problems with 03 sentra spec v

hi, i am in the process of purchasing an 03 sentra spec v and i was just wondering what kind of known problems i should expect with this car...... i have read a couple posts about butterfly screws, balance shaft, and pre-cat...............however i am not familiar with the engine...so what is this balance shaft.....where is it located.....and will it cause any problems if i remove it???? and what are these butterfly screws????

Oh brother...

Here are the problems I have had with my Spec V in the last 2 years. It has 83k miles on it, btw.

-Replaced transmission
-Replaced Fuel pump
-replaced precat manifold
-anti-freeze leak
-new brake rotors
-suspension started to go early(replaced with Nismo Coilovers)
-starting problems I still haven't completely worked out
-wheel bearing
-flywheel

Don't take my word for it, though. I seriously have a lemon. Not a lot of people complain about these cars. At this point, I don't really have any more problems that I haven't fixed... the car is practically new by now.

**Butterfly screws: Yes... a problem. It takes less than an hour to break open your intake manifold and loctite them. It's a piece of cake. I've only heard of one person having a problem since doing that, and it was because the head of his screw actually broke off into his engine. They have great writeups with step by step instructions for this job on b15sentra.net. PM me if you can't find them.
**Precat: Another problem. An easy fix is to buy a catless header and an o2 spacer, so your check engine light doesn't come on. I got my header and spacer for around 200 dollars. This will also give you about 12 whp as well.
**Balance shaft: It's not really a problem. The balance shafts spin at twice the speed of your engine at all times, to get rid of vibrations throughout your engine. JWT makes a kit for about 100 dollars allowing you to take your shafts out. This is good for a 5-6 whp gain, but it mildly increases your engine vibrations. It's also a good cumulative gain mod in combination with other mods.

So you have to look at all of the problems I have had with my car that I listed at the beginnng of my post. I can honestly say the car is still well worth it. I love my spec V with a passion. It feels great to drive, it has a large ammount of torque, and it handles like a dream. I would still recommend this car. Really all you need to do is install the header and loctite the butterfly screws and your engine will live long. This car also responds incredibly well to bolt on modifications, if you are interested in that. It doesn't take much to get the car into the mid to low 14 seconds, in the quarter mile. If modding, new tires, a header, and a cold air intake are a must. That's about a thousand dollars, but you will notice an incredible ammount of difference in the performance and deep burly sound of your car. I would not get any other compact(around the same price range). Get this car and you will fall in love with it. Even if by the slight chance you get a lemon like mine. Mine really is an extreme case of maintenance. I haven't had any problems with it for quite some time.
*knock on wood*

How many miles does this car have on it?

it has about 54,000 miles on it......and i do plan to do a couples things here and there to it.....but first i'm going to take care of those butterfly screws, then i will probably do a full exhaust, i don;t know about the intake though....we'll see.....cuz if i ever decide to turbo it, i have no use for that intake anymore.....but then again...odds are it'll be a loooong time b-4 i have the money for turbo, i agree with you, i love the way it handles.....i'm just not used to the way it snaps back sooo quickly when you make a turn and let go of the wheel...and it has plenty o' power.....more pull than my 93 mx-3 did with a 2.5 v6, intake and full exhaust in it......i did notice however that it does take a little more cranking for it to start than it should......but luckily for me if anything goes wrong with it.....i purchased the 3 year 30,000 mile warranty with it...starting at the 54,000 miles......:)

Mine took a while to crank. It was the fuel pump. Nissan replaced it, since it was still under warranty. It got really bad before I took it in, though. So if it turns over a few times before it starts, don't worry about it. Loctite the butterfly screws ASAP, it's very easy.

Here is some really quick info that every spec owner should know:
http://www.b15sentra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=135241

Here is the STEP BY STEP super easy instructions for the loctite process. Do this, and the process will only take you a little over a half hour:
http://www.gtasentra.net/board/viewtopic.php?t=8688&sid=9c33bb9c7f8adb76ddaae60f27c1ae0a
This is the 04+ model in the instructions, so if there is a bolt here or there that they have on the instructions that you don't have, don't worry, just keep going.


You should create an account at b15sentra.net. They have forums there specifically for our cars. My name there is the same as it is here.

Also, with exhaust on the spec v, you get what you pay for. It's also not the best gain. You're better off just getting an AEM cold air intake. It will give you an incredible sound and a better gain than the exhaust.

As far as tubro goes, you are better off paying an extra grand and going for the 3.5VQ altima swap. You will run high 12's all day long with that swap. If you want to feel the best difference now:

Intake
Header
Tires**** Kumho Ecsta ASX's are excellent and only around 400 dollars a set.

Another cheap mod is the balance shaft removal kit. It's only around 100 dollars and I think b15sentra.net has a group buy for 75 of so.

Lightweight flywheel is also one of the best gains, besides the header, but pricey.

I would do exhaust next to last... it's just not that good of a gain on the spec considering it comes standard with "performance tuned exhaust". You can get some great sound out of it with the CIA.. I just can't express that enough. Go for AEM and TRUST ME. I waited a year before doing this and when I put my Nismo Cold air intake on, I wondered what the hell took me so long.

Have fun with your new car!

sounds good man....thanx so much for your help....i'll definetely get right on those screws and the header....as soon as i get a day off......what is the altima 3.5 vq??? i mean.....i dunno about swapping...i did on my last car.....and it turned out good.....but i think for now with this one...i just wanna have some fun....plus you can't beat the sound of the b.o.v....i've driven a couple turbo cars....and i just want one soooooo bad.... i found a kit on turbo-kits. com that will give me 100 or more horse on the stock engine....and with a few other mods it would probably be at least close to 12"s right ????? i really am not that familiar with nissan yet......oh.....what do u think about a muffler???? maybe just for a little more sound???

Well... here is the thing. The QR really isn't a great turbo motor. It's just not built for it. When you slap a turbo on a spec v, you run low 13's, usually. However, you are compomising your engines durability. The QR does not rev high enough to be a good turbo motor. I would not put a turbo on the QR unless rebuilding. A lot of people have, but then a lot of people have had blown engines, as well.

When the turbo set up is all said and done, tuned, installed, new fuel pump, and what not, it will probably cost a little over 5 grand. This is with compromised engine reliability, and pulling anywhere from 13.2-13.5 in the quarter.

When you install the 3.5VQ altima engine, you have a new motor that you can run the shit out of all day long without worrying about anything going pop. You will run at least a 12.9 with NOTHING done to it but putting one of the best engines Nissan has ever made under the hood of your car. If you bolt on to that engine, you will get massive results. The trouble with the VQ is that they don't make a kit for it anymore, and kits are hard to find. There is a guy that does it on b15sentra.net and he has his own wiring scheme and all. However, you have to ship your car out to him and wait a few weeks until it is done. That is unless you can locate a kit for it, or have a good shop charge you an assload. The cost for that VQ swap is about 6k, but for me it seems totally worth it. Not only that, but it's pretty unique compared to your turbo set up. You will get a lot more ooos and ahhs out of it. Aside from that... no turbo lag :iceslolan

I've heard clips of this swap, and the engine sounds so freaking intimidating. Here is some more food for thought... VQ swap AND a turbo.

There are a lot of threads on this site that talk/compare the two setups. Search for them and do some research to find out which one would fit you best.

thanx man...cool.....so this vq....is that a 6 cylinder??? and by kit, you mean like an install kit right?????.....i think on wednesday i'll take care of those screws, and sometime next month i'll have the header.........now with that 02 spacer i have to do some dremeling right?????? or no????

the vq in question is the v6 motor found in the 3.5 litre maximas and the altima se-r, it makes roughly 220-230 hp at the wheels once installed and is good for a 13 second pass with no other mods, if youre a really good driver youll see times under that but youve got to be good. with the ecu from a track model 350z and nex valve springs you can turn it into the rev up edition basicly only found in the track model Z and that one is rated at 300hp on the crank, if youve got the know how to make that work you could see low 12 second passes and MAYBE crack the 12second mark provided you have good enough tires to handle your new power, if youre looking for a one time upgrade to around 250 and no higher, go turbo and hope you dont blow up, if you are looking at this as a lifetime project the vq will handle stupid amounts of power and vq turbo kits are easier to find than qr kits if you choose to go FI later

wow, looks like prozach has really done his homework.

**applaud**

yea, what he said about the header and the butterfly is true. those are not recommended, but Needed if you are going to drive the car like a mad man at any time.

but the real thing to opening up the ser spec v would be rotating mass. seriously, a new set or rims alone will open this car's potential up like crazy. the stock 17''s weigh about 24 lbs. im not kidding you. if you want to just be cheap, you can get the se and se-r 16'' rims from 00-02 cars and they weigh 18 lbs.

also, for this vq engine swap, it sound run you about 5500, and you car out of commission for about 2-3 weeks to my knowage.

Hey, you would think I would have to learn something after spending hours on forums for a couple years now, haha.

I would take my Spec out of com for a few months to get my VQ :licka:

im just waiting till i can buy the bellhousing that fits the sr20 onto the se-r spec-v tranny.

i'd gladly have my sentra out of comm for about 3 months-6 months for the vq. i just would have to find another car for every day.

or find a vq with tranny still attached and a body harness for a spec v, then you could pre-wire everything, install would include dropping it in the car and swapping the harnesses over, the hard part would be done with your qr still in the car and active so you wouldnt lose but a day or two installing the vq.....more money though

oh btw the balance shafts in question arent a huge problem for most people, but if your car is driven hard often, i would think about removing them. basically like stated they are weighted gears that spin counter to your engine to cancel the imbalance caused by the QR25s HUGE stroke. they also have the nasty side effect of churning and frothing the shit out of your oil, making it break down sooner than otherwise, and possibly comprimising oil pressure during extended high rpm excursions. the only thing is...after you take em out, you may want to ziptie all the wiring harnesses you can see to something so you dont get wiring fractures from the constant vibration.

what the heck are wiring fractures?????

basicly a fracture in your wires.......:dunno:

shorts in your wires.....

kinda like when you bend a powercord to plug it in, and leave it like that for awhile. and then the only way for it to work is with that bend....that is a wiring fracture.

its like if you repeatedly bend a paperclip back and forth it will eventually break. thats what happens when a wiring harness vibrates too much.