Other engine problem on the 2005 Nissan Altima
4 crashes 4 fires 1 injury 9 of the 179 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Nissan Altima report other engine problem at a median of 74,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 155 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 36,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 88,707 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
10% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35,893 miles | 50,000 miles | 74,000 miles | 99,996 miles | 124,600 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 4 a crash, 4 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 272; the 2005 has 179. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Dt: contact stated her car stopped on her while driving two-three times since mid august 2005. The car started shaking prior to stopping. The contact filed a complaint with the manufacturer. The problem has not been diagnosed. She wanted to file a complaint because she did not feel safe in the car. *ak
Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle did not start on several occasions throughout the day. The electrical system was working fine, but the engine would not turn over. The vehicle was towed to a service dealer, where the dealer was unable to determine the problem, but stated that the cause was most likely due to the cold weather.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 nissan altima. While driving 30 MPH, the vehicle began making a loud noise and the service engine light illuminated. She was able to drive to a service station and the mechanic stated that there was no oil or oil plugs in the vehicle. He refused to make the repair. She had the vehicle towed to nissan, where it was regularly serviced every 3,000 miles. The dealer stated that she needed a new engine and that they were not responsible for the vehicle not having oil or oil plugs. They also informed her that someone had tampered with her vehicle. The contact has spoken with nissan on several occasions and has been without her vehicle for two months. She believes they are giving her the run-around. The current and failure mileages were 41,000. * updated 12/12/07 *bf the dealer stated passenger window makes noise, and remote switch is inoperable. Updated 12/12/07 *tr updated 03-04-08 *bf
Also reported on the 2005 Nissan Altima
Other body or interior problem
Rust or structural corrosion
Engine sensor failure
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 179 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2005 Nissan Altima?
Across 155 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 74,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2005 Nissan Altima?
179 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed