# 2001 altima GXE LE



## guitarsage (Mar 26, 2005)

I Just bought a 2001 Altima GXE LE 5 Speed and I love it.
It has 96K miles on it.

I also have a 95 altima, and it leaks oil like there no tomorrow, and has leaked oil since about 120K miles. We had the problem fixed back when it first started and the mechanic said that those altimas had some kind of problem and the seal would just break out again after so many miles, which it did. Every first gen. altima i have seen leaks alot of oil.
I was wondering if anyone knows if nissan has fixed this problem in the 01 altimas?
I don't leak any oil yet (knock on wood) but I haven't hit 100K miles yet and usually thats when stuff starts to go wrong.


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## Ryan's Altima (Aug 29, 2006)

I had a 98 and a 00 right now, both have or had over 120k on it and I never loose a drop of oil. There is a problem with the oil cover gasket, where if you pull out the spark plugs some might have oil on it. Its about $300 to get it serviced and to my guess goes about every 90k miles. Same with the intake manifold gasket which runs 500 to repair. Other than those 2 I think your in for a good run with your altima.


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## guitarsage (Mar 26, 2005)

Thats nice to hear. Hopefully I won't have no problems with it alteast til I pay it off first. I love this altima. 

The only problem I am having is making the back bumper sides to stay in. The dealer backed up into a poll, didn't do any damage except push the bumper out on each side. I can push it back into place but the clips or something are broken so it just pops back out after a minute or two.


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## MickeyKnox (Jun 17, 2006)

your mechanic is probably full of shit. If there was a leaking seal which leaks oil(after "so many miles") I would have known about this problem. the only problem is the distributor inner O ring. it leaks very often in ka24de. there is outer ring on distributor which is very easy to replace. it also leaks. symptoms: engine oil on transmission and around distributor.


your oil can leak in oil passage O ring and front cover seal. of course RTV sealant could also fail. if you switch from regular oil to synthetic oil on high mileage engine, synthetic oil will open up some leaks. I could go on . anyway you need to degrease your engine, drive around and see where you are loosing oil. 

my advice to any car owner: never take your car to a mechanic. buy a manual, everything is in the manual. plus there are forums.


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## Ryan's Altima (Aug 29, 2006)

Where do you get a manual, how much is it?


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## guitarsage (Mar 26, 2005)

MickeyKnox said:


> your mechanic is probably full of shit. If there was a leaking seal which leaks oil(after "so many miles") I would have known about this problem. the only problem is the distributor inner O ring. it leaks very often in ka24de. there is outer ring on distributor which is very easy to replace. it also leaks. symptoms: engine oil on transmission and around distributor.
> 
> 
> your oil can leak in oil passage O ring and front cover seal. of course RTV sealant could also fail. if you switch from regular oil to synthetic oil on high mileage engine, synthetic oil will open up some leaks. I could go on . anyway you need to degrease your engine, drive around and see where you are loosing oil.
> ...


It looks like the "seal" the mechanic replaced is on the oil pan. Looks like he didn't replace the seal, just put some red/orange sealant around the oil pan. That appears to be where it is leaking from because the oil spots are always below the oil pan. He said he had to pull the engine to seal it, however looks pretty easy accessible from the bottom. Don't know, it was my parents car before I got it and they fixed that problem long before they gave me the car, so...


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## MickeyKnox (Jun 17, 2006)

there is no seal on oil pan. there is just rtv sealant which works like a gasket. lower oil pan is very easy to reseal with RTV. just remove it. clean all old traces of rtv and put it back. get torque wrench and tighten bolts to about 50-60in/lbs. there is not to screw this up. 

the trickiest part may be is when removing the pan. use some thin knife or something thin to insert between the mating surfaces of lower oil pan and upper oil pan. knock it in in several places until the pan is easily removed. basically you want to avoid damaging the pan surfaces. u can damage them if you use something like screwdriver. mechanics are to rip you off not to fix your cars. 

buy Hayness manual and you will never need any mechanic.


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## dayv2005 (Jul 30, 2007)

i just bought the same car only mine is an automatic  just because i liked it and it was the only one this dealer had.


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## atl530i (Mar 26, 2007)

Congrats. I bought the same car in March, only an auto though. For the wife. My 96 Altima never leaked oil like that. Your mechanic needs to find a new line of work.


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## guitarsage (Mar 26, 2005)

atl530i said:


> Congrats. I bought the same car in March, only an auto though. For the wife. My 96 Altima never leaked oil like that. Your mechanic needs to find a new line of work.


I agree. I was younger when my parents replaced it, and we lived in St. Cloud FL and lot unhonest mechanics down there at that time.

I now live in a really small town in KY and find that there are still a few dishonest mechanics, but Iam happy with my current ones. They work in a tire shop but they do just about everything. My grandfather is real good friends with them and unlike some mechanics when they tell you something is wrong they take you and show you what is wrong. Plus they only charge $10/hour labor so cant really beat that. They do alot of stuff for me with no charge as they are real good friends with my grandfather. 

Thats one good thing about living in a small town. Its nice having a mechanic that you can trust and that knows you by name.


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