Wednesday, August 18, 2010

2005 Nissan Altima, bad motor mounts


I am the original owner of a 2005 Nissan Altima and live in CA. I have driven this car everywhere in every possible terrain (across state lines, through all of Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe and many different ski resorts etc).

I am thorough in taking care of all regular maintenance issues and the car has not been in any major accident. It has, however, been in small bumper accidents (ie. another car bumped me in the parking lot while she was parking and other minor bumper accidents). The past several months, I have noticed that the car jerks when I shift from first to second gear. This has caused me to be gentler in the acceleration. Today, the dealer said that my right side motor mount is broken.

My question is, how often does this occur? Also, why and how did it occur? I am a defensive driver. Although I speed now and then, I am not 'heavy-footed.'

My previous car was a mid 90s base model corolla with about 180k miles on it when I sold it, and I had never had this problem with that car. Since I first purchased my Altima, I have noticed that I have many minor issues with the car (ie. rubber lining on the hood came off while driving through a car wash a few months after purchasing the car). Fortunately, they are not major performance or safety problems, however, after spending this much money on a brand new car, I expect NOT to have any such issues because they are time consuming to fix. And the extra expenses, although minor, are still extra expenses.