Nissan X-trail - eating butterfly screws.
Submitted: Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 15:14
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PAJBOY
I thought I would warn any Nissan X-trail owners (or potential owners) of this vehicle that it appears the dreaded 'loose butterfly screw' problem is here and no longer an urban myth.
My vehicle, a 2003 Ti with 59,000km the clock had two screws from the #1 cylinder butterfly valve come loose. These were then sucked into the cylinder, causing MASSIVE damage. Vehicle was required to be towed to the dealer, where today(14 days later) I still don't have my car. The local dealer is only prepared to replace the butterfly valves, loctite the rest of the screws and after passing a compression
test, send me on my way. Nissan are giving me an additional 2 year warranty, but that is not much good in the middle of nowhere.
We are trying to put pressure on Nissan Australia to authorise a recall, or at least give vehicle owners the option of having the screws secured with 'loctite'. Apparently this will cost $300, but this is a small price for such serious consequences.
This problem appears to effect the Series 1 vehicle, 2003-2005 with the qr25de engine. This same engine, as fitted in other Nissan vehicles overseas has been recalled several times due to this design fault.
We know what Nissan's track record is like, considering how they treated Patrol owners several years ago. Lets hope they pick up their game and show some after sales support for a change to their loyal customers.
Sorry for hijacking this
forum, but X-trail owners need to be aware of this potential time bomb.
Reply By: Gramps (NSW) - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 15:17
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 15:17
"We know what Nissan's track record is like, considering how they treated Patrol owners several years ago. Lets hope they pick up their game and show some after sales support for a change to their loyal customers"
It worked for them before without any major ill effects sales wise so why do you expect them to change ???
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Reply By: Member - Bucky (VIC) - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 15:24
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 15:24
Apparently they replaced problem engines in Europe, without any questions.
Pity they don't adopt the same technique here, but the gevernment, and the lawmakers let them get away with it ,,
I say bring in the " lemon policy " , and make the manufacturers accountable.
Cheers Mate
Bucky
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Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 16:42
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 16:42
<< We are trying to put pressure on Nissan Australia to authorise a recall,
LMAO!!! ROTFLMAO! GOOD LUCK!!!
Grenade users tried that for years with engines falling apart, with no success.
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Follow Up By: PAJBOY - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 18:03
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 18:03
Speak English mate. LOL
It worked with the Patrol, getting a newly designed oil sump and increased capacity.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Peter 2 - Monday, Apr 23, 2007 at 13:39
Monday, Apr 23, 2007 at 13:39
I gained a new dipstick with graduations higher up you mean, oh and the 'mechanic' cleaned the sump to make it look new ;-))
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Reply By: Willem - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 18:05
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 18:05
Thanks for that info
We have a 2003 ST with 60,000km.
Will let the mechanic take a look and fix the potential problem.
I Googled it but found no myths about the X-Trail
Cheers
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Follow Up By: PAJBOY - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:25
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:25
William, Try checking 'qr25de butterfly screw'
You wont find it under the xtrail, as there have only been a handful of cases. Many more overseas in the Spec V and Sentra which share this engine. I will send some more info and pics.
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Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 07:41
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 07:41
William??????
Thanks anyway and have checked it out.
Cheers
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Reply By: fisho64 - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 21:44
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 21:44
im a bit confused, you said "These were then sucked into the cylinder, causing MASSIVE damage. "
then go on to say that loctiting the screws and a compression
test was ok?
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Follow Up By: PAJBOY - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:28
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:28
Ok, the 2 screws were sucked into the #1 cylinder. The top of the cylinder head appears like a golf ball and the cylinder itself is all pitted and has marks on the sidewalls. The top of the pistons are also damaged. BUT, Nissan reckon it is ok. Only time will tell. I refused to
sign for the repair, but need the car. I will give it a week or so until it blows up. Fingers crossed. If I could post pics I would.
Clearly the engine has suffered massive damage, but Nissan reckon it is ok.
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Follow Up By: Member - Brian H (QLD) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 18:50
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 18:50
$HIT ............. from all accounts nissen would say that ............... did they put that in writing? I'm no mechenic but scoring the
bore will be an issue soon enough and I bet nessen will leave you out on a limb when you try to claim repairs later.
Sorry I'd be very vocal .......... not that would get me anywhere from the sounds of nissens rep to date.
Just my 2c worth.
Brian
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Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 10:51
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 10:51
Thanks for bringing it to our attention. We also have an Xtrail, but Dec05 build, so hopefully we're fine. Series 2 came out in 2004.
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Follow Up By: PAJBOY - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 12:43
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 12:43
Phil,
The only ones which are fine are the newer 2006+ built, as the butterfly screw is different. Prior to this, you will never know until it is too late. Sorry to be bearer of bad news.
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Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:05
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:05
Pajboy,
I've been scanning the net, and the xtrail
forum since you brought it to my attention. For the benefit of the
forum,
#1 the normal setup is this:
#2 The stuffed ones look like this:
#3 And the modified ones have a washer under the head of the screws plus some loctite:
#4 Its a simple problem which has a simple fix. But Nissan refuse to do a recall.
#5 Nissan USA recalled the butterfly valves and screws in August 2005.
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Follow Up By: PAJBOY - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:11
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:11
Phil,
Mate, how do you post pics. You should see
mine.
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Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:14
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:14
Pajboy,
Cut and paste the hyperlinks just below the text box.
Substitute domain.com/image_path with the path of your photo.
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Reply By: Member - Glenn D (NSW) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 20:29
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 20:29
Paj boy,
My friend has had an X Trail for approx 5yrs.
He had problems with high oil useage ( I think ) and it mostly sounded severly tappetty on start up .
Apparently this was a common problem and he had the engine replaced no worries. But it was a fleet car.
Can find out the exact details if need be.
A couple of years ago I did the 5th gear in my Patrol over WA , Dealer I went to wouldnt admit there was a problem and I had too pay $1500 to get us going again. When I got
home I fired a carefully worded letter to Nissan Australia in
Melbourne and got $1200 and an apology phone call .
Maybe there is someone like consumer affairs or the department of fair trading that you could get involved.
Glenn.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: PAJBOY - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 20:44
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 20:44
Glen,
I would appreciate it if you could find some details of your mate situation. This is the main concern of
mine, Nissan's history of not being consistant in their decision making process. Please send me an email with any personal details you have (possibly a rego would assist). I am 6 pages into a 'carefully worded' letter to Nissan as we speak. Fingers crossed. Thanks.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:12
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:12
Glenn,
There's two separate problems.
#1 The oil consumption problem is due to the pre-cat converter being too close to the motor. The pre-cat converters can break up, and bits can be sucked back into the cylinders, scoring the bores.
#2 Butterfly valve problem is a totally separate issue.
This link is good, and explains both issues on the US motors.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: PAJBOY - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:21
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 23:21
Pics of my damaged engine intake (if they work)
Site Link
Site Link
Site Link
Site Link
Site Link
Site Link
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Reply By: bevnles - Thursday, Apr 26, 2007 at 15:14
Thursday, Apr 26, 2007 at 15:14
Sorry to go against the majority but we had the same butterfly screw adrift happen to our 2002 ST X-Trail and Nissan could not have been more helpful. Once the source of the problem was found (plug in 3 cyl closing up, vehicle missing and pinging badly) they quickly established that the only satisfactory solution was a new engine and it was organised asap. It had done 50000k. They gave us a courtesy car for the three weeks that they had the vehicle and we were totally satisfied. This was in September 2004. We still have the vehicle and it has not missed a beat since. In fact, we have driven it from
Brisbane to
Alice Springs, across the
Great Central Road to WA and back across the Nullabor with not a hint of a problem. The
Great Central Road was 1045k of corrugated road which, if there was any weakness, would soon let us know. The diagnosis and repair was carried out at Metro Nissan, Windsor,
Brisbane.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: MrMagoo - Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at 01:22
Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at 01:22
Bev,
Yes I have an Xtrail and Windsor Metro look after it also. I find thay are always very helpful. Had a rattle in the sunroof and the crew took out the lining twice but could not see find the problem - even though rattles are not a warranty issue after 1 month old.
PS
Finally they did a 'tech report' which somehow quizes all other Nissan repairers for similar issues and the fix was to bulk up the space between the lining and the roof with dense foam.
Well if it work - great - and it did.
FollowupID:
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