days as of today... That is 30 days within less than 6 months! It is there with the service department from yesterday, and I hope to get it back before the weekend... I'm thinking about asking Nissan to buy back my Titan. I have no faith in this vehicle to be reliable short term or long term. I thought about going with an '05 Toyota Tundra. However, I'm willing to give another chance to Nissan with their '05 Titan. It appears that Nissan did address many issues. Like you, I love my Titan except for the quality/reliability issues... Good luck!

I don't know about texas, but that 30 days you just reached would get you a lemon law buy back in MN. Good luck.
HS

[Half Shovel]

Originally Posted by pagerdaddy

Everyone's experience is different, 1blackx. Although my truck only has
9K miles on it, everything is the same as the day I drove it home. My build
date is 12/18/03. I'm sure that on average, Toyota builds quality vehicles.
So does Nissan.

I've never owned a Toyota. Every time we've gotten ready to trade and went to look, the Toyota dealers never seemed to want our business. We always get way more on trade in than what they will offer. I'm not unreasonable, but I do expect something close to average trade in as defined by NADA, Kelly, or Black Book. I'm buying a car, not looking to join a country club.

Half-Shovel, most of the stuff you mention sounds pretty minor, but I
know it is pretty aggravating to have a bunch of little things accumulate.
I hope you have found a dealer that can fix things on the first try.
Otherwise, I'd find somewhere else.

Chris, I'm glad you're happy with the new truck. I'm sorry that you won't
be able to experience the beauty of the Sedona color in various shades
of sun, or watch the drool drip from Lon's chin when he heard the sound
of my Flowmaster 40's fire off.

Steve

Steve,
I would agree that most of my problems have been relatively minor, when taken as individual problems (a rattle here, a seat problem there, an AC issue here, a manifold there) - however the sheer quantity of problems is really getting on my nerves.

A much larger issue is my trust of the vehicle. Since so many aspects of this vehicle were assembled or designed poorly, why would I trust the drivetrain? What's going to happen when I'm in the middle of Iowa, 2 hours from the nearest Nissan dealer, and I'm 4-Wheeling to get to my favorite hunting spot? Is the engine going to puke? The rearend? The tranny? The radiator?

Now, I tend to be the "glass half full" (or shovel half full, if you will) type of guy, so I'm going to give the drivetrain the benefit of the doubt, as few on here have had problems with them. Still, last week when in Iowa, I was a little nervous. I HATE that. Here I am trying to enjoy a little muddin' and huntin' and all I can think of is "stupid Dana axles better not puke".

Anyway, I hope Nissan gets it right with the '05s, as I think they're really on to something with the design of this truck. As I've said many times, Titans are really cool, and I grin like a fool when I drive mine. It's like they went for it on 3rd and 25 and got 24 yards. Impressive, but doesn't get the job done.

HS

[pagerdaddy]

Originally Posted by Half Shovel

A much larger issue is my trust of the vehicle. Since so many aspects of this vehicle were assembled or designed poorly, why would I trust the drivetrain?

HS, I don't know if it will ease your mind any, but I think most of the problems
are related to the Canton assembly plant. If I have it right, your engine was
built in Tennessee, and your tranny came directly from Japan. I bet the
screw up on your exhaust manifold happened in Canton. The problem with
the diffs seems more likely to be more of lack of fluid, rather than a design
issue. You may want to check the transmission fluid, also, just to be on the safe side.

Steve

[Half Shovel]

Yessss.... New exhaust manifold in, ticking gone. Passenger seat fixed.

Now I just have to wait for a new heater module.

Maybe some day they'll have replaced all the parts on my Titan and it will run like new....

OK, that's not fair. This is the most trouble free my Titan has been for a while. We'll see what happens.

HS

[honeykeeper]

Congratulations!!!!! I had a T100 for 6 years.no problems and no recalls....wish I could have kept it for back-up!

[Squid]

Lucky Me I still have my 72 Land Cruiser.
Yes I'm bragging, It's going to snow tomorrow fun fun.
Fingers crossed for ya H.S.