# My 04 altima 2.5 S QR25DE problems help



## Nissan Rob (Jun 21, 2021)

My 04 altima is starting to give me some problems. It only has 130,252 miles on her. And it's Losing horsepower. Its burning oil like crazy. I put oil of some sort in it every morning. Like 1 quart every week. But I see no leaks anywhere. And it's starting to smoke when I start it up. I heard that they have bad manifolds and cats. I still have the stock manifold on it i think? But I'm in the mist of going straight headers to get rid of the cat problem. And to give me some extra horsepower I really don't know a lot about cars but. Can some one help me out on what I can do to save my car. Or what steps I can take. It's all I have I can't afford to lose it please help Thank you


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## Nissan Rob (Jun 21, 2021)

And it's just starting to have problem starting. It's cranking for a couple seconds be for it starts.Anyone know what I can do to fix the problem. New starter ?


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

It looks like your engine has become an oil burner due to worn out piston rings and cylinders getting out of round. The hard starting is most likely due to very low compression resulting from worn piston rings. If you really want to hold on to your car, a re-build of the engine is in order or you can buy a rebuilt engine; finally you can buy an engine from a junk yard.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

Check your PCV Valve and make sure both passages in the rocker cover are open. Bad PCV's or obstructed PCV baffles will turn any engine into an oil burner, and will foul the plugs causing hard starts. If that isn't it then Rogo is right, your rings are probably scrubbed out and it's time to rebuild or replace.


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## Scaramanga (Nov 17, 2019)

Nissan Rob said:


> And it's just starting to have problem starting. It's cranking for a couple seconds be for it starts.Anyone know what I can do to fix the problem. New starter ?


So this is a 16 year old car, how much have you loved it? Does it get an oil change every 5k or has it been beat on? Grandma driven or someone drove it like they stole it?

I agree on just replacing the PVC vale to ensure its free flowing, and I’d drop your tail pipe to check the honeycomb on the cat to see if it’s clogged. Do not delete your cat, it’ll make your car impossible to tune correctly with no O2 sensor. Also don’t to to straight pipes or whatever you’re thinking there as the stock manifold provide exactly the right amount of backpressure to make the engine run right.

Do a compression test! That’s the key issue here.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Ditto on the compression test. What often happens is the catalyst substrate inside the exhaust manifold/converter assembly breaks apart into tiny pieces and gets sucked into the combustion chamber via the EGR process accomplished through the variable valve timing. Once inside the cylinder, the debris scores the cylinder walls and creates a poor sealing condition. This requires replacement of the exhaust manifold/converter assembly and repair or replacement of the engine.


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## 420ibs (May 31, 2021)

smj999smj said:


> Ditto on the compression test. What often happens is the catalyst substrate inside the exhaust manifold/converter assembly breaks apart into tiny pieces and gets sucked into the combustion chamber via the EGR process accomplished through the variable valve timing. Once inside the cylinder, the debris scores the cylinder walls and creates a poor sealing condition. This requires replacement of the exhaust manifold/converter assembly and repair or replacement of the engine.


exactly.....don't waste your money on new headers unless you're going to replace or repair the motor, don't forget the catalytic converter is necessary to pass smog. soon after that would be a good time to swap manifolds put the stock one in a safe place until next smog is do. There are plenty of aftermarket manifolds out there for the same problem you're having just make sure it has o2 sensor mounting hole.
Nissan.... what where you thinking?


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